Forensic Reports

Engineering Sydney Expert Witness Reports

Our Expert Witness Report services include

  • Expert Witness Reports
  • Structural Expert Witness Reports

About Our Forensic Reports

What Is Forensic Engineering?

Forensic engineering is the application of scientific and engineering principles to investigate failures that cause personal injury, property damage, or economic loss. Evaluation of the behaviour of the materials using standard failure analysis practices typically identifies the failure mechanism. This information helps determine the root cause and assign liability. The examination and testing of failed materials in a laboratory inspection is crucial as it can provide the required evidence that the involved parties need to manage their project.

What Are Forensic Structural Reports?

Engineering Sydney’s forensic structural reports are largely used throughout the industry to target isolated issues, including building movement, concrete cancer, structural analysis, drainage review and foundation design and more.

A structural inspection is a full detailed report on the condition and method of the structural integrity of a property, which identifies any repairs that you would need to make or severe defects.

Buyers who commission inspections usually receive a detailed inspection up to 20 or 30 pages. They are most common for older properties that are obviously in need of repair, or for significant renovations or extensions to existing properties.

A Summary Of Independent Forensic Structural Investigation Reports

  • Thorough and detailed Structural Inspection.
  • Collecting and analysing data by senior engineer.
  • Detailed and easy to understand reports.
  • Long lasting and effective recommendations by engineers.
  • Ongoing and personalised expert advice even after project completion

Why You Need Our Forensic Reports

Avoid Something Too Costly

Engineering Sydney uses several modern technologies including thermal imaging for water ingress and overheating electrical switchboard investigations and CCTV footage for structural analysis and drainage review.

Is Your Building Experiencing Cracking or Movement?

Engineering Sydney can help by developing a scope of works after conducting our detailed forensic site investigation.

Don’t Let Concrete Cancer Ruin Your Prized Possession!

Engineering Sydney conducts forensic on-site investigations, followed by a detailed report outlining the best methods required to treat and permanently repair spalling/concrete cancer.

We work to support clients at all stages of the forensic engineering process―from non-destructive inspection of simple failures to detailed metallurgical analysis of complex failures involving numerous parties. Our inspection facility is designed to ensure that joint inspections can proceed smoothly and results can be conveyed clearly no matter the size of the group.

What is a Forensic Structural Investigation?

    The aim of a forensic building investigation is for an experienced civil and structural engineer to locate and report the main cause(s) of damage to a building and structures. They reach this conclusion based on evidence collected during building inspection and expert knowledge.

    • Discover the cause of damage to your house and property
    • Receive reliable and expert advice about the most efficient ways to fix the damage
    • Get a comprehensive building investigation report

    Forensic Structural Investigation process

    • We will conduct attentive inspection of the property to assess the building’s structural integrity and damages.
    • Based on careful observations, we will develop a hypothesis to explain the main cause of structural failure and/or non-structural damages.
    • We will then perform experiments to test the validity of the hypothesis.
    • The Forensic Engineer may alter or change the hypothesis to reflect the findings of the experiments.
    • A hypothesis is only considered to be accurate if it can explain the main cause of all damages.

    What should you expect from our building inspection routine?

      Every forensic building investigation begins with a detailed building inspection. Our forensic building inspections typically take between one to three hours. This depends on the complexity of the building, the major problems and the engineer’s personal routine and methods. At Engineering Sydney, all of our forensic structural engineers have years of experience performing structural inspections. Over the years, they have each developed their own unique inspection routine that works best for them. However, you should expect the following procedure when we are inspecting your house:

      1. We will interview you or person responsible for the property during the building inspection. We ask you about the age of the building, the details of the damage, and any construction or modifications that have been done to the structure. We also ask your opinion about the cause of the damage. These questions help us get a better idea about not only the structure itself, but your concerns as well.
      2. We will then ask you to give us a walkthrough of the building and point out the noticeable damages and answer questions such as: when was the damage first noticed? Has the damage become worse over time? Has the damage been repaired before? etc.
      3. We will carefully photograph and collect evidence from site, structure, surroundings and every damage.
      4. We will then decide whether the damage calls for measurement of any footing movements.
      5. We will assess any structural wall cracks and measure crack widths, dimensions, wall verticality and more if required.
      6. We may ask you to provide any available documentation on the structure, such as architectural and structural drawings and geotechnical reports. This can assist with the investigation to correctly determine the structural damage and find accurate engineering solutions.