New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission (EQC) and private insurers will begin technical assessments next month on 8000-10,000 Christchurch homes with foundation damage.

The assessment of houses in technical category 3 (TC3) will help the claims settlement process by enabling the EQC and insurers to determine the cost of foundation repair or replacement.

EQC GM Customer Services Bruce Emson says the assessments will be undertaken on all TC3 properties where there is confirmed foundation damage.

“Once analysis is completed, a structural engineer may be required to design the foundation solution on a case by case basis,” he said.

The work will require on-site drilling and an offsite geotechnical analysis.

The EQC has so far paid out $NZ2.8 billion ($2.2 billion) on events from the first quake on September 2010.