ALLIED EMERGENCY SERVICES › For Attorneys · LITIGATION SUPPORT · Conflict check within one business day · (800) 792-0212 · info@alliedemergencyservices.com
RETAINED THROUGH COUNSEL · FEES NEVER CONTINGENT

Storm Damage Forensic Documentation & Construction Expert Consultation for Attorneys

Wind, hail and tornado damage documented to the standards a jury can follow — manufacturer specifications, adopted code, National Weather Service damage indicators and the NOAA weather record — by an Illinois restoration contractor in the building trades since 1999. Serving counsel in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan.

Request a conflict check 2026 fee schedule (PDF)
PrincipalCurt Testa, President — building trades since 1999; Allied since 2015; testimony history provided to retaining counsel on request · profile and CV
StandardsManufacturer installation specs · IRC / IBC as adopted · NWS EF-scale damage indicators · NOAA / SPC storm records
Retained byPolicyholder and defense counsel · consulting or testifying expert as designated
Site workIllinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan · desk review and records research nationwide
RatesConsulting $450/hr · testimony from $550/hr · inspection & report from $4,250 · never contingent
EvidenceOn site within 48 hours for evidence preservation before mitigation or repair

What does a storm damage expert do for counsel?

Four things, each of which produces something you can file, mark as an exhibit, or put on the stand. Every engagement is retained through the attorney, performed at counsel's direction, and priced on the published schedule below.

Forensic damage inspection & documentation

The flagship. A site inspection that produces a report a jury can follow: what the storm did, what it didn't, and how we know — with the standard cited for every conclusion. The same report serves whichever side retained us.

Residential from $4,250 · Commercial from $6,500

Scope & estimate analysis

When the carrier's estimate and the contractor's estimate are $40,000 apart, someone has to explain the difference line by line — repair versus replacement, matching, code upgrades, overhead and profit — against the manufacturer's specifications and the adopted code. Desk review or with site visit.

Desk review from $2,250

Evidence preservation within 48 hours

Cases are lost when the roof is replaced before anyone photographed it properly. Engage us before the tarp goes on and an inspector documents the damage — every slope, every soft-metal component, test squares where warranted — before mitigation alters the evidence.

$5,500 · on site within 48 hours

Expert consultation & testimony

Consulting expert behind the scenes, or disclosed and testifying at deposition, hearing and trial. Causation, scope and cost, and the industry standard of care for storm repair.

Testimony $550–$625/hr · trial retainer $5,000

What is in a forensic damage documentation report?

The same rigor that built The Hail Files — a public archive of 69 court documents in which every page is OCR'd, every quotation is verified against the source and nothing is summarized that can be shown — goes into every report. A report is only useful if opposing counsel cannot take it apart, so each one contains:

  1. Method statement. What was inspected, how, with what instruments, in what conditions, and what was not accessible.
  2. Complete photo log by elevation and roof slope, wide-to-close, with test squares (10×10) where hail is alleged, and every soft-metal component — vents, flashing, gutters, downspouts, drip edge — photographed individually, because soft metals record hail size and direction.
  3. Damage mapped to a standard: hail impact density and diameter, wind speed thresholds by component, or the NWS EF-scale damage indicator and degree of damage for tornado losses.
  4. Manufacturer installation specifications and the adopted IRC/IBC sections cited by number for every repair-versus-replace and code-upgrade conclusion.
  5. The weather record for the date of loss from NOAA and the Storm Prediction Center — the same federal data that drives our Illinois Tornado Tracker.
  6. A repair scope with the basis for each line, prepared to be compared item-by-item with the carrier's estimate.
  7. Qualifications and independence statement, and a chain of custody for any samples.

Drone survey is included where airspace permits; Matterport three-dimensional documentation is available for interiors and complex roofs.

Why retain a contractor-expert instead of, or alongside, an engineer?

An engineer can tell you whether a structure is sound. A restoration contractor who has repaired several thousand storm-damaged roofs can tell you what the storm actually did to this one, what it costs to put right to the manufacturer's specification, and where two estimates for the same roof differ and why — and can say it in plain language a jury follows. Many storm cases turn on those questions rather than on structural ones, and the same report serves whichever side asked for it.

When a matter needs a sealed structural opinion or a meteorological causation opinion, we coordinate licensed professional engineers and certified consulting meteorologists we have worked with. When Allied engages them, they are billed at their rates plus 20%; one who will testify is retained by counsel directly. Either way, counsel has one point of contact.

Who is Curt Testa?

Curt Testa, President of Allied Emergency Services, Inc. — construction expert and forensic storm damage consultant for attorneys in Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan
Curt Testa, President, Allied Emergency Services, Inc. — qualifying party on Allied's Illinois roofing contractor license; construction consultant and expert.

Curt Testa is the owner of Allied Emergency Services, Inc., a storm damage restoration contractor, licensed in Illinois as a roofing contractor, serving Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan. He has worked in the building trades since 1999 — a union carpentry apprenticeship and journeyman work before property restoration — and founded Allied in 2015. He inspects and documents wind, hail and tornado damage to the standards insurers and courts recognize, and he is the qualifying party on Allied's Illinois roofing contractor license, a Wisconsin Dwelling Contractor Qualifier and a VSI Certified Installer. He writes the technical guides on this site — including the Tornado Damage Repair guide and the storm damage insurance claim process — and in 2026 built The Hail Files, the free public archive of the State Farm wind-and-hail litigation, obtained from the Oklahoma State Courts Network and published so homeowners, attorneys and reporters can read the primary sources for themselves.

His profile and current CV are online, and his testimony history is provided to retaining counsel on request. Directory listings: SEAK Expert Witness Directory · LexVisio.

Independence and disclosure

Allied accepts engagements from policyholder and defense counsel. Fees are never contingent on findings or outcome. Opinions rest on published standards and would be the same whichever side retained us. Allied publishes The Hail Files as a public-records archive and has reported on those records; we disclose that to counsel in any matter involving State Farm before accepting a testifying engagement, and we offer consulting (non-testifying) roles in those matters where that serves the client better.

Allied is an Illinois-licensed roofing contractor, not a law firm, insurance adjuster or public adjuster. It does not adjust, negotiate or settle insurance claims and does not act as an appraiser or umpire. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

What does it cost?

Published, because attorneys should not have to call to find out. Download the 2026 fee schedule (PDF); our engagement agreement is sent with a Schedule A once the conflict check clears. Billed by the quarter hour; effective September 2026.

Service2026 rate
Property consulting, residential and commercial — documentation, scope and estimate analysis, records review$450 / hour
Testimony — deposition, hearing, arbitration, trial and all preparation once disclosed (residential / commercial)$550 / $625 per hour
Residential forensic inspection and documentation report (travel within 100 miles of our McHenry County operating base included)$4,250
Commercial forensic inspection and report$6,500
Installation-guideline and code-compliance inspection and report (workmanship and product installation against the manufacturer's instructions and the adopted code) — residential / commercial; combined with a causation and cost-of-repair report on the same property$4,250 / $6,500 · combined $6,000 / $9,000
Rapid evidence-preservation inspection — on site within 48 hours$5,500
Desk review / estimate and scope analysis$2,250
Re-inspection, joint-inspection attendance or additional site visit$450 per hour · four-hour minimum · plus travel
Engagement fee, hourly engagements — earned on receipt, credited against fees$5,000
Trial retainer, due when subpoena served or date reserved; credited against trial time$5,000
Deposition minimum, due seven days prior3 hours at testimony rate
Matterport / 3-D documentation$850 first two hours
Report delivery — standard within ten business days of inspection; delivery in fewer than ten business days where the schedule requires itincluded · 1.5 times the flat fee
Travel for site work beyond 50 miles · mileage · lodging · meals$150 / hour · IRS rate · actual · $100 / day
Licensed engineering and meteorology engaged and paid by Allied (a partner who will testify is retained directly by counsel)Partner's rate + 20%

How does an engagement work?

1

Conflict check — one business day

Send the parties, the carrier, the jurisdiction and your deadline through the form below. We confirm no conflict and send the agreement and a current CV.

2

Retention through counsel

Signed agreement and Schedule A, and the flat fee or engagement fee. We are retained by the law firm, not the policyholder, from the first hour.

3

Inspection

Scheduled within the week for standard matters; within 48 hours for evidence preservation. Counsel and opposing experts are welcome to attend.

4

Report

Delivered to counsel as work product, typically within ten business days of inspection, with the complete photo log and the weather record as appendices.

5

Deposition and trial

Once disclosed, all further work is at the testimony rate. Dates are held on receipt of the deposition or trial retainer. Testimony and meetings are by videoconference; site work is in person.

Which cases and jurisdictions?

First-party property disputes over wind, hail and tornado damage — coverage, causation, scope and cost; bad-faith matters where the handling of the roof is at issue; construction-defect claims involving roofing and exterior envelope; and homeowner-association and multi-family losses. Site work throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan, including Cook, DuPage, Will, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Sangamon counties and the Northern District of Illinois. Desk reviews, estimate analysis and litigation-records research — including locating documents in The Hail Files — are available to counsel anywhere.

Frequently asked questions

What does a storm damage expert witness do for an attorney?

Inspects and documents the property to published standards, determines what the event did and did not cause, analyzes the competing scopes and estimates line by line, and explains those findings in a report, at deposition and at trial. Allied provides all four, retained through counsel, never on a contingent fee.

How much does a construction expert witness cost in Illinois?

Allied publishes its 2026 rates: consulting $450 per hour, testimony $550 to $625 per hour, a residential forensic inspection and report from $4,250, a desk review from $2,250, and a $5,000 trial retainer. Fees are never contingent on the outcome.

Is Allied a public adjuster?

No. Allied is a storm damage restoration contractor licensed in Illinois as a roofing contractor. It does not adjust, negotiate or settle insurance claims and does not act as an appraiser or umpire. Its litigation-support work is performed for and at the direction of counsel.

Can you inspect a roof before it is repaired or tarped?

Yes — that is what the 48-hour evidence-preservation inspection is for. A replaced roof cannot be examined at trial.

Do you work for policyholders or insurers?

Both. Opinions rest on manufacturer specifications, the IRC and IBC as adopted, NWS damage indicators and NOAA/SPC records, and do not change with the retaining party.

What is in a forensic damage documentation report?

A method statement, a complete photo log by elevation and slope, damage mapped to a named standard, manufacturer and code citations by number, the NOAA/SPC weather record for the date of loss, a line-item repair scope, and the inspector's qualifications.

Does Curt Testa appear in person for depositions and trial?

Site work — inspections, re-inspections, joint inspections and evidence collection — is in person. Depositions, hearings, trial testimony, mediations and meetings are by videoconference (Zoom or the court's platform). It is a standing term of every engagement: counsel notices depositions as remote and obtains any leave the court requires for remote testimony (Ill. S. Ct. Rules 45 and 241; FRCP 30(b)(4) and 43(a)).

Which jurisdictions do you serve?

Site work throughout Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan; desk review, estimate analysis and records research nationwide.

Request a conflict check

For attorneys and their staff. We reply within one business day with a conflict clearance, the agreement and a current CV. This form does not enter any marketing list.

Or call (800) 792-0212 · info@alliedemergencyservices.com. Please do not send privileged material until conflicts are cleared.