Structural Forensic Work

[sundale]

What is the story behind the all the job openings for structural engineering forensic work? Is there really that much litigation and insurance activity? Are these firms typically sweatshops that have constant turnover of engineers?

It would seem that such a niche engineering market would not take many structural engineers at all to soon be saturated, but from the plethora of job postings, this does not seem to be the case.

Just curious. Thanks.

 

[IRstuff]

It seems to me that there might be an increase in demand, due to the fact that so much of our infrastructure is old, and even the more recently erected structures are dubious, due to shoddy construction or cutting corners to save costs. In the Los Angeles are, there hasn't been a new freeway constructed in about 20 years, although they do seem to be widening them on a regular basis, but there might be core components that aren't replaced and are simply surrounded by newer structures.

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[BUGGAR]

There is so much "non conforming" construction around that it's become a lawyer's market. I spent my time sticking magnets on shearwalls. In my experience, it beats driving a cab when there's nothing else around. You are expected to provide your own transportation. You can listen to the fantastic stories of the people in the apartment you are investigating. I met a nice group of jazz musicians in a building we were essentially condemning; the contractor overdrove the shear nails and penetrated the paper on the face of the gyp board.

 

[Guastavino]

I have a friend that works for a big forensic outfit in the US. They get a lot of work from storm damage like what just happened in south Carolina, etc. A lot of it is working with insurance companies to determine flood vs. wind damage. That makes a difference in the insurance payouts.

I'm guessing also that a lot of the condos/apartments that were built in the housing boom before 2008 are starting to exhibit their issues. The company I used to work for was involved in this line of work to a small degree. It's sad walking onto a developer based beach condo project where all the units were built poorly and won't last. Meanwhile, the developer's LLC is probably long gone and the contractor is the one on the hook. Not that I feel sorry for the contractor, but it's just unfortunate that this happens.