Expert valuation of defects in a mediated property dispute

The issue

We were engaged by a leading national and international law firm representing an insurance company in a legal dispute with the owners of a residential property. The owners alleged significant structural integrity and safety defects, with claims supported by expert reports from their appointed specialists.

Our role was to review the respective expert reports (structural and non-structural) from both claimant and defendant sides, assess the alleged defects, and provide an expert opinion on the quantum associated with the necessary remedial works.

Our approach

On initial review, we found that the expert reports lacked sufficient detail to produce a robust valuation. In particular, the remedial scopes provided were too general to enable cost build-up. We liaised closely with the instructing solicitors to highlight these deficiencies and arranged meetings with the defendant’s expert team to clarify their remedial scope.

Through a series of structured meetings, we were able to prepare the defendant’s version of a Scott Schedule, setting out each alleged defect, the opposing positions of the parties, and the defendant’s proposed remedial works. This provided a clear framework from which
a valuation could be produced.

Our valuation was developed from first principles:

• Identifying required resources (labour, plant, materials).
• Calculating costs using a mix of industry-standard data and current market rates.
• Aggregating detailed inputs to determine item-by-item remedial costs.

We also incorporated allowances for preliminaries such as site management, supervision, scaffolding, waste removal, cleaning, plus overheads, profit, and contingency to conclude our valuation of the defects.

The outcome

We produced a fully costed valuation of the defendant’s remedial scheme, which was used in a mediation between the parties. Although the mediation did not result in a settlement, the work provided our client and the instructing solicitors with a robust valuation to inform its proposed settlement position.