Lessons Lost: Frustrations in construction’s legacy defects

The Real Work Begins After Practical Completion

In construction, Practical Completion is supposed to be the finish line — the project delivered, the team disbanded, and everyone moving on to the next challenge.
However during my time overseeing these functions, I learned that Practical Completion often marked the start of a different battle: managing legacy defects.

I used to call it the little shop of horrors.

Often the process of handing over a building leads to defects being left behind, with the spectre of liquidated damages hanging over a project at the finish line, its often more cost effective to slap the last 5% together quickly and polish it up for handover than deal with problems that arise and risk slippage of PC – I guess that’s what the defects liability period is for…

Chasing Defects, Trade Partners, and Lost Docs

The true horror wasn’t always just the defects themselves. It was chasing subcontractors who had long moved on (or disappeared altogether), negotiating with suppliers who suddenly had selective memories, and trying to piece together documentation that had been filed away — or worse, lost altogether.

Meanwhile, clients (rightly) expected rapid responses and durable fixes. Internally, many teams had already mentally checked out and moved onto the next exciting project. Commercial close-out had been achieved. Resources had been reallocated elsewhere. Yet here we were — trapped in a twilight zone of accountability, cost exposure, and reputational risk.

The legacy defect phase, if not properly managed from day one, had the power to quietly destroy the reputation, margins, and pride earned during the main project delivery.

Commercial Risk Hiding in Plain Sight

Underlying all of it was the commercial reality Bank guarantees or security bonds remained tied up, often for sums far exceeding the actual cost of the remaining issues. Until every minor item was resolved (and some will say rightly so), businesses were exposed — carrying millions of dollars in locked-up cash and contingent liabilities, even when the real work left on site was trivial in comparison. It turned minor technical problems into major commercial risks.

Yet perhaps the most corrosive problem was this, The entire phase took place under a veil of secrecy.

Why Lessons Rarely Get Learned

In theory, every legacy issue should make the next project smarter – In practice, few wanted to admit they existed at all.

Teams had moved on. The business was focused on winning the next tender. Commercial teams were chasing new numbers, construction teams were setting up new sites, and leadership often saw legacy defects as yesterday’s news that need to be obscured — a distraction rather than a learning opportunity.

As a result, the same issues quietly repeated themselves, project after project. Defects that could have been eliminated with simple design tweaks, clearer scopes, better subcontractor vetting, or tighter close-out procedures were never addressed at their root cause.

The knowledge existed — buried in the emails, the defect trackers, the frustrated conversations after hours — but it rarely found its way into formal processes, specifications, or standard operating procedures. At best, lessons learned were captured in a close-out meeting that nobody read again. At worst, they were never written down at all.

Breaking the Cycle with Visibility

Looking back now, I’m encouraged that things are starting to shift. Tools like Visibuild, which we developed initially to tackle construction compliance and quality, are now offering structured ways to manage post-completion work too — tracking outstanding defects, categorising across projects, allocating responsibility clearly, and maintaining visibility long after handover.

It’s a small but important step toward breaking the cycle, treating post-completion not as an afterthought, but as a vital final chapter in project delivery.

If there’s one thing my time dealing with the “little shop of horrors” taught me, it’s this: Defect management is not just about fixing what’s broken,  it’s about making sure the same mistakes don’t happen again.

That will only happen when businesses are willing to shine a light on the problems, systematise what they learn, and tell the whole story — not just the parts they want to celebrate and leave out the important final chapters.