ABOUT THE CLAIM
In the wake of a hurricane, the owner of a small commercial building utilized as a fabrication shop filed a claim with his property insurance carrier. The well-regarded insurer wanted to expedite claims processing, honoring its obligations and tradition of customer service in times of devastation and loss but at the same time had to ensure it was only paying for covered losses. The carrier’s adjuster called upon the forensic expertise of Guardian and YA Group to determine which items on the list of reported damages were the result of the storm and which were not.
ABOUT THE INVESTIGATION
After accessing local weather data for the date of loss, the Guardian/YA Group forensic expert rapidly deployed to the scene for a thorough interior and exterior investigation, including a roof inspection. The subject property is a 1950s-built, two-story, warehouse-style building of approximately 5000 square feet. The structure, sitting on a lot of approximately 6500 square feet, is concrete slab-on-grade, with exterior concrete masonry unit (CMU) walls. The front façade of the building is a combination of CMU and wood frame. The CMU walls are parged/painted, while the wood framed portion is clad with cement plaster stucco. Wood trusses supported the metal panel roofing system. Observations included:
No broken windows, missing or displaced building materials, damaged vegetation, or impact marks at the structure’s exterior consistent with wind damage or wind-borne debris;
At the South elevation: a stucco crack below a second-floor window and one at the bottom right corner of an upper floor window with offset;
At the North elevation: a step crack in the CMU;
On the roof: new plywood decking had already been completed as repairs were already in progress, but existing roof trusses were in place and undamaged;
At the interior: at the Southeast corner of the Second Floor, daylight was observed between the CMU wall and sill plate, the top of the CMU wall was not flat.
ABOUT THE CAUSE & ORIGIN REPORT
The final report, supported with numerous photographs that documented the scene, acknowledged that although the no-longer-visible roof damage was likely attributable to the winds, with reported, sustained speeds at this location of 95 mph, there was no structural damage to the building. Additionally, the daylight between the CMU wall and the second floor’s sill plate was due to the out-of-tolerance wall – an original construction issue and not the result of the storm. As for the cracking, a review of archived imagery proved these to have predated the storm. Storm damage was limited to the roofing system, which could no longer be evaluated.
ABOUT GUARDIAN & YA GROUP
For complex property claims, insurance carriers, TPAs, and adjusters count on the Guardian & YA Group forensic engineering team for rapid dispatch of experts, clear communication, and definitive cause & origin reporting. This esteemed, now 700+ person strong group of building experts possesses deep experience with large-size claims, high-risk claims, and highly complex claims. When claims cross your desk that transcend the run-of-the-mill and the everyday, the combined Guardian and YA team of personnel, who are strategically located throughout the U.S., as well as Mexico and England, prove to be your invaluable resource. They provide the construction and engineering investigations and reporting that help both carriers and their insureds understand exactly what happened and why, facilitating fast, fair, and reliable resolutions. Kindly call on our experts today.