Land Damage Assessments

The workload on private insurance companies has dramatically increased with the occurrence of multiple extreme weather events within a relatively short period. The demand for land damage assessments across multiple regions and following several events put the insurance industry under stain to assess and settle insurance claims. Our client needed timely and reliable assessments carried out by experienced engineers to process claims efficiently.

Our geotechnical engineering team assessed over 250 landslips and storm flood damage sites across the greater Auckland region. The type of damage varied from minor damage to retaining walls to large global site failure landslips that had taken houses off their foundations or taken out accessways to properties. Our main challenge was servicing the volume of assessment requests while meeting the client’s requirements on the turnaround of the reports. We set ourselves fast response times to facilitate our client settling the claims promptly.

1. Efficient On-Site Assessments

Eliot Sinclair rapidly responded to each assessment request, contacting the home owners letting them know an engineer had been assigned to their claim, visiting individual sites, and conducting our land assessments. Flood and landslip damage within the Natural Hazards Commission | Toka Tū Ake Act cover was assessed from a geotechnical perspective.

2. Timely Report Generation

Our geotechnical engineers produced land damage assessment reports for each site, including the cause and extent of damage within Natural Hazards Commission | Toka Tū Ake cover. These included a land damage map and cross sections if appropriate. We delivered a concept repair strategy, including any additional considerations such as land access. The fast turnaround of the reposts allowed the insurance companies to price up the cost of the repair, and quickly settle the claim with homeowners.

3. Multidisciplinary Expertise

Eliot Sinclair's in-house structural engineering team was on hand to assess sites that required additional investigation, streamlining the assessment process. This eliminated the need for external contractors and ensured faster, cost-effective assessments.

Eliot Sinclair delivered cost-effective and timely land damage assessments. We were proactive in servicing the requests, ensuring we were responsive and economical for our client. Our multidisciplinary expertise and rapid response helped insurance companies manage the overwhelming demand efficiently.