Lawyer Monthly - February 2023

(and in some cases, even different subcontractors) return after work stoppages, which leads to unfamiliarity with the scope and installation. Do you continue to see issues in the supply chain? How much of this is due to the pandemic? We do continue to see materials supply chain issues but it has and continues to improve. Most of this was due to the pandemic but construction has been strong for the past several years and the supply chain was somewhat stretched out even before COVID. What further developments in the construction industry do you expect to see in the year to come? We expect the supply chain to continue to moderate and a possible slowdown in the construction field as interest rates increase. One thing we certainly expect this year and for the next several years is additional litigation from construction failures. Due to the pandemic, supply chain issues and the shortage of skilled labour, construction over the past several years faced severe headwinds and we observed many projects which were rushed to completion or were not installed per plans and specs. We believe failures will be the result of several factors, including but not limited to the following: A. Supply chain issues where materials were substituted and did not match the original design. B. Material warranty failures due to mismatching of the materials. C. Issues with projects which had start stop in the construction schedule. D. The drive by some owners to continue to demand unrealistic schedules. Contact Jeff Martin and Mark Stewart Fortress Building Envelope Consulting Tel: +1 919-730-1785 | +1 864-965-8668 E: jmartin@fortressbec.com E: mstewart@fortressbec.com www.fortressbec.com About Jeff Martin Jeff Martin is trained in all facets of roofing and building envelope design, with extensive experience in proper construction installation and protecting owners’ interests throughout the entire project process. He has worked as a contractor and a consultant on a range of projects across the healthcare, industrial, institutional, commercial, housing and residential sectors, and holds several certifications in the building envelope area. About Mark Stewart Mark Stewart is an RRC (Registered Roof Consultant) and Certified EIFS Inspector with a bachelor's degree in Construction Management from East Carolina University. For over 30 years, Mark has worked in the commercial roofing industry in the roles of project manager and estimator, and in 2013 was named Manager of Estimating and Sales. Mark has significant experience with multitudes of commercial roofing projects from the simple to the complex. He also served as the District 4 director of the local CRSMCA (Carolina Roofing and Sheet Metal Association). About Fortress BEC Fortress BEC provides comprehensive building envelope consulting throughout the United States. With over 60 years of experience in contracting and consulting, the firm covers a broad range of services to guarantee building envelope integrity. E. Problems with the labour shortage. F. Issues with subcontractors ‘farming’ out their work to lower tier subcontractors who were not qualified but were cheap in pricing or could just provide bodies on the site. G.Lack of proper or qualified supervision. H.Lack of proper design in the plans and specifications due to inexperience in the architecture engineering fields. I. The drive to continue to make structures more air/watertight with varying materials and processes. It is our opinion that, due to the above factors, we should expect to see a huge wave of construction litigation in the upcoming months and years. Much of this will be the result of water intrusion through the building envelope and the associated problems. EXPERTWITNESS 71

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