Retaining Walls Give Way to Claims

Retaining walls can be expensive items, especially if they go bad.

Defective retaining walls topped the list as the most expensive building component in an analysis of XL Design Professional's Canadian claims. Other costly items included walls, roofs, HVAC, slabs/foundations/footings, electrical, phase 1 environmental site assessments and soil testing.

Property damage lead the list in the types of loss and was cited in 70 percent of the claims and consumed 70 percent of the claims dollars. Economic losses, including cost overruns, were second with 15 percent of the claims and 21 percent of the claims costs; business interruptions were cited in nine percent of the claims and took five percent of the claims dollars. Bodily injury claims were 4 percent of the claims and 1 percent of the claim dollars spent.