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provision to the contrary, a contractor is in breach of the contract if it does not carry out
the performance obligations in the contract or if it performs work which does not meet
the requirements of the express terms and specifications and the implied terms of the
contract. A contractor who undertakes to carry out the work according to specifications
must adhere strictly to all the details, and is not entitled to make substitutions or changes
without the owner's consent. If the contractor holds itself out as qualified to do the work,
then a failure to do so competently is a breach of contract. Whether work or material
supplied by the contractor is defective or not is a question of fact in each case, depending
on the proper interpretation of the specifications, and on expert or other relevant evidence
as to what is reasonable: TG Heintzman and I Goldsmith in Heintzman and Goldsmith on
Canadian Building Contracts, 5th ed (Toronto : Carswell, 2014-) at 4-35, 5-2, 5-5, 7-29,
7-30, and cases cited therein.
122
Unless the contract or the circumstances indicate otherwise, the contract will
contain an implied term that the work will be done in a good and workmanlike manner,
the workmen employed on the work will possess the ordinary skill of those exercising the
particular trade, and the materials will be of good quality and reasonably fit for the
purpose for which they are used: Heintzman and Goldsmith at 4-50. In G. Ford Homes
Ltd. v. Draft Masonry (York) Co. (1983), 43 O.R. (2d) 401, 1 D.L.R. (4th) 262 (Ont.
C.A.), Cory J., as he then was, observed that a contractor undertaking to do work
implicitly undertakes that it will be undertaken with care and skill or in a workmanlike
manner and will be reasonably fit for the purpose for which it is required, unless the
circumstances of the contract exclude such liability.
121
A contractor must act according to the terms of the contract and the
directions of the consultant authorized under the construction contract. In the
absence of an express provision to the contrary, a contractor is in breach of the
contract if it does not carry out the performance obligations in the contract or if it
performs work which does not meet the requirements of the express terms and
specifications and the implied terms of the contract. A contractor who undertakes
to carry out the work according to specifications must adhere strictly to all the
details, and is not entitled to make substitutions or changes without the owner's
consent. If the contractor holds itself out as qualified to do the work, then a failure
to do so competently is a breach of contract. Whether work or material supplied
by the contractor is defective or not is a question of fact in each case, depending
on the proper interpretation of the specifications, and on expert or other relevant
evidence as to what is reasonable: TG Heintzman and I Goldsmith in Heintzman
and Goldsmith on Canadian Building Contracts, 5th ed (Toronto : Carswell,
2014-) at 4-35, 5-2, 5-5, 7-29, 7-30, and cases cited therein.
122
Unless the contract or the circumstances indicate otherwise, the contract
will contain an implied term that the work will be done in a good and
workmanlike manner, the workmen employed on the work will possess the
ordinary skill of those exercising the particular trade, and the materials will be of
good quality and reasonably fit for the purpose for which they are
used: Heintzman and Goldsmith at 4-50. In G. Ford Homes Ltd. v. Draft Masonry
(York) Co. (1983), 43 O.R. (2d) 401, 1 D.L.R. (4th) 262 (Ont. C.A.), Cory J., as
he then was, observed that a contractor undertaking to do work implicitly