Mr. Charles has more than 45 years of experience in the construction industry, 25 years in the ownership and management of major subcontracting companies, 20 years in the construction consulting business, and is a qualified structural steel expert. As a subcontractor, he has worked on office buildings, hospitals, large shopping malls, stadiums, arenas, schools, distribution facilities, government buildings and industrial projects. As a consultant, he has been involved in projects located in the USA, Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. Those projects include fossil fuel power plants, bridges, bottling plants, postal distribution facilities, airports, co-generation plants, and convention/performing arts centers.

He has been a construction consultant on 9 major stadium & arena projects and has testified in 20 large construction trials and three dozen arbitrations. Mr. Charles has been deposed over 50 times and prepared or analyzed multiple construction claims.

Structural Steel Expert

Forty-five years of experience and knowledge in the estimating, scheduling, detailing, fabricating, cleaning, painting, delivering and erecting of structural steel have made Mr. Charles a steel fabrication expert. He is also well-versed in miscellaneous and ornamental metals, bar joists, and floors/roof decks. Mr. Charles has previously been qualified by state and federal courts as a structural steel expert to provide opinions on material costs, shop fabrication labor estimates, down time, and inefficiency testimony resulting from incomplete/defective design documents or late shop drawing approval. He has also testified as an expert on structural steel erection on such issues as design changes from bolted to welded connections, field filet welding versus field penetration welding, and lost efficiency resulting from improperly set or missing embed materials. His testimony has included business valuations, lost revenue and lost profit calculations, as well extended overtime costs and stacking of trade-associated costs.

Expert Witness Testimony

Structural Steel expert in Federal Court, Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Allied Steel Fabricators v. Delphon/Jamie, Aetna Insurance
Steel & Architectural Precast Expert in Federal Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami. Architectural Precast v. Delphon/Jamie, Aetna Insurance
Steel Expert in Board of Contract Appeals Delphon/Jamie v. United States Postal Service
Steel Expert in Federal Court in Pensacola, FL, Brashears Steel v. F. R. Hoar Construction Co.
Steel Expert in Federal Court in Meridian, MS, Sorrels Steel v. Great Southwest Corp.
Architectural Precast Expert in Federal Court in Tampa, FL, FPC v. City of Orlando
Steel Expert in Federal Court in Kansas City, MO, APSA v. Black & Veatch
Steel Expert in Federal Court in Camden, NJ, C. Pyramid v. E & H Steel
Steel Expert in Federal Court in New Orleans, LA. KMTC, JV v. J D Fields
Steel Expert in State Court, Tampa, FL, International Steel v. Taylor-Woodrow
Steel Expert in State Court, Tampa, FL, Allied Steel/LCI v. Great Southwest Corp.
Steel Expert in State Court, Tampa, FL, Taylor-Woodrow v. Hillsborough County Aviation Authority
Steel Expert Civilian Board of Contract Appeals in Washington, DC, Caddell Construction/Myrex Steel v. General Services Administration.
Steel & Concrete Expert in Orlando, Florida on New Veterans Hospital & Clinic in matter of Postel Industries v. Brasfield & Gorrie, General Contractors.
Steel Expert in numerous arbitrations in Florida, Ohio and Georgia

Delay & Inefficiency Testimony Roundtable Report Tables

Allied Steel Fabricators v. DELPHON/JAMIE
Federal court
Testified as expert at trial
Applied industry study (Roundtable Report)
Shop fabrication labor
40-hour week v. 56-hour week for 8-month period of time
J.H. Hamm & Assoc. v. Watkins Engineers
Buckeye Cellulose Project
Roundtable Report and National Electrical Contractors Association Guide (N.E.C.A.)
Expert—settled; compared N.E.C.A. guide to total cost using roundtable as back-up; job had 2 12-hour shifts working 6 days a week for period of 4 months
Overtime and stacking of trades
Ken Robinson Electric v. Dow Chemical
Co-generation plant—200 electricians’ expert—settled;
All union electricians working 6 10-hour days for 6 months;
Actual costs more than roundtable but used roundtable and N.E.C.A. guide
A & E Electric, Inc. v. Tampa Power Corp.
Expert—trial—state court overtime inefficiency job accelerated due to late delivery of materials and equipment; opinion given both on overtime inefficiency but also due to hop-scotching around due to late deliveries.

Lyle Charles Own Inefficiency Calculations

Sorrels Steel v. Great Southwest
Federal Court
Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
Expert-trial
Expert on shop time studies
International Steel Industries, Inc. v. Taylor-Woodrow
State court
Tampa Airport
Expert—trial
Field calculations—steel erection and guideway erection
Taylor-Woodrow v. Westinghouse Electric
This was the second trial on this same job
State Court
Expert—trial
Shop fabrication labor
Inefficiency on steel erection day time work without problems vs. night time work with problems; actual study over 10 days; no roundtable
Orlando Arena—The “O” Rena—Florida Precast v. City of Orlando
Federal court
Precast erection and precast step erection
Expert—time study—extra work and non-conforming work
Brashears Steel—multiple studies for 15 years
54 hours v. 44 hours per week shop labo

Stadium & Arena Experience

1987-1990 Basketball Arena, Knoxville, TN (Thompson-Boling) +/- $56 million
Consultant/Expert to USF&G during litigation of construction cost overruns.
All phases of structural steel, precast seating and defective document design.

1993-1996 Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, GA +/- $207 million
Consultant/Expert to general contractor on reinforcing steel, structural steel & architectural precast matters.

1997 Conversion of Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, GA to +/- $18 million
Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium (later known as Turner Field)
Consultant/Expert to general contractor on structural steel & architectural precast matters.

1997-1998 New NFL Stadium, Nashville, TN +/- $290 million
Structural steel advisor to construction manager including document & Specification review for constructability.

1998 New NFL Stadium, Tampa, FL +/- $168.5 million
Consultant/Expert to precast erector & negotiated claims for erector with A/E team on erectors behalf.

1999 New Basketball & Ice Hockey Arena, Atlanta, GA (Phillips Arena) +/- $ 213.5 million
Consultant/Expert to steel fabricator, steel erector & general contractor in multiple claims against A/E & Owner (CNN).

2000-2002 New NFL Stadium & Rodeo Arena, Houston, TX +/- $650 million
Consultant/Expert to structural engineers & construction manager on claims against them by steel fabricator.

2008-2009 LSU Football Stadium expansion, Baton Rouge, LA +/- $80 million
Consultant/Expert to steel fabricator & general contractor in claim against Athletic Foundation for multiple contract/design changes/modifications.

2010-2011 Georgia Tech Scoreboard Renovation, Atlanta, GA +/- 25 million
Consultant/Expert to steel erector on new high tech football scoreboard for improper fitting materials on claims presented at arbitration