Building Evaluation
Building evaluations provide the basis for many of our services. At Consult Engineering, we take the time to discover each cause of a problem. Our engineers and industry experts understand how building components are designed to work together.
Whether your roof is leaking, your paint is peeling or your masonry is cracking, we explore all the contributing factors, document, photograph and perform testing when appropriate. We have many investigative methods at our disposal, from metal detection and moisture detection, aerial inspection and thermal imaging, to non-destructive and destructive testing and structural analysis. Our expert knowledge, combined with exhaustive techniques, gives you a complete picture of the condition of your building. Armed with the highest quality information, your tough decisions become much easier to make.
Capital Reserve Studies
At Consult Engineering we have elevated our Capital Reserve Studies to a form of art. Because we perform structural inspections and water intrusion investigations, prepare roofing, painting and waterproofing specifications, create project manuals and oversee contract bidding and administrate construction and restoration projects, our services form a comprehensive solution to owners’ needs.
While other providers of reserve studies rely heavily on pricing guides—blue book for the building industry—for estimating, Consult Engineering is an engineering firm at work in the field. Our meticulously prepared capital reserve studies, and developer transition studies, are informed by current, real-world pricing examples and tailored in our proprietary reserve study software to your exact parameters. That means we can provide you with custom-fit, not cookie-cutter projections, designed around the way your association prefers to set aside funds.
And because we are structural engineers, our reserve studies account for inevitable building restoration, likely to be your most costly reserve expenditure, but one which many reserve studies sadly omit.
Project Design & Planning
Project Design transforms an engineer’s worth from theoretical to practical and sets the trajectory for the eventual outcome. Capital improvements, alterations and structural strengthening require drawings and engineering. Even seemingly simple jobs, like replacing a roof or painting, can benefit from detailed specifications including methods and materials. Contracting an engineer to design your project results in the least ambiguity, allowing contractors to bid with certainty, and ensures critical decisions are made by the appropriate parties.
As a board or association member or property manager, you are required to act in the best interest of the residents. Liability for a project ultimately lies with the “specifier.” Consult Engineering makes it easy to own your decisions by assuming liability for specifications.
Specifications & Bidding
Like every process at Consult Engineering, our bidding process is designed to protect the interests of the owners. We take great measures to separate from actions or relationships which may create an actual or perceived conflict of interest. We never receive referral fees or kickbacks, nor are we indebted in any way to the contractors you may utilize, or the vendors and manufacturers of materials we may specify. Ethical practices raise the integrity of any project.
Making sure the client, consultant and contractors are all on the same page is essential to any bidding process, and that page is from the Project Manual, which contains all the general and technical specifications. We spend a great deal of time describing the nature, extent and expected quality of each task in our Summary of Work. Written in plain language, this summary establishes a clear understanding of what is expected for the client from those performing the work.
By providing a detailed Project Manual and overseeing the bidding process using strict requirements designed to protect you, using Consult Engineering means you’ll get apples-to-apples bids from each contractor, with less likelihood of cost or time overruns during the job.
Project Administration
Project Administration is the physical, in-person oversight of the work in progress. We send in the professionals so you don’t have to be one. Consult Engineering’s project administrators are former builders and contractors with knowledge of projects large and small, residential and commercial, representing decades of experience in the construction field. We understand the intricacies of structural design, materials estimating, manpower allocation and equipment staging, and have a critical eye for proper quality workmanship. By being present on the worksite, any potential issues can be identified and addressed before becoming costly to your timeline or budget.
Coupled with our competency, our communication elevates us above others in our field. We conduct regular staff meetings to keep each member up to date on every project underway. During each visit to your site, we check in with the property manager or resident in charge to discuss our observations and any directives that were given. Every site visit is followed up with a written field report, including photographs if applicable, sent electronically for distribution to board or association members, or owners. And every member of our staff has remote access to every document on our servers for immediate answers in the field.
Allowing Consult Engineering to take ownership of your project means you’ll never again be out of the loop, wondering how your project is progressing and when it will be completed.
Forensics & Expert Witness
Occasionally, taking ownership of your problems means taking someone to court. While there is no shortage of ethical and conscientious contractors in Florida, sadly there also is no shortage of those who fail to act in good faith. In our most unfortunate specialty, Consult Engineering provides Defect Investigations and Expert Witness services.
Defects in workmanship, design or materials, or failure to meet building code, are often the result of “value engineering” to a budget. Finishes, waterproofing and structural details may fail to serve their intended purpose, and the owner is left with the aftermath.
Should you find yourself in this regrettable situation, remember that Consult Engineering shines in our role as owner advocate. We can provide the investigative field work, testing and expert testimony to establish your legal case or insurance claim. You can rest easy knowing you have the most knowledgeable, experienced and dedicated professionals in your corner.
Why Consult Engineering?
Our focus on owner representation differentiates us from our competition. Sure, there lots of engineers. And there are even other engineers who, among other things, do what we do.
But Consult Engineering is the only firm in Southwest Florida devoted to the particular needs of condominium and homeowners association members and private property owners. It’s an easy choice. When your investment and years of hard work are on the line, you want dedicated professionals on your side.
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