The soil report had six data points. The claim was seven figures.

A ground survey drills six holes across a huge site, and everything between them is a guess on paper. The build plan trusts that guess — it reuses a soil layer to save time and money. Then two hard winters hit, rain and snowmelt ruin the layer, and it has to be dug out and replaced. Nobody priced that. Seven figures, overnight.

Now the fight starts: who pays? But here’s the thing — that fight was already decided months earlier, by one question. Did anyone on the owner’s side flag the risk, in writing and dated, before the first digger moved? If yes, the owner wins the claim. If no, the owner eats the cost. Same ground, same weather; the paper trail is what moves the money.

That’s the review I run — before the ground becomes an argument.