A construction firm that answers to the record
Ted S. Merrill & Sons, Inc. is a San Diego based general contractor and construction consultant. We are retained on the projects where the stakes are high enough that the analysis has to be defensible, the estimate has to be accurate, and the repair has to be performed correctly.
Sixty years on the job, in every role on the job
Ted S. Merrill has held nearly every position a construction site has to offer. Laborer. Apprentice carpenter. Journeyman carpenter. Superintendent. Estimator. Licensed general contractor. That sequence is the whole argument for this firm.
An estimator who has never framed a wall can produce a number. An engineer who has never run a crew can produce a specification. Neither one can tell you, under oath and with certainty, how many hours a two person crew actually needs to remove and replace a stucco elevation on an occupied second story, what the shoring will really cost, or why the published unit price is wrong for this particular building. We can, because we have done it.
That is what the phrase on our logo means. Building surgeons is not a slogan about craftsmanship. It describes a specific discipline: opening up a damaged or defective structure carefully enough to find the actual problem, documenting what is found before it is destroyed, and repairing only what genuinely needs repair.
We do not produce an estimate we would not be willing to sign a contract to perform.
Ted S. Merrill, PrincipalWhat we specialize in
All phases of construction fall within our license, but the work that defines this firm is damage repair and defect analysis. Over six decades we have estimated and reconstructed buildings damaged by fire, wind, water, motor vehicle impact, earth movement and construction defects. We have been contracted by federal and state governments, local cities, school districts, insurance companies, and individual owners of residential, commercial and industrial buildings.
Forty five of those years have been spent specifically on cost estimating for structures with construction defect problems. That is a narrow specialty, and it is the reason attorneys on both sides of the aisle call this office.
Credentials at a glance
- California Contractor LicenseCSLB #345079
- Construction ExperienceMore than 60 years, all phases
- Defect Cost Estimating45 years
- Court QualificationMunicipal, Superior and Federal courts
- Judicial AppointmentsImpartial repair expert, San Diego and Orange County Superior Courts
- Principal Office7777 Alvarado Road, Suite 408A, La Mesa, CA 91942
Four things clients tell us they do not find elsewhere
The estimate comes from a builder
Our cost of repair opinions are developed the way a real bid is developed: a written scope, subcontractor pricing solicited against that scope, and production rates drawn from work we have actually performed. Software output alone is not an opinion.
The same file works for build or for trial
Because we hold a contractor license and testify, our documentation is built once and serves both purposes. Clients are not paying two firms to reach the same conclusion in two formats.
Nothing is delegated away
The principal inspects the property, develops the scope, reviews the numbers and gives the testimony. Support staff assist, but the opinion belongs to the person who signs it.
Rates are published, not negotiated later
Our hourly rates for consulting, estimating, deposition, trial testimony, destructive testing and appraisal work are posted publicly. You can budget the engagement before you retain us.
Impartiality is the product
A construction expert whose conclusions shift to match whoever is paying has no long term value to anyone, including the client paying at that moment. Our reputation with the San Diego and Orange County benches was built on the opposite habit.
We take assignments from plaintiffs and from defendants. We have been retained by insurance carriers and by policyholders. When the evidence does not support the position of the party that retained us, we say so early, in private, while there is still time to act on it. That is the most valuable thing a consultant can do for counsel.
- Conflicts are cleared before any billable work begins
- Site conditions are documented photographically before any alteration
- Destructive testing locations are agreed with all parties where litigation is anticipated
- Every cost line traces to a bid, an invoice, a measured quantity or a stated production rate
- Assumptions and exclusions are stated in writing, not buried
- Opinions are revised when new evidence warrants it, and the revision is documented
Sixty years of experience, available on your matter.
Describe the property and the problem. We will tell you plainly whether this firm is the right fit and what an engagement would involve.
- Direct(619) 464-3997
- Toll Free(800) 619-4833
- Office7777 Alvarado Road, Suite 408A
La Mesa, CA 91942 - LicenseCSLB #345079