Construction Cost Analysis and Damage Quantification
The construction cost and damages experts at Blue Marble Risk Solutions analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of complex construction issues affecting project cost and profitability to prepare and evaluate construction claims as claims consultants; advise dispute resolution strategies as consulting experts; and deliver expert witness testimony for litigation, arbitration, mediation, and other dispute resolution forums.
Capital projects are generally developed and executed according to three (3) primary project expectations: scope (features and functionality), cost (budget), and schedule (time of performance). When project expectations are not met or change during project execution, construction disputes can develop between owners, designers, contractors, and/or subcontractors concerning cost impacts or monetary damages. Construction disputes or construction claims can involve any number of technical issues, ranging from failure to meet project completion milestones to defective design or construction work. Similarly, construction damages vary greatly in nature and complexity. Contract and monetary damages can include design or construction cost overruns due to changes, inefficiencies, mismanagement, and other performance failures; delay damages or liquidated damages due to schedule prolongation or failure to meet contract completion dates; and financial damages resulting from defective design or construction work.
A key component to the resolution of construction disputes is the analysis and quantification of cost impacts. In complex construction dispute matters, a specific skill set is required for the process of isolating project failures, analyzing construction costs, and quantifying monetary damages. Courts and alternative dispute resolution forums often rely on qualified construction experts to identify root cause(s) and quantify and apportion damages. Depending upon the nature of the disputed issues, this process can require a range of technical expertise from business economics to project estimating, planning, and scheduling. Blue Marble Risk Solutions’ consultants represent a range of experience from academia to industry, owners to contractors, engineers to executives, and industrial to commercial. Our unique blend of executive, field, academic, and consulting experience enables us to provide valuable insight from multiple perspectives.
Blue Marble Risk Solutions’ construction cost experts have extensive experience quantifying cost impacts associated with a broad range of issues, including disputed change orders, schedule delays and disruptions, lost construction productivity, and design or construction deficiencies. Our construction experts possess technical expertise and comprehensive experience with scientific principles and techniques to analyze a myriad of construction issues related to cost estimating, project and program management, and cost and schedule performance. We also have the technical knowledge and business background necessary to address business interruption costs; analyze financial asset performance; and quantify prolongation costs, delay damages, or liquidated damages.
As an integral part of the client/consultant/attorney team, our construction experts analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of complex construction issues affecting the project cost to prepare and evaluate construction claims as claims consultants; advise dispute resolution strategies as consulting experts; and deliver expert witness testimony for litigation, arbitration, mediation, and other dispute resolution forums. Our experts specialize in the following construction cost analysis areas:
- Labor, equipment, material, and cost variance analysis
- Estimate validation
- Change order cost analysis
- Lost productivity cost analysis
- Delay cost analysis
- Design and construction defect cost analysis
Building on our cost analysis expertise, Blue Marble Risk Solutions applies a comprehensive analytical approach to damage quantification which includes an in-depth evaluation of contract risk allocation; a validation of the project estimate and execution plan; and a detailed cost, resource, and schedule variance analysis. Our thorough analysis methodology enables us to efficiently isolate project failures and quantify cost impacts for a supportable, verifiable damage calculation. We also use an efficient, targeted strategy for diligent substantiation research using project documents, data, and witness interviews to deliver comprehensive analysis and dispute resolution assistance.