Georgia · Construction-defect rights
Here is what you have, and here is how to keep it.
Georgia gives you eight years from substantial completion. Inside that, a claim for damage to real property must be brought within four years of accrual (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-30(a)), and a written-contract claim within six years (§ 9-3-24). Under the Right to Repair Act you must give the builder 90 days notice and a chance to fix the problem before suing.
What you have
Past the deadline for a defect? A contract claim may still be alive.
The construction deadline here bars tort claims — but breach-of-contract and express-warranty claims are not cut off by the construction repose (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-51(c))Someone told “you’re past the deadline” may still have a live contract or warranty claim, and typically no one volunteers that.
You have eight years from substantial completion for a construction-defect claim (O.C.G.A. s.9-3-51), and a separate four-year deadline for damage to real property runs from when the claim accrues (O.C.G.A. § 9-3-30(a)). Note what the eight-year deadline does NOT touch: breach-of-contract and express-warranty claims are measured separately (s.9-3-51(c)), so a written warranty can outlive the construction deadline.
The deadline
8 years to bring a construction-defect claim
O.C.G.A. § 9-3-51
8 years from substantial completion of the improvement. HARD CAP 10 years: where an injury to property or person occurs during the 7th or 8th year after substantial completion, a tort action may be brought within 2 years of that injury, but IN NO EVENT more than 10 years after substantial completion. Does NOT apply to actions for breach of contract, including breach of express contractual warranties — those run on their own contract limitations. FRAUD/REPOSE (verified 2026-08-03, O.C.G.A. § 9-3-51 full text): the repose's ONLY statutory exclusion is for breach of contract / express warranty (§ 9-3-51(c)) — there is NO fraud or fraudulent-concealment carve-out in the repose statute itself. (Georgia's general fraud-tolling statute § 9-3-96 is a separate, case-law-mediated question not verified here and not encoded as a repose carve-out.) fraud_exempts_repose = false on the statutory text.
“No action to recover damages … shall be brought … more than eight years after substantial completion of such an improvement.”
Before you sue: Georgia Right to Repair Act: 90-day notice and opportunity to repair before filing a residential defect action. (O.C.G.A. s.8-2-35 et seq.)
What to do now
Write it down the day you notice it. Photograph it with something for scale. Note the date, the room, and what you saw. If it gets worse, photograph it again - a sequence is far stronger than one picture. Keep every message with the builder. You are not starting a fight; you are keeping the option open. Georgia requires written notice to the builder before you sue: see "Before you sue" on this page for the exact rule. Describe each defect in reasonable detail; a record made at the time is what most people are missing later.
The same defect, a different answer next door
The construction-defect deadline is a state-by-state accident of geography. The identical crack in the identical house can be dead in one state and live in another.