Damaged wall with exposed material requiring repair

Overview

Paul Gaston prepares repair scope and cost-of-repair opinions for attorneys, insurers, owners and contractors in Chicago, Cook County and Chicagoland. He establishes what it actually takes to correct defective work and what that correction reasonably costs, using the estimating discipline a licensed general contractor applies to real projects rather than a theoretical damages model.

Related: ExpertWitnessChicago.com

Quantifying damages is ordinary contracting work. Defining the corrective scope accurately is the harder part, and it is where an estimate most often goes wrong.

Defining the scope

Correction usually reaches further than the visible defect. Access, removal of adjacent finished work, protection and reinstatement all form part of an honest repair scope.
  • Full corrective scope including access, removal and reinstatement
  • Protection of adjacent work and continuing building operations
  • Sequencing and trade coordination the correction requires

Costing the work

Pricing reflects the Chicago and Cook County market, the trades involved and the conditions of the actual building. Estimating repair scope and reasonable cost sits squarely inside a licensed general contractor's everyday role.
Open-plan living room with full-height glazing overlooking a pool
  • Defect confirmation
  • Corrective scope definition
  • Trade and quantity take-off
  • Market-based pricing
  • Written cost opinion

Rebuttal work

Paul also reviews opposing repair estimates and identifies where scope has been understated, overstated or priced against the wrong conditions.
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Questions Attorneys Ask

The full corrective scope, the trades and quantities involved, and a market-based price for performing that correction in the actual building.
Because correction requires access. Removing and reinstating adjacent finished work, protecting occupied areas and re-sequencing trades are all real costs.
Yes. Estimating scope and cost is a routine part of a licensed general contractor's work, and Paul has done it commercially for decades.
Yes. Reviewing an opposing estimate for understated scope, overstated quantities or pricing against the wrong conditions is common work.
Yes. Chicago and Cook County trade rates and conditions, not a national average.
Yes, at deposition, arbitration and trial, on the same basis as the underlying defect findings.