We were asked by a building products manufacturer to determine the cost, per square foot of floor area, for removal of an asbestos-containing fireproofing product they had once produced, from a major airport in the northwest. The problem was that the airport had been built in a series of additions, with different fireproofing products involved, and the extent of each addition was unknown. Actual costs for asbestos removal was known, but this cost included other asbestos-containing materials such as floor tile, pipe, and equipment insulation, and was not necessarily associated with a single addition, and as such may have involved products of more than one manufacturer. Review of claim documents found that asbestos removal was performed during three separate renovation projects in different locations and at different times. Documents describing the extent of asbestos removal projects were available, but drawings for the additions were not.
We started by analyzing historic aerial photos and other publicly available data to determine the location and construction date of each addition. With this information we could map out each addition on a floor plan of the complete airport. In some instances, the exact demarcation between additions had to be determined by field inspection. Floor area for each addition was determined by correlating data from aerial photo interpretation and area take-offs from drawings. This permitted calculation of fireproofing areas for each manufacturer. A scale accurate drawing with this information was prepared. The area of each asbestos removal project was overlaid on the drawing showing fireproofing areas by manufacturer. Using actual cost data for each removal project, we broke out the cost for each asbestos-containing material removed, including fireproofing produced by each manufacturer. When applied to the floor area where fireproofing had been installed, it allowed us to calculation a per square foot price attributable to the fireproofing produced by each manufacturer.
Our analysis provided data on the actual asbestos removal costs associated with each fireproofing manufacturer, thus informing negotiations between the parties.