Honeywell sues Windsor contractor over alleged lab defects

This story was updated at 9 p.m. Tuesday night with additional comment from Elder Construction.

BROOMFIELD — Honeywell International Inc. (NYSE: HON) filed suit against Windsor contractor Elder Construction Inc. Tuesday, claiming Elder has failed to properly install temperature and humidity controls at a laboratory site in the company’s Broomfield hub.

In the suit filed in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, Honeywell alleges that it and Elder signed a contract to develop temperature controls for three rooms at 303 S. Technology Court in Broomfield in 2016. The agreement’s value was $6.12 million.

The lawsuit doesn’t say what research was slated to begin there, but the rooms were required to remain at almost exactly 70 degrees and at around 40 percent humidity.

Shortly after Elder completed the project in December 2017, Honeywell alleged that none of the rooms had the required static temperature or had any humidity control at all.

Elder attempted to repair the project through 2018, the suit says, before Honeywell hired another contractor to redesign the lab’s air-conditioning system. The company claims that Elder would be required to pay for any construction from other companies, and sent a claim for just under $3 million to the contractor in June.

Honeywell said it exhausted all its threshold requirements to recover its claims against Elder, and has requested a jury trial on all its claims.

In a statement, Elder representatives declined to comment further about the lawsuit, citing non-disclosure agreements.

“Elder Construction has been doing business throughout Colorado for more than 25 years,” said Austin Dodder, Vice President at Elder Construction. “Having worked with businesses in various industries throughout the state, we always try to meet our client expectations on each and every project.”

“While the situation with Honeywell is unfortunate, it is also complex and we are unable to comment on specific details at this time due to project-related non-disclosure agreements. We would like to voice our intent to provide full participation as we work with the client to find a resolution, and to bring the situation to close as quickly as possible,” he said.