FORENSIC ENGINEERING – EXPERT WITNESS

At Arbitech, you will find all your Construction Claims Support and Forensic Engineering needs met …

Forensic Engineering- Expert Witness

You’ll see more than engineering expertise

Expertise

Each of our forensic engineering experts has over 30 years of experience in legal and insurance claim support, design and construction.  We use that intellectual knowledge base to assess the root cause of engineering design, installation and materials-related failures to determine what is needed to fix the issue. See our current list of experts for more information.  The list is constantly growing.

Evidence

Be it site documentation, sample collection and custody, historic document examination, or data analysis, our engineers are professional and thorough. Each bit of evidence used to form opinions is supported by thorough documentation.

Reporting

Our forensic engineering reports have proven to be independent, coherent, comprehensive, and defensible. As an instrument of service we convey our engineering opinions in a manner that is persuasive and ethical.  Most importantly, our opinions have replaced bias or indecision with a well-reasoned and supported explanation of the obligations, faults, issues caused, costs, and consequences.

Structural

Structural issues can occur in many forms. They can range from a minor incident to catastrophic collapse. Our forensic experts apply structural engineering principles, building code knowledge and construction experience when investigating incidents and failures to determine causation and prepare opinion reports. We investigate issues in buildings and structures ranging from discrete components such as beams and columns to complete framing systems in large buildings of various occupancy types.

Building Envelope

Building envelope failures are one of the most common forms of failure in buildings. They can be very disruptive to the operation of the building. Investigating these failures requires an understanding of building science principles, building materials, construction methods and the interrelationship between the building envelope and various other building systems. Our building envelope investigations include preparing an inspection and test plan that records all inspection and testing requirements relevant to the investigation. Relevant standards and acceptance criteria that are to be used in reaching our conclusions and opinions are included in our test plan. The investigation can involve both standard and non-standard tests. Our reports are factual and contain conclusions and opinions based on the entirety of the available evidence.

Pavements and Earthworks

Highways, parks, and buildings involve substantial earthworks.  Our assessments have settled claims dealing with soil compaction, pavement contracts, hydrogeology, and foundation settlement.

Unique Building Systems

Improper construction of proprietary building systems such as Insulated Concrete Forms systems can affect structural integrity and water resistance.  We have worked with owners, municipalities, and contractors to arrive at solutions to correct these defects while the law suit is held in abeyance.

 

High Performance Roofs

High performance roofs require specialized technical knowledge to develop repairs to construction defects that fit the problem.  Sometimes a repair can be overly conservative and cost several multiples of the true cost to correct the defects.  Make sure that your repair strategy and actual damages align well with the claim.  

Mechanical

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) assessments are becoming more common as buildings become tighter, more energy-efficient and more automated, and less forgiving system performance. HVAC issues can also result in collateral effects on building envelopes and architectural systems, which can improperly redirect experts to provide forensic engineering opinions that do not address the actual problem. Our cross-discipline forensic engineering expertise has resulted in the correct decisions and earlier settlements.

Similarly, for plumbing and drainage, issues we have assessed were previously considering the symptom of the problem rather than the root cause. With a sound understanding of metallurgy and mechanical design, our forensic engineering analysis redirected the origin and cause of the actual problem; This assisted in better identifying participating parties.

Materials & Metallurgical

With decades of experience in materials and metallurgical engineering and the claims arena, you can rest assured that our experts stay at the forefront of innovative developments in materials sciences. In addition, our materials and metallurgical engineers can assist you with determining the root cause(s) of materials failures and establish evidence-based failure mechanisms through non-destructive and physical testing and inspection of equipment and components.

Expert Witness

When a legal dispute involves technical, scientific or complex matters that require expertise beyond the understanding of the average person or the judge, expert witnesses are often called upon during trial to provide opinion or analysis of the available evidence. Arbitech’s team of engineering experts are independent and highly qualified professionals who can appear as expert witnesses during trials. You can count on them to provide impartial and unbiased opinions and testimony to assist the court in understanding the complex issues of your case.

Call us for a no-cost 30 minute consultation at 1-800-838-8183 Monday to Friday between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM, or submit a callback request.

“Exceptional outcomes are possible at the intersection of integrity and wisdom … “

© Gerald R. Genge, P.Eng., C.Eng., BDS, BSSO, Q Med., C. Arb.

Arbitech Inc.

Toronto | Newmarket | Burlington | Waterloo | Collingwood

Email: info@arbitech.ca or Email us HERE

Phone: 1 (800) 838-8183

Fax: (905) 895-7568

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