Contractors Build New Defenses in Construction Defect Arena
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) July 31, 2013 -- California builders should breathe a sigh of relief as recent court cases and technology innovations promise to reduce the threat of costly defect claims, says Stan Luhr, CEO of Pacific Property Consultants, a San Diego-based forensic firm.
Luhr is a 30-year veteran of construction defect and forensic evaluations, and has testified in over 100 court trials involving hundreds of millions of dollars in claims.
Luhr’s most recent case involved a California-based home builder who was not willing to meet plaintiff's demands to settle allegations regarding roofing quality, stucco cracks and other issues, so they took the case to court. “We successfully demonstrated to the court that while some defects may occur, most anything is repairable,” Luhr said.
The court found in the builder’s favor on many architectural issues relating to roofing, balconies, French doors, siding, paint quality and stucco cracks and awarded the plaintiffs $2.1 million of more than $12 million sought for the 135-unit luxury complex. Luhr added, “After the plaintiff attorneys and experts get their cut, the homeowners may not have much to show for all this effort.”
Luhr is also CEO of AxisPointe, a Utah-based software and quality assurance firm based in Salt Lake, which assists builders with preventive measures to stem defects and costly service repairs. AxisPointe developed robust web-based tools in 2002 to help builders manage construction documents and customer service complaints.
AxisPointe’s latest mobile technology uses iPhone devices to enable field inspectors to capture specific high-risk answers based on thousands of construction and forensic claims. Thousands of quality and safety checkpoints guide field users to document construction and if something is found wrong, an automated alert is sent to the specific trade contractor for correction. Good data and photos are also tracked and provide important statistics for builders to improve their risk ranking.
“After seeing over 5,000 construction claims, it is a shame that more builders don’t focus on a defined process to systematically build this complex thing we call a home,” Luhr said. He added that the cost of AxisPointe’s entire software and QA platform is less than $500 per home, yet just one claim can ruin a builder’s reputation and cost many thousands of dollars to resolve.
AxisPointe has garnered attention from the insurance industry, including Arch, Cove, AIX, Pioneer, American Safety and others who provide coverage for damages associated with defective workmanship. Luhr said that in some cases the builder is required to hire third-party consultants such as AxisPointe as a pre-condition of insurance.
Builders looking for specific quality metrics to gauge their quality level may download Luhr’s “7 Key Factors of Construction” at AxisPointe’s website.
About Pacific Property Consultants, Inc.
Founded in 1983, Pacific Property Consultants provides forensic evaluations and litigation support services for projects involved in any type of dispute or claim. Notable projects have included class-action product failure cases with loss estimates exceeding $2 billion. With more than 5,000 cases completed to date, the company has investigated water intrusion claims of every sort, personal injury and construction delay cases from single-family to high-rise projects in many states.
For more information visit http://www.PPCexpert.com
About AxisPointe
Since 2002 AxisPointe has provided home builders and contractors with technology solutions to eliminate construction risk and improve efficiency. AxisPointe’s HomeProfile® document management solution has been employed on thousands of homes by leading builders in the USA and Canada. Builder support services include risk management services, quality assurance and control systems, project document storage and archiving, customer service management, insurance certificate management, and post-warranty claims support. Field users employ iPhone devices to capture thousands of high-risk checkpoints and digital photographs that are stored for the life of the home to verify compliance with project specifications. MyHomeProfile™ is a customer web portal that allows homeowners access to all builder warranty and maintenance documents and photos of the construction process. AxisPointe’s services are completely hosted, eliminating I.T. overhead and operate on multiple cloud-based service networks and company-owned servers.
For more information visit http://www.AxisPointe.com
Fred Chaney, AxisPointe, http://axispointe.com, 866-859-3125 210, [email protected]
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