Remedial and Corrective Work
Corrective work is harder than the original construction. Access is worse, the surrounding work is finished, the site is often occupied, and the scope has to be right the first time because everybody is watching.
We repair defective and failing civil work, including work required by a settlement or an agency.
Repairing built work is not the same as building it
New construction happens on an open site in a sensible order. Corrective work happens through finished improvements, around occupants, in small quantities, with the original contractor gone and the reason for the failure sometimes still in dispute. Almost every efficiency available in new construction is unavailable here, which is why repair estimates built from new construction unit costs are consistently and badly low.
What we correct
Understand the cause before rebuilding
The single most common failure in corrective work is repairing the symptom. A slope that moved because a subdrain was never installed will move again if it is simply regraded. Water appearing at the base of a wall is not a wall problem. Before we price a repair we want to understand why the condition exists, and where that is genuinely unclear we will say so rather than sell you a rebuild that might not hold.
Working on occupied and finished sites
Access through finished improvements, protection of what stays, resident and tenant coordination, restricted hours, and restoration of everything disturbed on the way in. On community association work the residents are the client's client, and how the work is conducted matters nearly as much as the result.
Litigation and settlement work
Where a repair is required by a settlement, a judgment, or an agency enforcement action, the scope is frequently defined by a document rather than by engineering judgment, and completion has to be demonstrable. We build to the defined scope, document conformance, and provide the record that closes the obligation.
The independence rule
Our firm also performs construction defect analysis and expert work. We do not provide the forensic opinion and the repair on the same matter. If we assessed it, someone else builds it. If we build it, someone else assessed it.
Corrective capabilities
- Grading and compaction correction
- Slope stabilization and repair
- Subdrain retrofit and repair
- Retaining wall repair and replacement
- Drainage correction and retrofit
- Storm drain repair
- Treatment facility correction
- Utility repair and replacement
- Trench settlement correction
- Pavement repair and reconstruction
- Concrete removal and replacement
- ADA compliance correction
How we run this work
Every scope is bid against real quantities and built to the governing agency's standard.
Cause review before scope
An assessment of why the condition exists, because repairing a symptom produces a second repair.
Repair scope definition
An explicit written scope with the basis stated, so what is and is not being corrected is unambiguous.
Realistic repair pricing
Priced for demolition, access, small quantity inefficiency, protection, phasing, and restoration, not from new construction unit costs.
Occupied site plan
Access routes, protection, hours, notifications, and restoration where residents or operations continue through the work.
Conformance documentation
The record demonstrating the repair was built as specified, which is what closes a settlement or agency obligation.
Restoration to match
Finished surfaces, landscape, and improvements disturbed by access restored to the agreed condition.
Questions we get on this scope
Can you repair work you did not build?
That is most of this scope. We will want the original documents where they exist, plus whatever testing and observation is needed to understand the condition, before pricing anything.
Will you tell us if a proposed repair will not work?
Yes, and that conversation is the most valuable thing we bring to this scope. We have seen a considerable number of repairs fail because the scope addressed the visible condition rather than the cause. We would rather lose the job than build one of those.
Can you work under a settlement or court ordered scope?
Yes. Where the scope is defined by a document, we build to that document and provide the conformance record needed to demonstrate completion. Where the defined scope will not actually solve the problem, we will tell you before signing, not after.
Do you do the forensic assessment too?
Not on the same matter. We provide construction defect analysis and expert testimony as a separate practice, and combining the opinion and the repair on one project would compromise both.
Get a bid on remedial and corrective work
Send us the plans, the specification, and the schedule you are working to. We will tell you whether we are the right contractor for it and what it will cost.
Send us the project
Tell us the site, the scope, and the deadline. Initial consultations carry no fee and no obligation.