Construction Consultants & Expert Witnesses

Miami Construction Expert Witnesses

Delay, disruption, termination, construction defects and first-party claims.

Forensic schedule analysis, delay and disruption opinions, and defect and damages consulting for Miami, Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County construction disputes, including work in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit and the Southern District of Florida.

For high-rise and condominium building-envelope, waterproofing and related defect work in Miami and Miami-Dade County, see Miami Construction Defect Expert Witnesses.

Oxley serves Miami and Miami-Dade County construction matters from its office at 13830 58th St N, Suite 403, Clearwater, FL 33760. The firm does not maintain a Miami office. We travel for depositions, mediations, site visits and document reviews in downtown Miami, Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach and the rest of the county.

When a Miami-Dade project finishes late, or a high-rise, hotel or civic project is in dispute, the questions are usually the same. Which events actually moved the completion date? How much time or cost does each one account for? What do the baseline, the updates and the daily record show, as opposed to what each side remembers? Those questions are evaluated against the contract and the available evidence.

Oxley’s construction expert witnesses address delay, disruption, termination, construction defects and first-party claims in reports and testimony.

Coastal and high-rise communities

Miami-Dade service coverage includes Sunny Isles Beach, Miami Beach, North Bay Village, Bal Harbour, Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands, Golden Beach, Key Biscayne and Aventura, along with Coconut Grove, Coral Gables, Doral, and Miami’s Brickell and downtown areas. Oxley serves these construction matters from Clearwater.

Miami-Dade courts and forums where delay opinions are tested

State court: Eleventh Judicial Circuit, civil division at the Osvaldo N. Soto Miami-Dade Justice Center, 20 N.W. 1st Ave., Miami, which also lists a complex business litigation section and coordinates court-ordered civil mediation.

Federal court: Southern District of Florida, Miami Division, Wilkie D. Ferguson, Jr. U.S. Courthouse, 400 N. Miami Ave., serving Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.

Appeals: Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, 2001 S.W. 117th Ave., Miami, covering the Eleventh and Sixteenth Circuits (Miami-Dade and Monroe); federal appeals go to the Eleventh Circuit.

Arbitration and mediation: many Miami-Dade contracts require mediation first or arbitration, often under the AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules. The analysis is the same in each forum; disclosure timing, report format and how testimony is taken change.

The Miami-Dade projects behind these disputes

Downtown and Brickell high-rise residential and mixed-use towers, Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach condominiums and hotels, civic buildings, and highway and bridge work all generate schedule, defect and damages disputes. The owner’s identity shapes the contract: public owners bring their own schedule specifications, time-extension procedures, notice requirements and liquidated damages clauses, and those terms frame any delay analysis.

Public owners that build in Miami-Dade include Miami-Dade County, the City of Miami, the City of Miami Beach, the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and the Florida Department of Transportation’s District Six, which is headquartered in Miami. They are listed here to describe the local market, not as Oxley clients.

Dan’s experience, as an employee and as an expert, includes high-rise condominiums, hotels, civic and convention facilities, infrastructure, and highways and bridges. Earlier in his career, he managed condominium construction in North Beach and Sunny Isles Beach for general contractors. That was prior employment experience, not work performed by Oxley.

Technical questions

Questions for the assignment

  • Schedule development and progress updates
  • Time impact and delay questions
  • Disruption and productivity questions
  • Construction conditions and repair alternatives
  • Estimating, completion costs and damages analysis
  • Construction accounting and review of technical analyses

Scope and available information

Schedules and field records document progress. Drawings, estimates and cost records address the work and its cost. The assignment identifies which sources bear on the question and where the available information limits the analysis.

Expert witness work in litigation or arbitration

Expert opinions address the assigned questions and material evidence, including information contrary to a proposed conclusion.

Services

Related technical services

The team

The requested scope and the professionals’ relevant backgrounds affect staffing for an assignment. Public biographies describe their experience and roles.

Daniel R. Zorrilla is Oxley’s President and testifying expert. He has worked in construction consulting and expert work since 2008, with a return to project management in 2014–2015. Dan has been with Oxley since 2015, after consulting with Trace Management from 2008. He has testified in more than 40 cases, in litigation, including federal court, and in arbitration. He has been retained as a consultant or expert in more than 100 construction matters. He is a Florida Certified General Contractor (CGC1506197), an AACE International Certified Forensic Claims Consultant, a panelist of the American Arbitration Association, and a Florida Supreme Court Certified County and Circuit Court Mediator (Florida Courts mediator lookup).

Dan earned his J.D. from Stetson University College of Law in 2011. He is a member of The Florida Bar and does not practice law. Work through Oxley is technical consulting, not legal representation or legal advice. Scheduling support comes from David Hengelbrok, P.E., PSP, and Jeremy Easen, CGC.

We act for only one party on a project, and fees do not depend on findings. Conflicts are checked before substantive work begins, and a CV and testimony history are available to counsel on request.

Dan has been retained on behalf of and adverse to owners, general contractors and subcontractors.

What a Miami-Dade delay assignment covers

  • Construction schedule consulting during the project. CPM baseline schedules, updates, recovery schedules and schedule reviews, so a time question is documented while the work is still running. See construction schedule consultant services, TIA review and TIA preparation.
  • Forensic delay analysis. Windows analysis, as-planned versus as-built comparison, retrospective TIA or as-built reconstruction, chosen to fit the contract and the records, as described in AACE International Recommended Practice No. 29R-03.
  • Concurrency. Identifying, period by period, whether delays were concurrent on the critical path. How concurrent delay is treated depends on the contract and applicable law, which are for counsel and the tribunal.
  • Disruption and lost productivity. Separating lost efficiency from lost time, with the productivity records that support each. See disruption.
  • Damages. Time-related cost, extended general conditions and related delay damages, tied to the periods the schedule analysis supports.
  • Testimony and mediation. Expert reports, rebuttal of an opposing delay analysis, deposition and trial or arbitration testimony, and technical support at mediation.

More on method and scope is on the construction delay expert witness page.

Selected project experience

Daniel R. Zorrilla's Florida work includes projects he managed for general contractors and later consulting and expert assignments. Consulting and expert work is described by project and issue type only.

From 1999 to 2005, he worked for Suffolk Construction in its West Palm Beach office, rising from project engineer to project manager on mid-rise and high-rise residential projects in South Florida. After moving into consulting in 2008, he returned to the contractor side from 2014 to 2015 as a senior project manager for West Palm Beach-based KAST Construction on the $145 million Westin Sarasota hotel and Vue Sarasota condominium.

Projects managed.

  • Regatta condominiums, North Beach (Miami-Dade). Project Manager.
  • Porto Bellagio condominiums, Sunny Isles Beach. Assistant Project Manager.
  • Ventana condominium, Tampa. Senior Project Manager.
  • The Park at Riverbridge, West Palm Beach. Project Manager.
  • Westin Sarasota hotel and Vue Sarasota condominium (Senior Project Manager for the general contractor).

Miami-Dade consulting and expert assignments.

  • Miami Beach Convention Center renovation and expansion. Delay and disruption.
  • Museum of Science, Miami. Delay, disruption, and termination.
  • Two high-rise hotels, Miami. Delay.
  • Historic hotel renovation and expansion, Miami Beach. Delay.
  • Two high-rise condominium towers, Sunny Isles Beach. Completion and defects.
  • High-rise multi-use building, Sunny Isles Beach. Delay, delay damages, completion costs.
  • High-rise condominium, Sunny Isles Beach. Construction defects.
  • High-rise condominium, Aventura. Construction defects.
  • SR 826/I-75 Express Lanes. Delay.
  • Highway and bridge, Miami. Delay.
  • 19-story condominium, Doral. Delay and defects.
  • Hotel, Doral. Delay.
  • Mixed-use retail and office building, Miami. Delay.
  • Residential development, Miami. Non-completion liability and damages.
  • Residence, Coconut Grove (Miami). Cost of work, industry standards, delay.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Oxley handle Miami and Miami-Dade County construction matters?

Yes. Oxley serves Miami, Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach, Aventura, Doral, Coconut Grove and other Miami-Dade County construction matters from its Clearwater office. We travel for depositions, mediations, site visits and document reviews in Palm Beach County.

Which courts and forums does this page cover?

The Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County, the Southern District of Florida (Miami Division), Florida’s Third District Court of Appeal, and arbitration and mediation, often under the AAA Construction Industry Arbitration Rules. Federal appeals go to the Eleventh Circuit. CVs and testimony histories are available to counsel on request.

Do you consult on high-rise, hotel and condominium disputes in Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach?

Yes. Consulting and expert assignments in Miami-Dade have included civic, hotel and high-rise condominium work in Miami, Miami Beach, Sunny Isles Beach and Aventura, along with highway and other building work elsewhere in the county. Opinions address the assigned questions and the project record.

How can intake begin?

Initial contact can provide party names and a brief nonconfidential description for conflict review. Please do not send confidential, privileged or substantive case materials until Oxley has confirmed intake following conflict review. Oxley provides technical consulting, not legal representation. Contacting Oxley does not create an attorney-client relationship.

Nearby coverage

For matters across Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, see South Florida. Local pages: Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach and Hallandale Beach and Aventura. Nearby: Fort Lauderdale and Broward County and West Palm Beach and Palm Beach County. Statewide: all Florida areas.

To discuss a Miami-Dade project or dispute, call 727-821-9190 or send a message. For conflict review, start with party names and a brief nonconfidential description.

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