Commercial apartment building
$3.6 million recovered
Construction delays, excessive change orders, water intrusion, and construction defects
The matter resolved with a $3.6 million recovery after a $0 settlement offer.
Read the case result
Commercial property
A building defect is also an operating and investment decision.
Construction, insurance, legal and commercial real estate experience for building owners facing substantial repair costs. Connect the condition of the building with the claim, the tenants and the decisions ahead.
No fee unless money is recovered on accepted matters, subject to a written fee agreement.
Representative results
Results involving repair costs and income-producing assets
Commercial strip center in Portland
$1.8 million recovered
Commercial water-loss insurance underpayment
The matter resolved for $1.8 million after the insurer offered $55,432.32, including code-upgrade and loss-of-rent components.
Read the case resultRepresentative results are examples only. Every matter depends on its own facts, evidence, timing, contracts, policies, parties, defenses, damages, and applicable law. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes.
Commercial services
We help owners of apartment buildings, self-storage facilities, retail and office buildings, and other commercial properties. Ownership may be held by an individual, a partnership, an investment fund, or a syndicate. Our work is on the owner’s side.
Construction and Project Disputes
Help for building owners dealing with defective work, project delays, failed repairs, and change-order disputes.
Explore this service →Insurance Recovery
Help for commercial building owners facing denied or underpaid insurance claims, disputed repairs, and lost rent or business income.
Explore this service →Loss of Rents and Business Interruption
Help for building owners pursuing lost rent, business income, and other potentially covered costs arising from property damage.
Explore this service →Referral Counsel and Fiduciaries
Construction, insurance, and legal perspectives alongside a building owner’s existing counsel and advisors, with a defined role and clear communication.
Explore this service →Your multidisciplinary team
Five perspectives.
One coordinated engagement.
The commercial real estate expert brings the owner’s operating constraints into the same conversation as construction, insurance and law. A repair choice and a claim choice need to be evaluated together.
Legal strategy
Kelly McCann · Attorney
Connect the building evidence, potential responsibility and payment sources to a legal strategy.
Insurance & claims
Sarah Harper · Insurance & Property Claims Advisor
Identify gaps between the repair evidence, the claim file and the insurer’s stated payment position.
Construction & repair
Former construction superintendent
Test whether a proposed repair accounts for access, sequencing, affected assemblies and the work needed to put the building back together.
Community associations
Community association management expert
Bring board decisions, resident access, owner communication and funding pressures into the repair-and-recovery plan.
Commercial real estate
Commercial real estate expert
Connect repair timing to tenants, operating income, carrying costs and the owner’s constraints.
For the owner
Understand the claim in the context of the property.
A Property Decision Memo compares the choices that affect repairs, tenant access, costs and the claim. Its scope is tailored to the property and the owner’s next decision.
Property Decision Memo · excerpt
Investigation and tenant access
Two approaches to investigating recurring water entry in an occupied commercial building.
Targeted openings
Start in the affected area.
Limit initial access to locations with reported staining.
- Repair planning
- Establishes conditions at the opened locations. Damage elsewhere may still need investigation.
- Tenant access
- A smaller initial access area, with another visit possible if the findings raise new questions.
- Cost
- Obtain a fee for this scope and a separate price for any follow-up work.
- Claim evidence
- Documents the reported damage. It may leave the insurer’s questions about other locations unresolved.
Broader investigation
Check several locations.
Include selected additional areas to test whether the condition repeats.
- Repair planning
- Tests more locations before pricing repairs. The specialist must explain how those locations were selected.
- Tenant access
- More access coordination at the outset; agree on occupied areas and work windows with management.
- Cost
- Obtain a fee for the wider scope, including opening and reinstatement costs.
- Claim evidence
- May help address whether damage repeats. Additional findings do not establish that every repair is covered.
Before choosing
The owner needs written scopes and fees, the specialist’s reason for each proposed location, and the tenant-access plan. The team compares those proposals with the insurer’s stated questions. Record the evidence before temporary repairs conceal the conditions.
Hypothetical example. No client matter or result is depicted.
Work alongside the people who know the property.
We coordinate the claim work with your property manager, existing counsel, engineer, architect, contractor and financial advisers. The commercial real estate expert helps the legal team understand the operating constraints; Kelly connects that information to the legal strategy. Your advisers retain their agreed roles, and you retain the business and settlement decisions.
The building and its balance sheet
Read the transcript
So for commercial real estate owners, it's a little bit different, because for commercial properties, if it's income generating property, there's really 2 real concerns for the commercial owner. One of them is the building itself, and then two is the balance sheet of the building. And so we're very cognizant of those issues.
Fees & costs
Pursuing payment.
Understanding the expenses.
Before representation begins, the written agreement explains attorney fees, the expenses advanced, and how reimbursement is handled—including if there is no recovery.
Attorney fees
We generally handle accepted matters on contingency. The agreement sets the fee and the terms that apply to your representation.
Litigation & investigation expenses
We advance litigation costs, including agreed expert and investigation expenses. These are the costs of developing and pursuing the claim.
The building’s repair costs
The money needed to perform construction repairs is separate. Advancing claim expenses does not mean Northwest finances the building work or guarantees full repair funding.
Initial review
Describe the loss and the decision ahead.
Include the property, parties, response so far, and any repair or business deadline. Prepare the supporting records; the firm will explain what to provide if closer review is appropriate.
No fee unless money is recovered for you on accepted matters, subject to a written fee agreement.