A contractor performing underground garage restoration severed an underground hydro cable while chipping concrete at the entrance to a parking garage.
The property owner withheld payment of certified progress invoices and claimed backcharges for repair costs arising from the incident.
The court held that the contractor was contractually responsible for locating underground utilities and was liable for the repair costs because it failed to obtain a hydro locate that would have prevented the damage.
However, the owner was not entitled to withhold certified payments while awaiting potential claims and was required to pay contractual interest on the delayed invoices.
The contractor’s damages and the owner’s backcharges offset each other, leaving only interest payable.
