Brick Township Modular Home

GREYHAWK provided an analysis of the erection/construction of a 2,000-sf private home in Brick Township, N.J., to Sica Industries, Inc. (now Sica Modular Homes).

Sica erected a new single-family home with a slab-on-grade ground floor garage and storage space and piles supporting two stories of living space above. Each of the two upper floors consisted of two prefabricated modular units joined at a ‘marriage joint’ running lengthwise through the home. After completion, the homeowners noticed a slight ridge in the hardwood flooring running parallel to the marriage joint on both upper floors. Although this was brought to Sica’s attention not long after modular erection, and Sica offered to investigate, the homeowners took no further action. Subsequently, after ‘Superstorm’ Hurricane Sandy, the homeowners sought recovery for the flooring issue first through an insurance claim and then through a suit against Sica. In pursuing its claim, the homeowner never consulted the contractor who installed the flooring; instead, the homeowner engaged an engineer who rendered various opinions as to the cause of the flooring issue ranging from unlevel module setting to wind to floor joist rotational deformation. The homeowners ultimately claimed Sica was responsible.

Sica hired GREYHAWK to investigate, measure, and document the structural condition of the home and especially the condition of the flooring at the ridge and elsewhere; respond to the opinions in the engineer’s report; and offer any more plausible explanations about the cause of the ridge. In testimony in an American Arbitration Association (AAA) arbitration, GREYHAWK successfully rebutted the homeowner’s engineer, provided a more plausible explanation for the cause of the ridge, and demonstrated the cause was not a defect for which Sica could be held responsible. Based on GREYHAWK’s reporting, the arbitrator ruled in favor of Sica.