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Why Fortress

  • 100% Client Retention Rate

What You Get
When You Hire Us

Contractor Experience

Your expert should know what proper installation looks like because they have done it. Jeff and Mark spent decades installing roofs, fabricating sheet metal, and waterproofing buildings before they ever wrote a report.

Facts First

We work both plaintiff and defense. We do not pick a side. We follow the evidence. Three times we have turned away clients who wanted us to bend the truth. We do not do that.

Testimony That Holds

Every investigation, report, and opinion we deliver is built to withstand cross-examination. We document what we find, explain it clearly, and stand behind it on the stand.

Nationwide Reach

Based in the Carolinas. Working in 27+ states. Our testing equipment travels with us. If you have a case or a project, we will be there.

Since 0
Hands-On Field Experience
$ 0 + M
Exposed in Savings on a Single Case

Both Sides

Plaintiff and Defense Litigation
$ 0 M
Largest Single Project
  • WHAT IS COMING

The Next Wave of Construction Defect Cases Is Already Here

COVID changed how buildings got built. The consequences are just now showing up.
Material Substitutions

When contractors could not get the specified products, they substituted. Wrong insulation types. Different sealants. Products that were never designed to work together. Those substitutions are now failing.

Labor Shortages and Turnover

The crews that started the job were not always the crews that finished it. Less experienced workers. Less supervision. Shortcuts taken under pressure to keep projects moving.

Defects Take Years to Show

A waterproofing failure does not show up on day one. It takes two to seven years for water to find its way in, for mold to grow, for structural damage to become visible. That timeline puts us right now in the middle of the surge.

  • CASE OUTCOMES

Real Cases. Real Results.

Every engagement starts as a fact-gathering mission. Here is where the facts have led.
Images below are for illustrative purposes only and are not related to actual cases.
The $2.9 Million Claim

A defense attorney was facing a $2.9 million construction defect claim. Jeff conducted a forensic investigation of the building envelope, documented what actually failed and what did not, and provided expert testimony. The case settled for $700,000. The insurance company saved over $2 million. Our fee was a fraction of that.


Industry: Construction Defect Litigation

Role: Defense Expert Witness

The Dew Point Disaster

During COVID, a wood-frame apartment building could not get the specified above-deck roof insulation. The designer substituted batt insulation below the deck instead. That moved the dew point. Water condensed on the underside of the membrane. The result: destroyed framing, microbial growth, the entire top floor vacated, and a complete tear-off to deck. Fortress was brought in to investigate the root cause and document the chain of failures.


Industry: Multi-Family

Residential Role: Forensic Investigation

The $900 Million Project

A 24-story high-rise in Charlotte with a 5-story amenity building and amphitheater. Glass panels, digital displays, terraces with enormous overburden including pavers, green roofs, and growing media. If a leak developed after construction, the labor cost just to remove the overburden and find it would be staggering. Fortress tested every square foot of waterproofing before the overburden went on.


Industry: Commercial High-Rise

Role: Pre-Overburden Testing

The NASA Wind Tunnel

Fortress was hired through a waterproofing contractor to test the coating on a brand new wind tunnel facility at NASA Langley in Virginia. After seeing the quality of the work, the contractor hired Fortress to test the single-ply roof as well, more than tripling the original contract. That is what happens when people see the work firsthand.


Industry: Government / Department of Defense

Role: Field Testing

The Roof Collapse

A personal injury attorney's clients were injured when a commercial roof collapsed. Jeff flew to New Jersey, examined the building and components in a bond warehouse, and met with opposing experts. This case was not a typical construction defect dispute. It was about people getting hurt. It required the same forensic discipline applied to a different kind of stakes.


Industry: Personal Injury / Structural Failure

Role: Plaintiff Expert Witness

The Step Flashing That Was Wrong for 25 Years

A shingle installation where the step flashing was done incorrectly. When Jeff met the contractor on site, the contractor said "I've been doing it this way for 25 years." Jeff walked over, unwrapped a bundle of shingles right there on the roof, and pointed to the manufacturer's printed installation instructions on the wrapper. Something the contractor had seen every single day for 25 years and never once read.


Industry: Construction Quality / Roofing

Role: Quality Control Inspection

  • GET STARTED

The Right Expert Changes the Outcome

Whether you are building a case or protecting a building, the first step is the same. Send us your information. We review everything before the first call to make sure we can help. If we cannot, we will point you in the right direction. No cost. No obligation.
  • 60+ years of combined field experience
  • Serving attorneys, contractors, and owners in 27+ states
  • We work both plaintiff and defense
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Fill out the form below and we will get back to you within 24 hours. For urgent matters, call Jeff directly at
(864) 965-8668.