The Client and Its Challenge
A luxury Caribbean resort with rooms, suites, cottages, and villas was concerned about the quality of recent construction that was built under the concept of "fast-track" or design-as-you-build. The resort had contracted with a turn-key design and construction firm to build the new facilities on a time-and-material basis. The client asked Marsh to review the building plans and the final product to determine if its concerns were justified.

The Risk Consulting Solution
Marsh consultants flew to the Caribbean resort to conduct a thorough analysis of the building plans and final project deliverables. Based on their knowledge of the construction industry—including leading practices—they were able to determine that the final product had been over-designed and over-built. In addition, they were able to demonstrate that the actual construction quality was not up to standard. Both the quality of the construction and the fact that it had been over-designed and over-built were the responsibility of the construction design and administration team that had been hired by the client. By Marsh calculations, the client had overpaid the contractor more than $500,000.

Results
Armed with the information and conclusions prepared by the Marsh consultants, the client was able to file a claim against the contractor's E&O insurance policy. After a review by the carrier, the client was awarded $400,000 in E&O damages. In addition, the carrier—and contractor—were put on notice regarding the poor construction quality in case future claims would need to be filed as a result of a hurricane or other damaging events.