A breach of contract claim involving color difference in LED linear lights for an engineering project

In 2023, a commercial complex renovation project purchased a certain brand of LED linear lights for exterior facade decoration. The contract clearly stipulated that “the color temperature deviation of the entire batch of lamps must not exceed ±200K.” However, after installation, the contractor discovered significant color variations between different batches of the linear lights—some exhibited a warm yellow hue (3000K), while others exhibited a cool white hue (5000K). At night, the facade lighting produced a patchy effect, seriously inconsistent with the design. The project owner requested that the manufacturer replace the lights with qualified products, but the manufacturer refused, citing vibrations during transportation as the cause. The contractor was also unable to deliver the products due to construction delays. The project owner ultimately sued the manufacturer. Professional testing confirmed that the color temperature deviation of the lamps at the time of shipment had reached ±500K, making them substandard. The court ordered the manufacturer to compensate the project owner for rework costs and lost wages totaling 280,000 yuan.