A VERY HARD THING TO ESTIMATE…. On May 31, 2009, the Miami Herald published an article called, “The Curse of the Defective Drywall.” This article concerned toxic Chinese drywall and the problems that it is causing for Florida and the country. Within the article a builder attempted to estimate the cost of repair, “Louisiana builder Randy Noel said repair projections vary from $100,000.00 to a third of the home’s value.” This is how some class action cases may end up handling the issue of damages for the victims of this terrible consumer related tragedy. However, there is no accurate way to determine a victim’s total damage without doing a damage assessment for each home.
Under Florida law there are several areas of damage that a victim is entitled to. By individually assessing each victims real damages, not just estimates, a victim can attempt to maximize their potential recovery. Under Florida law a victim is entitled to recover for the cost of repair, loss of market value, cost of additional living expense, the cost of the loss of use of the home, moving expense, storage expense and other miscellaneous . Each element of damage will be different for each home. This is one of the reasons it will be difficult, if not impossible, for cases such as these to be handled on a class wide basis. Damages in these cases will be a very hard thing to estimate….therefore, the damages need to be accessed on a very individual basis.
Based upon my experience and what I currently feel needs to be done to remove defective drywall and repair all the related damage to homes in Southwest Florida the cost will be around $40-50 per square foot of living space. I get a lot of calls inquiring what it might cost to remediate their home and I give them this amount. I do provide them with a detailed break down of what is included in this price and our process for removal and restoration.