Construction disputes are among the most common, and most document-heavy, matters in Queensland litigation. Whether the fight is over defective work, non-compliance, delay or the cost to put things right, the evidence usually rests on a construction expert.
These experts inspect, analyse and report on the quality and compliance of building work, and frequently give evidence in court and in QCAT.
What is a construction expert witness?
A construction expert witness is a building professional, a building consultant, certifier, engineer or quantity surveyor, retained to give independent opinion on a construction dispute. The right expert depends on the issue: workmanship and compliance sit with a building consultant, structural questions with an engineer, and cost or delay with a quantity surveyor.
When you need one
- Building defects, identifying defects and their cause and significance
- Compliance, whether work met the National Construction Code and Australian Standards
- Scope and rectification cost, the work reasonably required to fix defects
- Water ingress and waterproofing failures, a frequent source of dispute
- Delay, whether milestones were met and the building consequences
What a construction expert does
- Inspects the building and documents the defects or non-compliance
- Reviews the contract, plans, certificates and site records
- Forms an opinion on cause, responsibility and code compliance
- Assesses the scope and reasonable cost of rectification
- Prepares a report and gives evidence in court or QCAT
Choosing the right expert
Many domestic building disputes in Queensland are heard in QCAT, which has its own expert-evidence procedures, so an expert who understands that forum is valuable. Look for relevant licensing, hands-on inspection experience, and the ability to present clear findings backed by the code and the records.
How Experts Edge helps
Experts Edge helps litigation teams find the discipline-correct construction expert, and pair them, where needed, with an engineer or quantity surveyor, with conflict screening built in. One matter, the right experts, faster.