Understanding Special Conditions of Probation in Home Renovations

At LTHOME, we specialize in high quality raw building materials. If you’re in the process of building or renovating a home, it can be easy to get so swept up in the mechanics of the project that you lose sight of the legal implications of a home build and how that can impact your changing vision. Comprehensive special conditions of probation are just one of those details that can cause friction between an expectation and a reality on a worksite.

You may have heard the term “special conditions of probation” before, in that it’s a type of penalty doled out during a court proceeding for an infraction. However, they can also come up when it comes to issues with contractors and trades. In this case, special conditions of probation can result from the way particular tradespeople conduct themselves on a worksite and can cause negative impacts to timelines and budgets.

The disadvantage of special conditions is really made clear in some practical examples of work completed by tradespeople working on worksites subject to them. In many cases, the conditions that are the result of a probation and subsequently cause issues include things like having to submit to legal compliance and expectations. These conditions can be unreasonably limiting to the ability of the contractor to finish a project in a timely manner.

What does that mean for your home renovation? It means that planning ahead of time for the special conditions of probation undertaken by contractors may be necessary in order to prevent your project from being delayed or going over budget. The contractors you employ can by subject to these conditions, and as a result you may need to work around these in your project planning.

Having a legal compliance officer onsite to approve tradespeople can go a long way toward avoiding projects that are associated with special conditions of probation, and some level of legal expertise on the project team can help prevent problems down the road.

Scheduling inspections at the start of a project may also help you deal with any contractors who don’t meet the expectations of the special conditions of probation. Whether a court has placed them on probation for infractions such as not complying with zoning ordinances, violations of criminal law, or some other issue, any penalties will affect their ability to finish work.

Once you know that a contractor is subject to special conditions of probation, you’ll be able to plan ahead and make sure everything meets your expectations.

There isn’t much you can do about the special conditions of probation that may be placed on a particular tradesperson who is doing work on your project. However, knowing that they exist can be the difference between meeting your deadline and missing it by a wide margin. When it comes to home renovations, forewarned is forearmed.