Selecting and Evaluating Expert Consultants

Our company is an expert consultancy that offers services in virtually all aspects of the building lifecycle (see PFCS Services below). I think everyone can understand that all top tier consultancies shiver at the idea of being judged by clients who simply compare the fee schedules of various competitors (Think Wal-Mart vs. Nordstrom). Although our hourly rates are competitive, they will never be the lowest.

Our company's highest and best use, and what we have worked on for the last decade, is to figure out how we make the "Total Cost of Consulting" valuable to our clients. "Most value" is sometimes the lowest cost, but often not. “Value” is a function of how the fruit of the consulting work is going to be used. If someone pays for a report but does not read it, ignores the information in making decisions, or does not execute the recommendations, then the consulting work has no value, no matter how excellent the analysis.

Creating the most value for consulting services, regardless of whether the “total cost of consulting” is modest or extravagant, requires:

1. Case-by-case application of professional judgement by awesome, experienced and well trained consultants;

2. A well defined and fine-tuned system to maintain consistency and quality control;

3. A mechanism to get the price right and be able to compare the ultimate cost of the solution to the original plan, and;

4. Communication, information and feed-back by the purchaser of the consulting services.

Many of our projects are likely to lead to litigation, are currently in litigation, or have already been in litigation, so we know as well as anyone that life is messy. Litigation is unpredictable and constantly changing. Disciplined management in the face of constant, unpredictable change is hard; but we have figured it out. We even have a seminar to teach owners, attorneys and insurance professionals the discipline of “Managing Expert Work and Costs” - there is a 3 minute video introduction if you have time.

PFCS Services are offered in all aspects of the building lifecycle:

1. Construction Cost Estimating

2. Construction Management

3. Property Analysis

4. Construction Claims Consulting

5. Construction Defect Consulting

6. Expert Witness Testimony

7. Training & Education

Portfolio Management of Construction Claims

For building industry players who are engaged in multiple construction claims (builders, general contractors, larger trade contractors, suppliers, material and product manufacturers, insurance companies, attorneys) each case can be considered a single battle in a larger war. Deciding how much to spend on each claim – each battle – is hard. How do these expensive decisions get evaluated? Although it should not be guesswork, it often is. PFCS has created a structured process for making these complicated, difficult, strategically important, return-on-investment (ROI) decisions.

PFCS will show you a method for managing your portfolio of construction claims, helping you develop a process for evaluating the costs of various scenarios in construction claim handling. At any point in any case, whether you’ve spent $1.00 or $3 million, you can ask and answer, or at least estimate, these key questions: How much has been spent so far? How much will it cost to get out now? What is a small fight worth? A big fight? What might trial costs look like, and is it worth the risk? As anyone familiar with litigation knows, each of these questions is likely to have best-likely-worst case answers.

The cheapest option is sometimes to get out of the case early, after only the most preliminary analysis. But claims run the gamut, so sometimes a long, expensive fight is the cheapest, best solution, especially if a good outcome will influence other cases.

Key System Components

1. Claims Management Plan: Brief strategy and tactical document including written objective, executive summary, litigation budget, written agreements with attorney and other vendors, a timeline, and a Claims Plan Manager job description.

2. Company Level Analysis: Worksheet that is a master list of all cases with best-likely-worst case scenario figures and a strategy summary for each. This includes a summary of all the individual Project Level Analysis worksheets.

3. Project Level Analysis: Worksheets for each case including best-likely-worst case figures for Attorneys, Experts, Other and Settlement/Judgment costs at various levels of litigation including immediate settlement, a small fight, a big fight and through trial. This includes a summary of the Vendor Scope-Budget Matrix worksheets, plus a settlement hypothesis.

4. Vendor Scope-Budget Matrix: This is an individual budget from each vendor on each project broken down to conform with the Project Level and Company Level Analysis worksheets.

5. Meeting Agenda / Minutes: Structure for preparing for, reviewing and updating the analysis periodically.

PFCS will soon host a conversation about portfolio management where your experience, concerns and general feedback will be welcomed. Stay tuned.

If you would like a sample proposal with supporting documents call us or email Pete Fowler at pf@petefowler.com.

Managing Expert Costs

Managing Expert Costs