710 2nd Avenue, Suite 820, Seattle, Washington 98104 ♦ 206.682.9722 ♦ Fax 206.224.4722

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. Who is Corke Amento?

The name is comprised of the last names of the two founding members of the firm. Mike Corke (pronounced "Cork" -- the "e" is silent) and Steve Amento founded the firm in January 1996.

Q. What do you do?

We are a group of professionals, made up largely of people with backgrounds in construction, who engage in a variety of consulting assignments in the construction industry. Our three primary practice areas are, dispute resolution, defective building investigation and construction management.

Q. Are you lawyers?

We are not lawyers, although we work very closely with many lawyers, often in the capacity of an expert witness. Many of us are engineers and architects with extensive hands-on backgrounds working in construction.

Q. Are you contractors?

We are not contractors. Although most of us were employed by general contractors or subcontractors prior to becoming consultants, we do not offer general contracting services. However, we do offer project or construction management services, and in that capacity we oversee the work of general contractors and subcontractors.

Q. Who are your clients?

Our clients are building owners, public agencies, general contractors, subcontractors, lawyers, insurance companies, homeowner associations, property managers, and on occasion, design professionals.

Q. How do you charge for your work?

Because much of what we do is often very indeterminate in terms of scope of service and duration, most of our work is completed on an hourly basis at standard company hourly rates. We sometimes complete work on a lump sum or guaranteed maximum price basis, if the client requests it, and the scope and duration of service can be well defined. Under special circumstances, we might consider contingency fee work.

Q. Where do you work?

Most of our work is confined to the Seattle area because our office is in downtown Seattle. We have done work in Idaho, Oregon, and California and will go there if requested by a client and we believe we can be of real help.

Q. What is a Project Neutral?

On certain construction disputes and building defect assignments, we are retained jointly by parties on both sides of a dispute to provide consulting services to those parties collectively. We have provided Project Neutral services on more than fifteen projects.