Recent Case Studies

Recent Case Studies

All of Amherst's work is related in some way to property damage. Amherst's most common projects are:

1.INSURANCE CLAIMS

– Property damage due to an insured peril (fire, water, hurricane, earthquake, explosion, etc.) and is assigned to Amherst as part of an insurance claim. Amherst provides expert engineering and consulting on above ground and subsurface environmental and non-environmental property damage.

Services include cause and origin, assessment, development of corrective repair scope, qualifying contractors and collecting bids, oversight of corrective repairs, agency code negotiations and expert witness evidence preparation and testimony for subrogation recovery. Amherst specializes in dispute resolution.

2.CONSTRUCTION DEFECT

– Property damage as a result of construction defect (construction defect, engineering defect, design defect, material defect, owner-operator defect, failure to comply with contract documents and/or codes, failure to meet standards of practice and standards of care, etc.) and is typically assigned to Amherst by an attorney, representing an owner or insurance company for the owner.

Amherst provides expert engineering and consulting to include forensic investigation and destructive testing, development of corrective repairs, oversight of corrective repairs, development of expert opinion and reporting and expert witness testimony. On almost all projects, Amherst is lead expert, supported by sub-consultant experts in specific required support disciplines (plumbing, electrical, mechanical, masonry, envelop, environmental, architectural, etc.). Depending on the project, this could be from one to as many as 10+ sub-consultant experts.

Below are 12 recent select projects that are representative of Amherst's work.

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  • 19.8 Million Southern California Luxury residential high-rise – construction defect

    Upscale neighborhood in southern California. The new owner closed on the newly constructed 121-unit residential building, which overlooked a prestigious private country club, in September. Heavy rains began in October. By December 79 of the 121 units experienced water intrusion. Amherst was retained by the property owner.

  • 10 Million Southern California Community Development – Water intrusion property damage claim

    Amherst was retained by the insurance company for the current property developer. The upscale community was originally developed by a different developer. The original developer built 10 beautiful model homes and then development construction stopped for financial reasons. The model homes construction at that time ranged from complete to almost complete.

  • 8 Million New York City high-rise condominium building and retail plaza – Superstorm Sandy

    The high-rise condominium office building and retail plaza experienced partial flooding in its subterranean parking garage. Located within the floor of the garage were two below grade electrical utility vaults, approximately 7 feet in depth, where multiple horizontal 480-volt power supply feeder cables were spliced together. At the time of the occurrence, this distribution system was de-energized. The vaults were manually pumped out and the distribution system was inspected and re-energized. The distributio

  • 5 Million Texas Data Center – Uninterrupted power supply cabinet fire

    A fire occurred in a small uninterrupted power supply cabinet located within a 14,000 sq. ft. data center that housed over 6,200 pieces of electronic equipment, primarily client data servers. Amherst was retained by the insurance company for an equipment manufacturer that made some electrical equipment located within the cabinet and was thought to be potentially responsible for the fire. The insurance company for the data center brought in a company from the northeast United States to perform electronic res

  • 3.2 Million Hawaii high-rise residential building – fire in one unit

    A fire occurred in a residential building in Honolulu destroying the interior of one unit and distributing varying amounts of smoke throughout the remainder of the building. The owner of the building retained the services of Public Adjuster (PA). The PA filed the repair claim on behalf of the owner/insured. The claim included repairs and cleanup but also included numerous code upgrades, the largest of which was replacement of all windows. The PA submitted a letter detailing that, as part of the fire repairs

  • 8 Hundred Thousand Northern California High Rise Office Building – Water discharge on Floor 18

    Amherst was retained by the insurance company for the 18th Floor Tenant. A piece of equipment used by the tenant was the source of the water discharge. Amherst's scope of work was to audit scope of work and costs claimed for repairs of the 18th Floor, the 17th Floor and the building core, mechanical chase and elevator cars, motors, cables and shafts . Amherst was retained to provide expert opinion as to the scope of work and costs that were found to be fair and reasonable.

  • 6 Hundred Thousand Northwest United States - new equipment sales display rack fire

    A fire occurred at a new equipment sales rack within a 34,000 sq. ft. hardware/Feed & saddle store, with an additional 6,000 sq. ft. of upstairs office. The fire occurred at night and therefore discovery and Fire Department response was not immediate. The store was affected with varying degrees of a wet, plastic based smoke andsoot residue. Amherst was retained by the insurer for the equipment manufacturer that owned the rack where the fire originated. ?

  • In Litigation Northern California Office building – Construction defect

    The Partners purchased an office building for an investment. The three-story building was to be upgraded from a Class C office space to a Class A office space. Work planned included HVAC, mechanical, electrical, floors, walls, ceilings, bathrooms, permitting and code upgrades. The anchor tenant signed a lease for Floors 2 and 3.

  • In Litigation Northern California car dealership – construction defect, new construction

    A very centrally located, beautiful 32,000 sq. ft. new car dealership was built in 2016 in northern California. The facility included 13,000 sq. ft. contemporary designed showroom, 13,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art service area and 6,000 sq. ft. of upstairs office area. As soon as the owner took possession of the building, plumbing problems started requiring digging up some of the showroom, first floor office area and service area floors.

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