Expert Witness

At Stephen Hodge Associates Ltd we offer to carry out Expert Witness services on Property and Construction matters.

The RICS state ‘an Expert Witness is a person engaged to give an opinion based on experience, knowledge and expertise’. We offer an impartial Chartered Building Surveyors view. Stephen Hodge has over 40 years of varied construction experience on which to base his opinion.

Construction disputes are common usually owing to a:

• Lack of a contractual arrangement.
• A contractor who is not competent.
• No effective project or contract management of the process.

As a practice, we are also aware that such times carry a high level of stress and anxiety to those involved and we aim to alleviate a degree of this for our clients by acting in a prompt and professional manner.

Following a dispute we assess whether the building work has been ‘carried out with reasonable care and skill’, over a reasonable period of time and at a reasonable cost, and that it complies with the specification, drawings and quotation on which the agreement between the contractor and the client was based.

We offer to carry out an inspection of the work on behalf of either the client or the contractor or both. We then prepare our draft report highlighting the defects , how they fall short of the required standard and the measures to be adopted to rectify the works.

An Expert Witness has a responsibility to the courts to act impartially and honestly and we are also regulated by the RICS.

Our expert reports comply with CPR rule 35.10 (3) and complies with the guidance set out in Practice Direction 35 on the Guidance for the Instruction of Experts in Civil Claims 2014.

Our duties are also set out in the RICS document ‘Surveyors Acting As Expert Witnesses’.

Using our experience of working with contractors on current projects, we can also carry out an Expert Evaluation of the project and costs involved and discuss the costs of rectification and assist with the negotiation of settlement between the parties.

On occasions we are appointed by the courts as Single Joint Expert on property and construction matters.