Magnifying glass and calculator over construction drawings during a quality-control review

Overview

Paul Gaston reviews construction quality-control and inspection failures for counsel, insurers and owners in Chicago and Cook County. He examines whether the inspection and QC protocols the project called for were actually followed, and whether defective work should have been identified and corrected before it was covered, based on managing those programmes on airport, municipal, healthcare and retail projects.

Related: Chicago Construction Safety Expert · ExpertWitnessChicago.com

Many defect claims are really inspection failures. The defect existed, a protocol should have caught it, and the question becomes why it was accepted and closed out.

What the review examines

Inspection records, checklists, submittal approvals, punch lists, correction notices and closeout documentation are compared with the condition actually installed.
  • Inspection and quality-control records against the installed condition
  • Submittal review, approvals and whether the approved product was used
  • Punch list, correction notice and closeout handling

Programme-level experience

Paul managed inspection and quality-control programmes across airport, municipal, healthcare and retail projects. Reviewing whether a protocol was followed is credible when the reviewer has run the same protocol under the same commercial pressure.
Open-plan living room with full-height glazing overlooking a pool
  • Protocol identification
  • Record and log review
  • Field verification
  • Gap analysis
  • Written findings

Outcome

The result identifies where the control process failed, what should have been caught, and what it now takes to correct the work.
Call Paul
Download CV

Previous

ADA Accessibility of Built Conditions

Next

Renovation in Occupied Facilities

Essential Details
Discuss a Matter

Questions Attorneys Ask

It is where a defect existed that the project's own inspection or quality-control process should have identified and corrected, but the work was accepted and closed out instead.
Inspection logs and checklists, submittal approvals, punch lists, correction notices, daily reports and closeout documentation.
Yes, across airport, municipal, healthcare and retail projects, including work at O'Hare International Airport.
Paul can identify what the protocol required and who held that duty under the contract documents. Legal responsibility is a matter for counsel.
It often does. QC failure is frequently one component of a broader standard-of-care question about how the work was supervised.
Absent or thin records are themselves a finding, and the physical condition can still be examined directly.