If you or someone you know needs clarification about response and recovery from the recent Flood events in February 2023, this article from one of our engineers could be helpful.
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Like many geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists in Auckland this past week, we have been visiting homes affected by slips and have found a lot of confusion and misconceptions about response and recovery, which only adds to the burden people are facing right now. I have outlined some of these below.
A homeowner might be visited by three separate geotechnical engineers in the response and recovery. It's important to understand their role and who they work for.
1. The council engineer, who will "sticker" the house. Only engineers working for Council can place remove or change a sticker, there is some misconception that a homeowner can hire an engineer to alter a sticker, but that is not the case. Council engineers can be contacted at [email protected] (non-urgent) or 09 301 0101 (urgent).
2. The Geotechnical Engineer working for EQC/ the insurance agency.
3. The Geotechnical Engineer working for the homeowner.
The Geotechnical Engineer Working for the private insurance agency and/ or EQC:
Once the homeowner has notified their private insurance agency that they have had damage, the insurer will send a loss adjustor to the site. Then, if the loss adjustor deems it necessary, the insurer's geotechnical engineer will visit and advise a concept solution to fix the slip based on a visual assessment and experience. The EQC/ insurance cost estimator will then work out the engineering and construction cost of the concept solution based on their engineer's assessment. The loss adjustor will compare the total remedial cost to the land value of the damaged land and land at risk combined. The homeowner will probably get the lower of the two values if their claim is accepted.
As has been widely reported, with the major flood and slip events occurring at Gisborne, Auckland, Tauranga, Coromandel and parts of the Waikato currently, delays are expected from both the insurance for the loss adjuster assessment and for the EQC/ insurance agency's engineer's subsequent visit. This process may take weeks or months for some.
The Geotechnical Engineer Working for the homeowner:
A homeowner's geotechnical engineer works in the homeowner's interest in the detailed design and construction of an engineering solution to remediate the slip. They do this by collecting on-site and in-ground data, assessing a variety of historical data, undertaking geotechnical slope stability analyses and outlining appropriate options and implications to help the client can make the best decisions.
Depending on the specific situation, the homeowner may also need a coastal scientist (if coastline regression assessments need to be done), a civil engineer (if flood assessments, stormwater design, wastewater design etc are required), a structural engineer (if the remedial design requires steel or timber structural reinforcement) and/or a surveyor.
When remedial work can be undertaken:
There are steps a homeowner can take in the short term to reduce the chance that the slip will get worse, but it is extremely important not to approach a slip if it is unsafe, for example, if there is a risk of falling from a height. It is also important to note that the ground at the head of a slip may already be overhanging or at imminent risk of falling into the slip. Slips can also reactivate with minimal warning. There are many different factors and mechanisms to consider when it comes to land slippage, and the safest option is for the homeowner to call their geotechnical engineer for advice. Their geotechnical engineer will do everything possible to help the homeowner arrest movement until long-term remediation can be put in place. The homeowners' Geotechnical engineer should also be able to help them understand the engineering and construction challenges they might face in long-term remediation if they feel unsure or worried.
People often wait for the EQC/ insurance report before doing any remedial work. In the worst cases, emergency works are required to make a property safe or sanitary. In these cases, EQC may reimburse or pay the homeowner in advance to facilitate this. EQC guidance on this matter is included below. The homeowner should contact EQC if they think this is the case.
Others in a position to finance their own works may opt to undertake remedial action before receiving their insurance/ EQC payout, they need to make sure they get plenty of evidence of the slip.
Of course, the best medicine is prevention, and a geotechnical engineer can help homeowners assess and mitigate the risk of slips or other geotechnical hazards before they happen. Unfortunately, most do not engage a geotechnical engineer for pre-purchase due diligence appraisals, and many older subdivisions were formed with little or no geotechnical or other engineering input.
Choosing a Geotechnical Engineer or Engineering Geologist:
There is a misconception that all geotechnical engineers do the same thing. In fact, it is a broad and complex field, and individual geotechnical engineers/ geologists or firms often specialise. Make sure your geotechnical engineer or geologist has broad experience in slips and slope stability.
It's important that you can understand your engineer. There is no point in hiring an engineer for advice if they only talk to you in engineering gobbledygook. A good engineer should be willing and able to translate their work and knowledge into language that you can understand so that you can make informed decisions and ask important questions.
Finally, your geotechnical engineer shouldn't be blasé, nor should they be overly conservative in their approach or designs; they should treat your case as if it were their own. Your geotechnical engineer shouldn't be afraid to tell hard truths upfront or outline unknowns, limitations, and risks.
If you have any further questions, contact us at www.lde.co.nz or 0800 397 566
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EQC Guidance on Emergency Work Below;
v. Urgent works to the residential land
What are urgent works?
Urgent (or emergency) works are repairs that are needed to make the residential land safe, sanitary and secure.
There is no reference to "urgent works" in the EQC Act. But in practice urgent repairs are completed urgently because final repairs can't be carried out immediately.
EQC insurance requires EQC customers to take reasonable steps after a natural disaster to preserve their insured property from further natural disaster damage. For details, see Section 81.
This means that after the natural disaster event, if the EQC customer is safely able to, they should do things like:
• temporarily brace a retaining wall which is at risk of collapse;
• fence off unsafe areas at risk of imminent damage from a natural landslip;
• temporarily divert any overland water flow away from a natural landslip area.
Sometimes the EQC customer will need to get urgent help from a tradesperson to carry out some urgent repairs of the natural disaster damage.
Paying or reimbursing the customer for the tradesperson's services for the urgent works:
The customer may have sent invoices (or receipts) for urgent works from these tradespeople to the person dealing with the claim. That person may then either:
• pay the customer, so that the customer can in turn pay the tradesperson for the urgent works: or
• reimburse the customer, where the customer has already paid the tradesperson for the urgent works.
This early payment or reimbursement should only occur where there are actually urgent works. The works must be needed urgently to make the residential land safe, sanitary and secure.
EQC's strong preference is to pay or reimburse the customer for the tradesperson's services for the urgent works. It is not anticipated that the tradesperson would be paid direct, except in exceptional circumstances.
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