Large Loss

Fire, flood, explosion, collapse and other disasters affecting the built environment seem to dominate the headlines these days. They often result in large losses, which can have a serious impact on our economy.

In October 2010, Crane Engineering formed a new subsidiary dedicated to helping legal firms, insurance companies, real estate professionals and building owners define, verify, prevent and resolve large loss incidents. Crane Engineering Building Science offers the diagnostic and analytical capabilities and other resources needed to address built-environment failures and claims.

Crane Engineering Building Science is focused on the four key areas of large loss cases:

• Design
• Materials
• Codes
• Contracts

Other than damages resulting from violent acts of nature, a large loss involving a building is very similar to a product failure. We provide our customers with the most definitive identification of cause. Our firm uncovers what really went wrong.

The largest losses are often complex, resulting from failures of materials to perform as specified, either due to fault in the material itself, installation or maintenance. Material interaction can produce compound results that are not properties of the native material.

Understanding contracts is also critical to successfully addressing large losses. The basics are obvious – who was supposed to do what during the design and building process – but the resulting assignment of fault requires intricate analysis. Issues such as ‘fitness for purpose’ and ‘standard of care’ come into play, and Crane Engineering Building Science have the expertise to know what those mean in the built environment.

 

Crane Engineering Building Science also provides Building Owner Services.