Expert Witness Building Reports | NCAT Litigation

We provide Expert Witness Building Reports and/or Litigation Reports as part of the litigation support for building matters and disputes which are before the NSW Civil & Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) and the Courts.

Our NCAT Expert Witness Reports provide our impartial expert opinion on the building defect issues and are presented in the structure/format required for submission to the NCAT and as instructed by the Lawyers. They can be used to assist with dispute resolution in conciliation between the parties involved and to accompany applications lodged with the NCAT. We fully accept and abide by the NCAT Chairman’s Directions ‘Expert Witness Code of Conduct’.

Our Expert Building Inspections and NCAT Report details the building defect issues – commonly poor or defective workmanship and/or incomplete works – and typically includes a Scott Schedule detailing the issues and the areas of non-compliance with the Building Code of Australia, Australian Standards and published acceptable standards and tolerances. If applicable, our reports will detail what works are required to rectify the issue, together with an ‘estimate of loss’ i.e. cost to repair. We can also supplement the report with photos to illustrate the issues and assist in corroborating your case. Often the NCAT will require an ‘Experts Conclave’ prior to the hearing, to resolve and reduce the number of the issues and to be of assistance to the Tribunal or Court in making a determination.

Our Litigation NCAT Building Reports are similar and are in the format required by the Lawyer, typically utilising a Scott Schedule to itemise the defect items, detailing our opinion on the cause, their areas of non-compliance with the Building Code of Australia, Australian Standards and published acceptable standards and tolerances, a scope of remedial works and photos corroborating the defect item.

Also, in order to corroborate specific items in your case such as water ingress issues, it may be beneficial to carry out some water testing or ‘invasive’ testing and/or exploratory works to investigate the underlying building elements and substantiate their causes and to determine remedial works. We can arrange for this work to be carried out. Further details about our Investigation & Diagnostic Services / ‘Forensic Engineering’ services are available on our website.