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How to Avoid Unexpected Property Maintenance Costs

Whether you are a building owner, property manager, or if you are questioning whether a building purchase makes financial sense—it’s important to anticipate how the property will perform over time. For retail, multi-family, office or industrial properties, the best solution is to assess, plan, and budget for the future. A Capital Needs Assessment analyzes the….

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Paving: Proper Maintenance is Essential

When was the last time you thought about your parking lot? The honest answer most likely is, not in recent memory. We know it’s not a question of out of sight–out of mind, parking lots are highly visible. However, they aren’t very interesting. As a result, paved areas don’t always get the maintenance attention they….

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History of Criterium Engineers’ Name

A company’s name can reveal a lot about the values and interests of a company or its owner and in this case, both. Criterium Engineers’ founder’s passion for biking is part of the history for the basis of our Criterium name. In the 1980s, H. Alan Mooney, P.E., an avid cyclist, then and today, was working….

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Why You Should Hire an Engineer Versus a Building Inspector

For every real estate transaction that you are involved in, chances are as part of the due-diligence process, you are hiring a building inspection professional to look at the property prior to closing. This is a helpful and valuable service that is routinely recommended to buyers and may be required by lenders. However, if the….

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Pre-Listing Building Inspections

Traditionally, buyers arrange to have a building inspection during the purchasing process. Recently however, there has been an increasing amount of property owners opting to have a building inspection prior to listing their property for sale. There are many advantages to having a pre-listing inspection. A current  building inspection will give you a good idea of….

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Commercial Building Services

Planning ahead for any building owner is critical to ensuring your building performs as it should over time. A Capital Needs Assessment is a road map to understanding the life expectancy and cost of major items needed to maintain your property. This includes an analysis of your building’s current physical condition and a projection of….

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Happy New Year!

That moment we have all been waiting for has finally arrived, saying goodbye to 2020! Hopefully 2021 brings happiness, peace, health, and prosperity to you. As a little gift, to help get the new year started right, please download your FREE 2021 calendar.

What is a Capital Needs Assessment?

When building owners and property managers plan the financial future of their facilities, the quantitative tool most often chosen is the Capital Needs Assessment (CNA). A CNA creates a capital forecast of needed reserves to fund depreciating asset replacement and prioritize discovered deficiencies while providing a comprehensive document to justify lending requests. CNAs are often used to….

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Top Ten Building Problems

During Criterium Engineers’ many years in business, we have inspected thousands of buildings for structural and mechanical issues. We are often asked by both prospective buyers and property managers to name the most common problems found in buildings. Interesting enough, new buildings can have more hidden problems than older properties whose defects have manifested themselves….

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Getting Ready for Climate Change

Gale Flags Are Flying! Is your condo or building ready for a climate change future?  Currently we are in the middle of a hurricane season predicted to be one of the worst in recent times in terms of both frequency and severity of future storms.  Prior to June when the hurricane season started, Maine’s Superintendent….

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