Single Family Residence with Soil Issues: Our estimate saves $585,000!
The Problem
This project was a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 4,800 square foot, single family residence. New owners were purchasing the residence and wanted to have an expert inspect the property before they closed escrow, so the current owners brought in an engineer to perform a visual inspection and provide some recommendations. After purchasing the property, the new owners had a second inspection performed where their expert reported soil issues with the property, and damages to the property resulting from the soil issues. The interior and exterior wall finishes were cracking, and it seemed the stairs to the front porch were separating from the house! The expert hired by the new owners estimated the cost to repair at over $800,000.
The Solution
Pete Fowler Construction was hired by the previous owners to review and rebut the cost to repair. We collected, organized, and analyzed a tremendous volume of project information. We created an issues list, and provided recommendations for geotechnical and structural engineering co-experts. We performed on site investigations with the co-experts to asses the issues and damages to the property. Based on our investigation, we felt that the opposing expert had considerably overestimated the cost of some items, like repairing the foundation, gutters, and grading. We then created a complete Scope of Work for the repairs and a detailed cost-to-repair estimate that totaled $275,000, which was $585,000 dollars lower than the owner's original estimate! The matter was settled favorably for our clients, and they were very pleased with our efforts.