EXPERT WITNESS
CONSULTING EXPERT STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING SERVICES
From almost the firm’s inception, DCSE has been called upon by leading Attorneys, Construction Experts, Developers, Property Owners, and/or Insurance Companies to provide Consulting Expert Structural Engineering Services. These forensic services frequently involve construction defect claims, design defect claims, peer reviews for due diligence studies (existing projects), peer reviews for design code compliance (new projects) and many other tasks. DCSE has been successful in providing the most equitable settlements over the years and enjoys referrals handed out by a vast network of our past and current clients.
STRUCTURAL INVESTIGATION
DCSE’s lengthy resume of Structural Investigations of existing buildings and/or individual structural components that are reported to be in distress is extensive. The firm’s services have been requested by Building Officials, Developers, Building Owners, Insurance Companies and others.
Our firm has consulted developers and Homeowner Associations with SB-721 and SB-326 providing destructive testing observations and reports on decks/balconies, elevated walkways, and stair landings to meet the state requirements. Our firm has provided investigation and repair consultation and design/drawings for evaluation and repair for all types of fire-damaged buildings. Some were near total losses/rebuilds, while others were limited repair of isolated structural elements.
SEISMIC RETROFIT
Many Building Departments have increasingly strict requirements regarding the seismic upgrade and retrofit of existing buildings. Early on this consisted of designing and implanting improvements of key structural components (primarily connections of the various structural elements within a given load-resisting system) with regard to life safety. D.C.S.E. has participated in the design and upgrade of many such projects as well as the mandatory upgrade of structures that are being modified, remodeled, or added to. Each of these projects presents unique challenges and requires an additional level of “out-of-the-box” thinking. This is necessary to ensure the client receives the most structurally compliant solution at the absolute lowest construction cost, (extremely important here since funding for the retrofit type of projects is typically not planned for by project owners). D.C.S.E. continues to accept and look forward to seismic/structural retrofit-type projects.
