Greg Trotter: Building Whisperer

Telling the story of a building using the five senses

Greg Trotter entered the stairwell of a commercial building in Lithia, Florida, and he said, "There's been a fire here." Everyone else seemed puzzled. "You can smell it," he said. No one else could. With a little digging, he discovered there had indeed been a kitchen fire in the building a year before, but he didn't need a paper trail to prove what his nose already knew.

As an expert witness in civil litigation involving real estate and construction disputes, Greg uses his decades of construction and inspection experience to create detailed, comprehensive reports for his clients. What's more important than his expert reports, however, is his ability to communicate his findings and conclusions in a tangible, visceral way.

"The people doing an assessment of a building have five senses," Greg says, "and you have to use all five." Greg explains how simply rapping your knuckles on a wall can reveal if there is concrete behind it. Listening to someone walking in high heels can indicate the construction of the subfloor. Finding dots of light above the ceiling means water can get in. You can smell evidence of mold and smoke—if you're attuned to detecting it.

If it sounds deceptively simple to hear how Greg approaches inspections, it is only because he's been working on buildings since the age of 15. Back then, his neighbor bought an abandoned warehouse as a hobby project and recruited Greg to help him on weekends. Since then, Greg has restored old 19th-century farmhouses, built structures, moved structures, supervised the erection of multi-million dollar towers, and represented owners in complicated construction projects.

For more than 50 years, Greg has developed a nose for buildings, and it has allowed him to reduce complicated construction issues to simple, common-sense explanations. A core principle of Advocate Craft is that jurors have trouble grappling with esoteric facts or figures, but the experience they have when exploring evidence can leave a lasting impact. Greg Trotter helps laymen experience the story of a building by evoking all five senses.

I talked to Greg about all of this and more. Check out my interview with Greg Trotter, the building whisperer:

Here’s how to reach out to Greg. Let him know I sent you!

Greg Trotter
Commercial Building Consultants
407-447-5881
theCBCteam.com