Contractor Payment vs. Owner Counterclaim for Defective Work and Tacit Acceptance

A contractor, having completed work under a written agreement, sued the property owner for payment of the balance due, but the owner counterclaimed for damages, alleging that the contractor had failed to follow the plans and specifications, resulting in significant defects. The lower court ruled in favor of the contractor, finding that the owner had accepted the work without formal reservation and had used the structure, thereby implicitly waiving the right to claim damages for non-conformity with the plans. The high court upheld this decision, reasoning that the owner's use of the completed work without reservation constituted a tacit acceptance that precluded a subsequent claim for breach of the contract's technical specifications, unless the defects were so grave as to render the structure unfit for its intended purpose, which was not established in this case.