Landscaping Expert Witness & CPR 35 Reporting

A landscaping expert witness is an essential person in any dispute which has arisen due to the client and contractor falling out of agreement. This is usually where the expectations of either party has not been met.

If the client doesn’t feel that the contractor has obligated the works as per the specification or contract to the standard expected. This may be due to a single or multiple reasons.

Examples include – Patio holding water, walling not level or straight, paving collapsing, loose paving, decking not constructed correctly, hard landscaping subsidence, render cracking or detaching from a wall, uneven steps… There could be one reason… there could be many.

In these instances, an independent “Single Expert Witness Statement of Opinion” should be sought as this will highlight all the issues failings or short comings of the project. This will form the basis of any mediation between the client and contractor. This cost is accepted by the side instructing the report.

It also works the other way too. If the client refuses to pay the contractor for works and the contractor feels that the contract or specification has been obligated to the expected standard, an independent “Single Expert Witness Statement of Opinion” will highlight what service has been provided and to what standard. This will assist in the pre-court action should the contractor wish to pursue this with a lawyer.

Both parties may also decide that that a “Single – Joint Expert Witness Statement of Opinion” is the best way forward.  This is usually when both parties wish to mediate and agree on the outcome of the report. The costs of such would be shared equally by both parties.