Lyle Charles

Lyle Charles

Project Management Professional (PMP)

Expert witness in all phases of the structural steel fabrication and erection industry

Business Operations & Management Business Valuation Business Strategy Operations Management Construction Management Management
📅 45+ years experience 📍 TAMPA, FL ⚖️ 20+ testimonies

About

July 1967—September 1985: Joe Brashears Steel, Inc., Albany, Georgia September 1985—December 2001: Lyle Charles/Lyle Charles, Inc., Tampa, Florida January 1990—January 1992: Tyson Bolt & Supply (co-owner), Tampa, Florida January 2002 to August 2008 (retired): Management at E & H Steel Corp., Midland City, Alabama August 2008 to Present: Lyle Charles Consulting, Inc., Dothan, Alabama & Tampa, Florida

Methodology & Approach

Opinions and expert reports are based upon published industry standards and generally accepted standards of care for the structural steel work on a project.

Expert Witness Experience

20+

Testimonies

50+

Depositions

Structural Steel (45 years): estimating, detailing, fabricating, cleaning, painting, and erecting of structural steel, bridge steel, light gage metals, miscellaneous and ornamental metals, bar joists, form/roof deck, and pre-engineered metal buildings. Large Construction Project Management (30 years): organizing, managing, and completing significant construction projects. Reinforcing Steel (30 Years): estimating, detailing, fabrication, and supervision of installing reinforcing steel, welded wire mesh, and bar placing accessories. Turnaround & Crisis Management (20 years): working with companies in trouble or turnaround situations to resolve issues and increase sales and profits. Construction Claims Preparation (23 years): construction claims and damages preparation. Claims Analysis (25 years): analyzing construction claims and damages. Qualified as a structural steel industry expert and offered opinions on the American Institute of Steel Construction’s (AISC) Code of Standard Practice for Buildings and Bridges, the American Welding Society’s (AWS) D1.1 Welding Code, the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) and the National Association of Corrosion Engineers International (NACE), Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) about steel erection matters, the Research Council on Structural Connections (RCSC) Specification for Structural Joints Using ASTM A325 or A490 Bolts, the Council of American Structural Engineer’s (CASE) Document 962-D, the Metal Building Manufactures Association (MBMA) Standards, and the Metal Construction Association’s (MCA) Standards., and American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO)- Standard Specifications 17th Edition-Section 1 -STRUCTURAL STEEL Occupational Safety and Health Administration: Qualified to offer opinions in construction accident matters in the field of structural steel erecting based on the American Institute of Steel Construction’s (AISC) Code of Standard Practice for Buildings and Bridges and structural steel erector’s or general contractor’s compliance to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) steel erection code with emphasis on OSHA Code 1926r. Familiar with provisions of California Code of Regulation-Title 8-Subchapter 4-Article 29 Section 1710 Structural Steel Erection My steel bridge estimating, fabricating, and applying a shop coated paint system began in 1980 when the construction manager at DISNEY/EPCOT (Tishman) asked my firm to undertake the design-build obligations for two identical hydraulicly operated bascule bridges during the construction of EPCOT in Orlando. That contract included professional engineering services, shop fabrication, application of a shop applied two coats of paint, shop assembling the entire bridge for fit-up before shipment, transporting the steel to EPCOT from our facility in Georgia, erecting the two bridges including hydraulics, making erection damage paint repairs, and the field application of a final coat of paint. I was a steel expert working with a Guatemalan general contractor in 1986 to design, fabricate and install a bridge just north of the Pacific port of Puerto Quetzal, where Tampa Electric was constructing a new power plant. The new bridge was a replacement bridge necessitated by the weights of new generators being installed at the plant. In 1987 I was a steel consultant for a replacement bridge (old bridge collapsed) at the Gulf of Honduras port of Puerto Barrios. In 2015, I was a steel expert for the three Alaskan taxing authorities in their litigation against the Owners of the +/- 800 mile Trans Alaskan Pipeline running from Prudhoe Bay to the port at Valdez in Alaska. That expert assignment included offering my opinion on the value of steel pipeline stanchions and steel bridges. That Alaskan project had over forty-nine thousand tons of steel. In 2018, I was a steel expert for CalTrans (California Department of Transportation Administrative Claim/Case Number A-0015-2016) on three railroad steel truss bridges in San Bernardino, CA. Multi-Coat Paint Experience: My multi-coat shop applied paint coating system experience began in 1978 when my company signed a subcontract to fabricate and erect the twelve-hundred tons of structural steel on the initial construction of the nuclear submarine base at Kings Bay, Georgia. That project had a three- coat shop applied paint system with the final coat color being white. Other multi-coat experiences included a three-coat shop applied paint system on seven thousand four-hundred tons of steel on a New Jersey power plant rehabilitation in 2008. I represented the Owner on the field blast cleaning to bright metal and applying a three-coat paint system on one thousand tons of steel on a 15-month project at the San Diego Zoo in 2016. In 2019, I represented the Owner developing a budget to blast clean over 750,000 square feet of structural steel and field applying a two-coat inorganic paint system to the stadium steel structure on the University of Central Florida’s ten-year-old football stadium. That budget included extensive “striping” of connection bolts and flange edges. Lubricated Bolt Experience: In 1989, Paul Tyson and I started Tyson Bolt and Supply, a fastener distribution company located in Tampa, Florida. As an Owner, one of my primary duties was marketing mechanically galvanized fastener assemblies to bridge fabricators in Florida. All of those DOT highway bridge bolt assemblies were sold with dyed and waxed nuts. Tyson also sold a soap detergent product for wax removal. Accordingly, I am very familiar with lubricated A325 mechanically galvanized bolt assemblies.

Case Types

Claims associated with: Contract Documents: incomplete, poorly coordinated, “design as you go”, and defective contract documents. Do the structural contract plans meet industry standards (AISC-AWS-RCSC) and steel industry standards of care? Scope Changes: increased scope of work due to design changes and revisions. RFI Issues: slow Request for Information (RFI) responses. Shop Drawing: slow shop drawing approval or significant shop drawing approval changes. Down Time: down time, inefficiencies and lost productivity issues in fabrication shop. Schedule: stacking of trade and schedule acceleration issues. Overtime: prolonged overtime labor requirements or “over manpower” requests. Materials: significant quantity variation from original as bid estimates. Work Stoppages: cancellation or suspension of the work issues. Scope Complexity: scope of work complexity issues. Out of sequence steel deliveries impacting steel erection in field.

Notable Matters

Brashears Steel v. F. R. Hoar Construction Co. (1972) Steel Expert and fact witness in Federal Court in Pensacola, FL, on force majeure clause in subcontractor versus general contractor litigation during steel mill strikes Allied Steel Fabricators v. Delphon/Jamie, Aetna Insurance (1987) Qualified as a structural steel expert in Federal Court, Southern District of Florida, Fort Lauderdale for a case involving defective/deficient/uncoordinated contract plans and steel fabricator/erector’s claim against general contractor. Architectural Precast v. Delphon/Jamie, Aetna Insurance (1987) Qualified as the structural steel and architectural Precast Expert in Federal Court, Southern District of Florida, Miami in a case involving defective/deficient/uncoordinated contract plans. Delphon/Jamie v. the United States Postal Service (1988) Qualified as a steel expert for the general contractor in Board of Contract Appeals case involving defective/deficient/uncoordinated contract plans. Florida Precast Concrete (FPC) v. City of Orlando (1988) Qualified as architectural precast expert in Federal Bankruptcy Court in Tampa, FL, FPC v. City of Orlando on precast step erection tolerances on NBA basketball arena. Allied Steel/LCI v. Great Southwest Corp. (1988) Qualified as steel expert in State Court, Tampa, FL on fabrication costs for steel truss fabrication on dispute concerning amount owed for labor costs. Sorrels Steel v. Great Southwest Corp. (1989) Qualified as a steel expert for the subcontractor in Federal Court in Meridian, MS, in a dispute between the steel fabricator/erector and general contractor over defective contract documents and return of shop drawing delays. Aceros Prefabricados, S.A. (APSA) v. Black & Veatch (1999) Qualified as a steel and civil/concrete expert for subcontractor in Federal Court in Kansas City, MO, on coal fired power plant in Nejapa in El Salvador. Taylor-Woodrow v. Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (2001) Qualified as steel expert in State Court, Tampa, FL on fabrication and erection accuracy of steel guide rails for transportation system. International Steel v. Taylor-Woodrow (2001) Qualified as a steel expert in State Court, Tampa, FL on steel guide way fabrication cost. Pyramid v. E & H Steel (2009) Qualified as steel and fact expert in State Court in Camden, NJ, on contract dispute about applicable documents. Winter Construction Company, Inc. v. Smith Ironworks, Inc. (2012) Steel expert in state court in Alabama. Mr. Charles functioned as structural steel industry expert on behalf of steel erection sub-contractor. Postel Industries v. Brasfield & Gorrie, General Contractors (2013) Steel & Concrete Expert in Orlando, Florida at AAA arbitration on New Veterans Hospital & Clinic on steel fabrication and erection tolerances. Caddell Construction/Myrex Steel v. General Services Administration (2014) Qualified as a steel expert before Civilian Board of Contract Appeals in Washington, DC on defective, incomplete, and uncoordinated contract documents. San Diego Zoological Society v. Minshew Brothers/Hasson Painting (2016) Qualified as steel cleaning and painting expert in State Court, San Diego, CA to offer opinions on the Society for Protective Coatings, which was formerly known as the Steel Structures Painting Council (SSPC), Henry Jefferson v. Brazos Construction (2017) Qualified as a steel expert in State Court, Houston, TX on Occupational Safety and Health Administration Standards (OSHA) 1926 steel erection standards on injury to iron worker. Proppant Express Solutions v. United States Patent and Appeals Board (2019) Qualified and testified as steel fabrication expert in patent infringement case. Comparison of steel sandboxes used to haul fracking sand from Texas to South Dakota. University of Central Florida v. Dant Clayton (20019-2020) Steel Expert (surface preparation/painting) in State Court, Orlando, FL on University of Central Florida Football Stadium rust issues and remedial cleaning and painting of stadium steel. Harry Pepper/Quality Iron/River Steel Erectors v. NASA (2021-2022) Steel Expert on quality of contract documents, AWS welding symbols before Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals, NASA Stennis Rocket Testing Facility Modification in Mississippi. Bethany Thomas, (Administratrix Ad Prosequendum of The Estate of John Russell Thomas, Iii, Plaintiff(S), v. The Bennett Company, Inc.; Millburn Board of Education; Remington & Vernick Engineers, John Does #S 1-10, Defendant(S) (2023) Qualified as a steel expert in State Court, Essex County, NJ on Occupational Safety and Health Administration Standards (OSHA) 1926 steel erection standards on injured iron worker’s use of fall protection equipment. Case No. 1:23-cv-00188-SCY-JMR. The Project is known as CN:4100401R, Canadian River Bridge, US 54, Mile Post 324.9 to Mile Post 326.3, Quay County, New Mexico (2024) United States District Court for the District of New Mexico Evaluate steel fabrication pricing on bridge change order work. Addressed offered opinion on steel erector’s timely submittal of change order claim. Addressed offered opinion steel erector’s failure to comply contract clauses.

Education & Credentials

Education

BA Emory University

Certifications & Licenses

30-hour OSHA Construction Safety and Health Certification (20-602141003) Project Management Professional (PMP)-1282789 Life member of the American Welding Society-865567

Human Verification

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