About Us

During our years as construction contractors, we gained extensive experience of our own in regard to resolution of project claims and disputes, generally amicably with clients, but at times by mediation and also by litigation. Today we bring these skills to our claims consulting practice. 

Since starting a claims practice in 2012, TNL has been involved in many elements of dispute resolution, including initial assessment, analysis, conclusions and preparation of mediation reports and, if necessary, preparation and presentation of expert reports for and at trial. 

We have worked with many construction contractors, legal firms, and insurance adjusters with regard to contract tender, final contract, construction cost, delay, and deficiency issues.  Our services have included costing and timelines and reports in many areas such as: 

• Construction warranty deficiencies
• Fire and water damage
• Consequential damages arising from construction failures
• Claims arising from changed site and other conditions
• Claims arising from delay
• Post-catastrophic event remediation claims 

Through our prior experience as a multi-facetted construction contractor, TNL is able to offer a broad base of expertise with regard to claims assessment and remediation. TNL started in 1988, initially in industrial construction, but expanding into infrastructure, institutional/commercial, and multi-unit residential projects. 

During its construction tenure, the company undertook dozens of projects in both urban and in remote locations and in both normal and difficult climatic conditions. Many of the projects had extremely tight timelines and required detailed scheduling, with real-time project update capability. Construction projects undertaken included:

• Gas compressor station construction
• Gas processing plant construction
• Oil refinery dismantling
• Pulp mill construction
• Hydro electric plant construction
• Thermal power plant construction
• Highway new construction and restoration
• Water, storm and sewer main construction
• Airport underground services, taxiways and apron construction
• Sawmill construction
• Particle board plant construction
• Copper and gold processing plant construction
• Subdivision construction
• Strata development construction
• Office building construction
• Water treatment construction
• Bridge construction

Having worked with numerous consulting engineers and independent contractors for many years, we have the ability to bring either a team-based approach, or an individual approach to our various assignments, depending on their size and complexity. Our Associates include:

Jim Greatbanks is the President of the TNL Group of Companies that he founded in 1987 and is responsible for the overall direction of TNL. From 1987 to 2000 TNL performed in excess of $500 million dollars in construction contracts and was active in all aspects of the construction industry including industrial, institutional, infrastructure, commercial and residential construction. The largest contract undertaken by the Group exceeded $100 million. Prior to the formation of TNL, Jim was a Construction Manager in the Pulp & Paper Industry in both BC and Ontario, and a Pulp and Paper Engineer in New Zealand.

 Since 2010 TNL has been less active in actual construction; instead Jim has focused its resources in construction-related assignments centered on construction claims and dispute resolution.

Jim has an Honours Degree in Engineering and a Diploma in Business & Industrial Administration from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is a retired Professional Engineer in British Columbia.

Bruce has over 35 years of industrial plant and mining/tunnelling construction experience spanning a wide range of projects in both size and complexity. His focus on construction claims consulting benefits from his extensive involvement in construction estimating and costing, constructability assessments, construction scheduling, earned value analysis, project commissioning and preparation of project closure documentation pursuant to the Provincial Builder’s Lien Act.  

Bruce has been an Engineering Manager in both construction companies and large scale mining/processing companies in Western Canada. He has been involved with claims up to $10,000,000 in relation to building envelope, structural, foundation, and site condition issues in oil and gas, pulp and paper and industrial construction projects.

Bruce has a BSc Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in British Columbia. 

Tony brings more than 22 years of experience in the Heavy Civil, Industrial, and General Infrastructure construction sector to TNL, particularly in the areas of highway, bridge, utility and subdivision construction.  He is familiar with all phases of construction, such as: project estimating, management, budgeting, planning and scheduling, sub-trade selection and negotiation, labor and equipment selection.

 Tony has been involved in estimating, managing, and supervising a wide array of projects, both private and public, ranging in size from $250K to $100M, all of which provided exposure to a variety of construction contract requirements, local authority regulations and construction processes. Tony’s in-depth experience in construction estimating provides a solid base for preparing and negotiating construction claims and Tony has been involved claims associated with foundation failures, utility deficiencies, changed conditions and weather related impacts.

Tony obtained a Diploma of Technology in Civil & Structural Engineering from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 1999.