Construction Claims

ON POINT is a full-service provider of construction claims management, dispute resolution and litigation support services. As one of the nation’s leading construction consultants, ON POINT has a reputation for independent, objective analysis and integrity that is well-known by clients and adversaries alike. We provide technical support and construction expertise to attorneys, contractors, owners, insurance companies, lenders and design professionals in public, private and government contracting.

Our professional staff distinguishes themselves by their factual and frank assessment of claims and disputes. ON POINT has the reputation of “calling it as we see it.” This mind-set is a necessity because clients make critical decisions based on our analysis of the circumstances and facts surrounding an issue.

After working on thousands of construction claims, disputes and litigation, our staff has a thorough understanding of construction law, trends, practices and their application to the technical issues of disputes.

Construction Claims services include:

• Claim preparation/evaluation
• Damage calculations and assessments
• Evaluation of design errors, omissions and scope changes
• Loss of efficiency and productivity calculations
• Evaluation of delays, disruptions and acceleration
• Schedule impact analysis
• Change order analysis

Dispute Resolution services include:

• Project-neutral advisor
• Settlement negotiation assistance
• Mediation and arbitration services
• Independent second opinion services

Litigation Support services include:

• Expert reports and testimony
• Demonstrative evidence development
• Trial-quality exhibits and graphics preparation
• Assistance with determining presentation strategies
• Electronic document management, digesting and keyword indexing
• Preparation of issue files
• Preparation of technical deposition and trial questions for witnesses
• Preparation of/responses to technical interrogatories
• Development of technical sections of briefs

Cost Estimating and Management

Among the five common project discriminators – time, cost, quality, performance and scope – most clients concentrate their efforts on determining and controlling project costs.

ON POINT recognizes the importance of having accurate cost estimates before a shovel even goes in the ground. Accurate estimates are needed for budgeting, to verify or modify design decisions at the various stages of the project development and to analyze the accuracy and fairness of contractor bids.

Our Certified Cost Engineers (CCE) and staff of cost estimators and consultants have the credentials and experience to provide estimates that are, on average, accurate to within 5% of bids received.

ON POINT prepares estimates at the various stages of project development, utilizing a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) to code all our estimate items. The WBS allows us to quickly sort and summarize the cost information according to client need. Our estimates will utilize the latest prevailing wage data with our own material and labor productivity costs database. Our cost estimating and management expertise encompasses a wide variety of services.

Cost Estimating and Management services include:

• Conceptual estimates
• Pre-bid estimates
• Cash flow modeling and trending
• Project/program budgets
• Life cycle costs
• Value analysis
• Value engineering cost estimates
• Phasing bid packages
• Analyzing bids and unbalanced bid checks
• Developing schedules of values
• Assessing progress payments
• Estimating and checking change orders
• Preparing costs to complete
• Quantity take-offs

CPM Scheduling

ON POINT provides Critical Path Method (CPM) scheduling services, an essential requirement for effective project management. Our services include the preparation, analysis and updating of baseline schedules based on actual project progress. These services allow our clients to effectively plan and organize the work, measure progress, quantify impacts and adjust to changes with maximum efficiency.

Our work product and deliverables are prepared using the latest versions of the industry’s scheduling software, including Primavera®, SureTrack®, Fast Track® and MS Project®. ON POINT’s reporting protocols are customized to our client’s needs and reflect the requirements of various levels of personnel that will review the scheduling information – from project staff to company executives. We also have the capability to link our scheduling and estimating software programs with project management software, such as Prolog®.

Scheduling services include:

• Master program schedules
• Design phase schedules
• Construction phase schedules
• Completion and turnaround schedules
• Window and look-ahead schedules
• Recovery schedules
• Contract time determination for bids (engineer’s estimate of time)
• Cost and resource loading of CPM schedules
• Periodic updating of schedules
• Preparation of schedule reports
• Schedule analysis and trending
• Progress completion verification (percent complete)
• Review and analysis of schedules prepared by others
• Analysis, preparation and/or testimony regarding delay and disruption claims

Project Risk Management

Construction projects are exposed to risk from concept to completion. To manage those risks, ON POINT employs proven strategies during the project development, design and construction phases.

Our professionals have efficiently analyzed and investigated thousands of construction claim issues for major industry sectors and are frequently called upon to assess troubled projects and oversee completion. ON POINT combines our construction management skills with the analytical tools and wealth of experience gained from resolving construction disputes to provide comprehensive risk management services.

Using our understanding of how things go wrong, we apply proven strategies and systematic processes to identify and monitor risks while ensuring that the appropriate stakeholder is assigned to each risk. ON POINT performs root cause analysis to traditional construction problems and disputes to uncover hidden risks inherent in procedures, processes and performance that often lead to cost and time impacts. Once identified, risk management plans are developed along with actions to remove or minimize the threats to a successful project. Additionally, risk and opportunity go hand-in-hand and systematic risk management often results in the identification of opportunities for adding value to a project.

Risk Management services include:

• CPM scheduling services
• Change-order negotiations validation
• Contract document (key-clause) reviews and decision-tree development
• Payment specification
• Earned value management and analysis
• Independent entitlement assessments
• Issue monitoring and analysis of trends (documents, change management, cost and schedule)
• Project controls development, review and oversight
• Project monitoring
• Project documentation audits
• Peer review of existing PM/CM team
• Periodic progress reviews
• Risk register creation and monitoring
• Quantitative risk assessment (cost/scheduling contingency assessment)

Specialty Consulting

ON POINT professionals possess a wealth of construction, management, consulting and design experience that allows us to offer numerous Specialty Consulting services, including:

Project Rescue and Completion

Every construction program strives to stay on schedule and within budget. High-profile projects in particular cannot afford delays and often involve immovable deadlines. When projects fall off-track or become hopelessly stalled, ON POINT provides project condition assessments – including completion costs, schedules and strategies – and gets the project moving again. For those projects that are near completion, we can resolve and negotiate disputed claims and change orders on the owner’s behalf, as well as assist in the commissioning, startup and occupancy of the project.

Financial Monitoring and Auditing

Financial institutions are often at risk when funding construction projects. Whether the source is a public agency, bank, brokerage house, venture capitalist or angel investor, we can help to successfully protect the investment. ON POINT financial monitoring services, organized into two phases (Preconstruction and Construction Services), are beneficial to construction projects of virtually every size and type. We work within a client’s specific project and contract restraints to break down risks and exposures into manageable components: financial, contractual, operational, organizational and insurable.

Integrity Monitoring

An integrity monitoring program is implemented in those instances when extra precautions are necessary to prevent fraud, waste, abuse and corruption during a construction project. ON POINT has the expertise and industry knowledge to create proactive, customized solutions to prevent or deter fraud, corruption and safety/environmental violations from occurring on a construction site while not inhibiting the project’s schedule, cost, or contractor performance. Serving as Independent Private Sector Inspectors General (IPSIG),       ON POINT’s team of professional consultants has the sophisticated legal, forensic auditing, investigative and loss prevention skills, with particular expertise in the investigation and prosecution of construction, labor and environmental fraud schemes to ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations. We seek not only to identify inappropriate activity and coordinate with the appropriate authorities, but also to deter it from happening in the future.

Negotiation Assistance

Negotiation is a powerful tool used to settle a claim or dispute early, without formalized legal proceedings such as mediation, arbitration or trial. ON POINT facilitates the negotiation process by structuring the meeting, scheduling the dates and times, helping each party understand the position of the other and keeping discussions relevant. As a negotiation facilitator, we represent neither party, and both parties split the cost of our services.

In some cases, ON POINT is hired by one party to assist with their preparation of a scheduled negotiation. We can remain anonymous, assisting with the technical issues of entitlement and damages or we can provide these same services and attend the negotiation session.

Surety Consulting & Support

Our extensive experience in all phases of the construction industry makes ON POINT one of the most active construction and surety consultants. We provide a variety of services to the surety and its counsel. Our staff has experience with a wide range of industries and diverse contract arrangements, such as Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contracts, design-build, lump-sum, fixed-fee, reimbursable costs and variations of each, in both the public and private sectors, which provides ON POINT with the ability to respond to a variety of complex issues.

Throughout our history, ON POINT has provided owners, sureties and their bond principals with sound professional advice and assistance to make the appropriate, critical project decisions that fulfill bond obligations, while maintaining the focus on the mitigation of damages and accurate exposure analyses and forecasting.

ON POINT’s surety services are broken down into four main categories:

Underwriting Advisory services, including:

• Due diligence
• Bid evaluation
• Contract terms review
• Intelligence gathering

Pre-default Project services, including:

• Change order resolution
• Time extension requests
• Unbiased project status evaluation
• Payment bond claims investigation/resolution
• Default avoidance negotiations

Post Default services, including:

• Risk assessment
• Completion strategy
• Takeover negotiations
• Requests for equitable adjustments
• Rebid process management
• Subcontractors ratification
• Project financial audit
• Principal financial audit
• Subcontractors financial audit
• Cost-to-complete analysis
• Dynamic exposure analysis (“what if” scenarios)
• Complete project management/oversight
• Operating escrow accounts management
• Documents management
• Project close-out
• Asset liquidations/recovery

Litigation Support services, including:

• Claims and counterclaims preparation/defense
• Expert services
• Mediation/ADR support
• Trial preparation/strategy
• Demonstrative evidence/trial exhibits