J S.
1/5
As a real estate developer, I have worked with a lot engineers. This was the first time I've had a negative experience like this -- an engineer who couldn't admit his mistake and make it right.
I hired Mr. Carotti to evaluate a wall in a property I was remodeling. I was removing the wall, and wanted to know whether the wall was load-bearing. Our initial phone discussion was great, and he agreed to come out to the property 2 days later.
He came to the property and spent about 5 minutes in the attic. He said that he couldn't see all the way to the wall in question (it's a tight attic), but he was sure the wall was load bearing. Without taking any measurements, he recommended that we install a larger header for the wall and pour a 24" square, 12" deep concrete footer under one of the wall corners. (This would cost us several thousand dollars.)
I suggested that perhaps we could open up the ceiling above the wall to verify that his assessment from the attic was correct (remember, he couldn't see all the way to the wall from where he was in the attic). But, he refused and assured me that his assessment was correct.
A couple days later, my GC came to evaluate the work to give me a price. I wasn't with him at the property, but he called to let me know that he opened up the ceiling/wall, and it didn't appear that it was load-bearing. He understood why from a distance it appeared to be, but looking at the wall from above the ceiling, it was clear that the load was carried by other beams a few inches away.
I called Mr. Carotti, left a message indicating what my GC had found, and requested he come back and take a look at the wall now that it was opened up and there was a chance he may have made a mistake. I also texted him a few pictures that my GC sent me.
Mr. Carotti didn't return my call, but texted back that, based on one of the pictures, he was still sure it was a load-bearing wall. I called my GC, who assured me that the picture was of a ridge board sitting on top of another wall, and not the wall in question. I sent Mr. Carotti a couple more pictures, and again requested he come back to re-evaluate (if the wall were not load-bearing, it would save thousands of dollars).
I finished my text message with, "if my GC is wrong, I will most certainly pay you for your time." I wasn't asking Mr. Carotti to risk any expense, just to re-evaluate and if he came to the same conclusion, I would pay him for his additional time.
Mr. Carotti replied in text that I should remove more ceiling and send him more pictures. I told him my GC had left the property, and I wasn't sure what additional pictures he needed. Also, my GC was confident that the pictures were clear that the wall was not load-bearing, and a quick in-person inspection should verify that.
Again, I asked Mr. Carotti to re-evaluate, and again I ended my text with, "I'm happy to pay you to come back if my GC is wrong."
His exact text response was, "You can always get a second opinion. It is totally up to you on what to do. I wish you luck on your endeavor!"
Mr. Carotti stopped responding to me at that point. Despite my willingness to pay him to return to the property to re-evaluate and verify (or correct) his original findings, he apparently wasn't interested.
I texted that I would be happy to get another engineer to the property, but that if the other engineer determined that Mr. Carotti was incorrect and the wall was not load-bearing, I wanted a refund of the $400 I paid for the original (incorrect) evaluation.
As I mentioned, he never responded.
Ultimately, I hired a second engineer who verified that the wall was NOT load-bearing, and that Mr. Carotti's original assessment was wrong.
I wasted $400 on Mr. Carotti, but at least I saved thousands on an engineering fix that wasn't required.
EDIT: To follow-up here, let it be known that the county building inspector agreed with the findings of the second engineer, and ultimately determined that the wall was NOT load bearing. We passed rough framing without any structural changes required.
