Construction Articles

In this article, New York highway and construction expert Richard Khorigan, P.E. discusses the unique challenges involved in performing construction projects in a busy metropolitan area with a complex infrastructure. New York City and the surrounding Metropolitan area include more than 6,000 miles of roadways that interconnect via an overlapping system of bridges and tunnels. The engineers at Robson Forensic regularly provide expert witness investigations involving construction claims and injuries.

In this article, Civil Engineer and construction expert Michael J. Tuttman explores how the essential questions of “Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How” are as important for construction projects as they are for newspaper stories. They are needed to establish the scope of the work involved, and to estimate its cost. When the unexpected happens, resulting in a construction claim, you also have to know how to deal with the “How About.”

In this article, architect and construction administration expert, Anthony Shinsky discusses the purpose and importance of the submittal process. Tony and the other construction experts at Robson Forensic are frequently retained to provide expert witness investigations relevant to a broad range of construction claims.

In this article, architect and construction expert, Will Martin discusses the role of “transitions” in the investigation of construction claims. Will explains how shortcomings at the physical transitions as well as transitions across construction teams within the jobsite are frequently the cause of failures.

In this article, experts from the architectural practice at Robson Forensic provide an overview of error and omissions change orders. The discussion includes an explanation of change orders, the difference between errors and omissions, as well as what is reasonable to expect from architects and project owners.

In this article, Forensic Document Examiner, Mark Songer discusses the role of document examiners within the context of construction disputes. The article highlights examples of “cut and paste” forgeries and provides background into the processes and techniques utilized as part of the investigation.


Mark conducts document analysis involving a wide range of cases stemming from various industries. Please contact Mark to discuss your case and how he can assist.

This article provides an introductory lesson on building enclosures, including the components of the enclosure, common defects, and how forensic experts investigate these issues.

This presentation, developed by civil engineer, Gregory Pestine, P.E. discusses the importance of deploying a well-defined quality control program on construction projects of all sizes. Greg provides specific examples of construction defects along with information on why the defects developed and insight on what should have been done to prevent the problems from occurring in the first place.


Gregory originally presented this information to the Litchfield Cavo firm in December of 2014. If you are interested in having a similar presentation delivered to your firm or legal organization, please contact us for details. Greg, or another of our construction experts, can often accommodate speaking requests from law firms or legal organizations that are interested in the content.

In this article, architect and construction expert, Bruce Corke, AIA provides an introduction to BIM and discusses how this relatively new technology is likely to affect the landscape of construction litigation in years to come.

In this article, Architect and Construction Expert, Ronald P. Bertone FAIA, FACHA, NCARB provides an introduction to submittals and their importance in the construction process.

Lee E. Martin, AIA of Robson Forensic, who is the former State Architect of Ohio, testified on behalf of the TransAmerica (TA) Construction Corporation in this case. His opinion was that the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) failed to supply TA and other contractors on the project with complete, accurate and readily-understandable construction documents or obtain building and other permits as required by state statute.

This article focuses on the role of developers, designers, builders and others involved in the creation of communities and infrastructure that support human and environmental health, safety and welfare. We highlight some of the elements that are commonly encountered in the course of our forensic investigations with a focus on the problems and how professionals address them. At the end of the day, few things will have an effect as profound on people as the creation of the places where they live, work and play.

As a former hearing officer on the AIA National Ethics Council, and now a testifying expert in construction disputes, I have seen my share of Professional Ethics and Standard of Care claims. The complexity of these cases typically grows as additional parties are named in a lawsuit and when the nature of the relationships between named parties is increasingly intertwined. In determining liability and causation, it is important to first understand fundamental concepts from the world of architecture and construction; when armed with this knowledge, it is possible to systematically evaluate the performance of each party against relevant contract requirements, construction documents, building codes, industry standards, and the Standard of Care.