EXPERT WITNESS SUPPORT · INDEPENDENT TECHNICAL REVIEW
Clear civil engineering judgment for stormwater, drainage, and site development disputes.
Expert witness support and limited independent technical review for attorneys, owners, developers, municipalities, contractors, and other decision-makers who need practical, defensible answers.
What I Do
Expert witness support for civil engineering disputes — causation analysis, site inspection, written opinions, deposition preparation, rebuttal review, and mediation and settlement support.
Limited independent technical review for a defined question or decision — plan and document review, site-condition observations, constructability and risk review, drainage and utility assessment, and development due diligence.
What I Help Clarify
Civil engineering problems are rarely only technical. They also involve cost, timing, permitting, construction realities, maintenance, and communication among parties who may understand the issue differently.
My role is to help answer three questions:
- What is actually happening?
- Why does it matter?
- What practical options are available?
The goal is to make the issue understandable, evidence-based, and actionable.
Representative Technical Areas
Most engagements involve stormwater and drainage performance, detention and retention facilities, civil site construction and grading, or utility conflicts and easements — usually with questions of maintenance, changed conditions, and standard of care running through them.
Representative Matters
Selected engagements — residential flooding from concentrated stormwater discharge, forensic assessment of an older stormwater basin with limited records, and hydraulic review of failed culvert replacements — are described in full on the Services page.
Civil-site and stormwater conditions documented during field review.
Recent Articles
Why a 1-Hour Thunderstorm Can Cause More Flooding in Columbia Than a Day of Rain
Why rainfall intensity, timing, and drainage capacity often matter more than 24-hour totals. 7-minute read
Defining the "Standard of Care": How Expert Witnesses Evaluate Professional Engineering Negligence
How an engineering evaluation separates standard of care from causation, damages, and hindsight. 7-minute read
What Counsel Should Gather Before an Initial Civil Engineering Case Review
The five items that make a preliminary evaluation productive. 5-minute read
Practical Experience. Clear Communication.
I am a Principal with Hussey Gay Bell and bring 16 years of full-time civil engineering experience spanning civil site design, stormwater, utilities, public infrastructure, construction-phase problem solving, municipal coordination, executive leadership, and technical review of civil engineering disputes.
My current leadership responsibilities encompass the firm’s Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston offices, together with continued growth in North Carolina. I present that professional role as background; the services I offer through this site remain limited to expert witness support and defined independent technical review engagements.
Good expert work requires separating facts from assumptions, identifying what can and cannot be concluded, and explaining complex engineering issues in plain language. Opinions should be grounded in the available evidence—not advocacy disguised as engineering.
Licensed Professional Engineer in South Carolina, Georgia, and North Carolina. Services are provided only where properly licensed or otherwise authorized.
Download Professional CV (PDF)
Need an Initial Review?
If you are evaluating a potential claim or need help identifying the key technical questions, documents, and site conditions, contact me to discuss whether an initial review makes sense.
Email: travis@travisbasnett.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/travis-basnett
I respond to inquiries within one business day.
For expert witness or dispute-related inquiries, please do not send confidential or privileged materials until a conflict check has been completed and an engagement has been confirmed. Initial contact does not create an engineer-client relationship or expert engagement.
Information on this page is general and is not engineering advice for a specific project or matter. Services are provided only after appropriate review, agreement, and authorization.