Guardian Group, Inc.’s construction claims experts were recently called to the scene of an aviation fueling facility. Just prior to this, a routine punch-list process left the project engineer dissatisfied with the quality of the welding on the job – a significant factor due to the fact that petroleum piping must perform/endure to a greater degree. Despite the project’s completion and the principal’s willingness to complete any punch-list work, the project engineer called for a Pre-default Meeting. Subsequent to that meeting, the project engineer recommended that the principal be defaulted and demanded that the surety replace the entirety of the principal’s work.
Relying upon Guardian’s extensive claims investigations and engineering experience, the surety asked out experts to immediately dig deeper into the matter and to advise them of their exposure and their options. Guardian’s investigation uncovered several things, including not only a substantial impairment but also the presence of a third party operating out of the same airport. This third party had already begun obtaining needed additional work from the principal, including full replacement and upgrading of a similar system. Guardian advised the surety that it had no exposure due to design, spec. and execution failures by the engineer. The outcome of mediation was that this was a matter that ought to be settled via payments via the principal and a claim against the engineer’s E&O policy, not the surety.
From small, daily claims to the largest, most problem-ridden construction projects, sureties put their trust in Guardian Group, Inc. They know the firm’s nearly 30 years of experience translates into more precise, more efficient determinations of what really happened, and they know that leads to more rapid resolution of claims.