MSD Engineering, LLC - Lakewood Ranch, Florida

Michele H.

Mark is the best engineer! He's completely professional and truly understands the art and science of forensic engineering. We've been using him for years and have never had an issue. If you need an engineer, Mark is your guy!

Cody B.

I had the displeasure of an engineer by the name of Mark being selected by my insurance company as the forensic engineer to investigate my claims post hurricane. Let me tell you, Mark is bought and paid for by the insurance companies and will do whatever he can to side with them and terminate your claim.

Here were my issues.

The main topic that Mark was brought in for was drywall cracks along the interior ceiling that stemmed from the garage into the master bedroom and our shingle roof. Both which sustained damage from the storm. The initial claims adjuster stated that the shingle roof was at 50% damage which warranted replacement via insurance. Mark came out to assess the roof and quantified the damage to be a whopping 2%. Mark's attention to detail was nonexistent that day and he could have cared less to complete the job properly. Mark was on the roof for all of 5 minutes stating that only the ridge caps were damaged and nothing more needed attention. The other issue I had was the insurance stated that if any tarps were removed from any affected areas, they would send a company to replace the tarp as needed.
Mark proceeded to pull up the sides of the tarp to view the damage on the ridge caps and then lied about ever doing so. You could hear and see him popping the staples out in order to view what was under. This led to the company never showing up to repair what Mark pulled up. If you deal with Mark, video tape everything as he was not truthful about this. Another point I would like to touch on is do not say anything unnecessary to him while he is completing his "forensic assessment" for an insurance company. I told him the roof was only 4 years old and he wrote that in his report stating the roof was new and held up well.

Well, through my own doing, I was able to find multiple areas that sustained damage causing lifted, broken, and cracked shingles, and major amounts of asphalt grit blown off leaving bare shingle. If Mark knew anything about shingles, he should have known that the amount of grit loss was substantial for only being a 4 year old roof with a 30 year shingle. I submitted 200 photos of damage and the insurance agreed to fully replace the roof. By the insurance agreeing to replace the roof regardless of Mark's 2% find, this is proof that Mark completed this assessment incorrectly.

The other damage that we suffered from the storm was drywall cracking across the ceiling of the garage which continued into the master bedroom and caused cracking down the tile in the master shower. All of which was in a perfect line and pictures submitted to the insurance proved that the cracks were not present before the storm. Mark's assessment was this could not have happened from the storm but happened from thermo expansion and the insurance wrote it off. In reference to the shower wall tile, I pointed out that the crack stemmed from the roof and proceeded down towards the floor tile but did not affect the bottom two tiles. Mark pointed at one particular tile that visually had more damage than the others and said they appeared to be impact points. Well, I am here to inform you that after closer review, the points that he spoke about were the peaks of the tile where the 3d waves protruded out the furthest. I spoke with other people who have seen this before and sited that new settling events due to max saturation of the grounds could cause cracks to appear. But, once again, Mark found this to be caused by something unrelated to the storm.

The moral of the story is, take hi-res pictures and videos of everything that is insured and everyone that comes to complete these assessments. They are all for in this for themselves and the insurance companies who hire them, and they do not care about completing the job truthfully and honestly for the insured. Mark, you put me through some challenging times and almost caused portions of my claim to be denied. Moving forward, practice integrity.

I have attached a picture from our email thread proving Mark was hired and completed our inspection.

Dee M.

I'd definitely not recommend this individual.

He was hired to provide an architectural inspection report for a new home. I basically did all the work. Now me not being an engineer I wasn't exactly sure what he needed to see. I had a folder of many pictures. I shared with him via Google drive.

Now if you're an expert and the photo is not something that's considered archducal, no need to analyze it. Just flip past it. The "many phone calls" from June 17 through September 11. I calculated both incoming & Outgoing to 62 min. 1 hr and 2 min. I back up my phone logs. I kept the calls short and infrequent as he bills for every millisecond. A few times i had to real him back to task because he was going on about his passion and his work up north. When on premises & on the phone. As I reiterated his own word back to him "He's expensive and time is money!" As I respect this fact to a degree. It's the nickel & dime aspect I find off putting.

I requested all the permits from the country and provided them to Mark, he didn't even see the seal/signature. I had to point it out to him.

Mark came out with his little point and shoot cam. Took a few shots, poked his head up through the attic access took maybe 2 or 3 shots.

I requested the plans/ specs from the builder and requested them to cut a hole in the ceiling, I videoed a 1 min clip of the area with 4k video & provide it for review.

After all was said and done I waited for a written report that never came.

Part of the logged calls I mentioned earlier was me trying to obtain a report as a vague verbal is absolutely useless.

At the end of the day I paid this individual a large sum and got useless information.

The minute I expressed my discontent with the situation, as I was extremely upset. His reply was "I don't like your attitude and I'm not inclined to help you."

He got paid & I recieved nothing but fluff.

Benjamin M.

Mark is the consummate professional and a superb forensic structural engineer. Highly recommend.

Peter H.

Mark, at MSD Engineering. was very responsive and did my inspection right away, was positive and very proactive with all of his communications. His actions helped me resolve a very difficult job and ultimately, solved the problem with the County for me. I would highly recommend him and his firm.

Rod V.

Gulf and Bay Club Bayside Condominium Association retained Mark Densmore and his firm to perform our required Milestone Safety Survey. He did that and more. He completed the project in less than six weeks. His reports are thorough and prompt.

Our Community has benefited immensely from Mark's efforts and we will recommend him to others without hesitation.
On a personal note, I gained a new friend and look forward to engaging him to inspect our Property in the future.

-Rod VanTol, President
Gulf and Bay Club Bayside, Sarasota

Giuseppe N.

Mark is the absolute best on structural engineering, what makes better then others is also his prompt response and communication to his clients.
Highly recommend him.

D T.

Mark Densmore was hired by me to produce details for a repair at my residence. Mark agreed to produce the drawings for 500$. Mark returned several days later with a worthless opinion and no details to fix the repair. When I questioned him about where the detail was for the repair He said he would not produce the detail until he was paid. Beware of doing business with this person. After further investigation of Mark I discovered he was working out of his house and had office. After refusing to pay Mark until the detail of the repair was provided. He called me repeatedly and threatened to call the county. Mark did then call the county and the county found no issues. Mark later filed a small claims suit to try and recover the $500 he was demanding. Mark lost this case and was unable to prove that he provided the information in his proposal. Beware that this person is very dishonest and will try to take your money and not provide any service. In conclusion if you want to have the county called and deal with legal issues hire Mark if not call someone else. Note that the reviews on his page are all from the same time frame trying to appear that he is honest and trustworthy. There was another review of Mark similar to mine that is no longer available. It looks like Mark has made a new site to try and hide the bad reviews. I addition to everything else I have listed above Mark also posted a 1 star review of my business even though he had no business dealings with my business. Everyone needs to be aware of the type of person Mark is. Mark was unsuccessful in collecting the 500 dollars he sued for because the judge agreed he did not provide what was contracted for but did award him a partial amount based on the report he wrote which was as worthless as the paper it was written on. If you read the owners response he admits the condition was "atrocious" which is the exact reason I tried to hire Mark an alleged "professional" his words... to detail an appropriate repair. To this date Mark does not understand that had he provided the detail he was hired to make he would have been paid the 500 dollars we agreed to. I did not need a report I needed a detail of the repair. I sincerely hope this review keeps someone else from going thru the hassle of dealing with Mark. This is an update to my previous review of MSD Engineering. Mark is now on a campaign to try and hurt my businesses by posting libelous reviews of companies i own pretending to be a client of the business though he has never done business with any of my companies. He is engaging in cyber misinformation and posting libelous untrue reviews and is engaging others to post untrue reviews. This just goes to show Marks unscrupulous morals and business practices. Mark is unable to cope with an honest review of his company and is trying to bully me into removing it by posting false reviews. Legal counsel has been hired to deal with Mark!