The purpose of the CPA is to protect consumers from unscrupulous vendors of services and materials. However, it is not difficult to imagine a scenario where the broad and powerful remedies available under the CPA can be used against a innocent contractors or suppliers.
The good news for such contractors or suppliers is that Courts have recognized that construction contracts differ from your typical door-to-door sales transactions, and just as consumers may require protection, contractors may be in need of protection from homeowners who try to use courts to take advantage of them.To this end, section 93(2) of the CPA grants a court the ability to order that a consumer be bound by all or a portion or portions of a consumer agreement, despite the consumer agreement not being in strict compliance with the Act. Courts have relied on this provision where they have found it would be unequitable to render the consumer contract unenforceable.