Claimed Event
Mould remediation claim with escalation in scope and costs.
Summary
Neither the restorer nor hygienist considered the pre-existing conditions in the property that were unrelated to the claim event.
It was later determined that the property had significant levels of pre-existing visible mould growth on surfaces and contents throughout due to the environmental conditions and unrelated to the claim. The hygienist also failed to conduct the assessment and mould sampling in accordance with industry best practice and only took one outdoor reference sample which lead to a mis-diagnosis of the indoor mould ecology.
Outcome
The project timeframe could have been reduced from 6 to 3 weeks, and the costs reduced from $129,460 to $29,980 saving $99,480 on this project.
Conclusion
If the initial assessment was undertaken by a qualified Indoor Environmental Professional, the delineation would have been made between contamination related to the claim and what was pre-existing. This means that the scope of works would have been limited to claim related damage only. The mould sampling and interpretation of the analytical results were not done in context with the environment sampled which was essentially a construction site. As a result, the project timeline and costs were significant increased based on mis-interpretation of the mould sampling results.
