It is commonplace for businesses and community associations to retain an accountant, or a lawyer, or a financial advisor; but how often does one think about retaining a Licensed Professional Engineer?
Engineering oversight on your technical projects often pays for itself in lower total cost, higher quality, financial security, and legal resilience. Engineers remove risk from designs, projects, and transactions. Engineering is an investment that is entirely reasonable compared to the cost of a failed project. An engineering opinion can move mountains with contractors, insurance companies, banks, and lawyers.
When to retain a Licensed Engineer
1. When contractors can’t seem to solve the problem after repeated attempts.
2. If you or your client will require bank financing for the development, purchase or repair of your property or machinery.
3. If insurability of your property or machinery is imperative to the viability of your project.
4. If you hold fiduciary responsibility to an association for the expenditures of community funds on property, machinery, or maintenance.
5. If disclosure is regulated by law such as water damage, title history, reserve funds, or proof of performance for property or machinery.
6. When you need a second opinion supporting a large expenditure.
7. When you need a licensed professional to oversee construction.
8. When you are making a warranty claim or construction / product defect claim.
9. To perform independent forensic studies or pre-emptive failure analysis.
10. When due diligence is required in a litigious environment.
11. Performing a pre-listing inspection and/or Real Estate due diligence
12. when you need to challenge an on-line real estate value (such as Zillow or Redfin)
…and much more
Engaging an engineer may feel like a daunting task since many engineering firms are structured around big projects serving large corporations, developers, or government. And yes, we are a bit quirky, we speak a different language, and sometimes we may seem socially distant. But there are many small engineering firms or independent engineers that can tackle a wide variety of problems quickly, efficiently and without huge overhead. Often, an engineer can clarify a problem with a single phone call.
Fortunately, it is easy to check the licensure status on an engineer to be assured that they have been signed-off by other engineers, that they have passed all of their engineering board exams, and have no violations on record. The engineering profession is tightly regulated by law with strict rules and durable code of ethics so that the public can be assured well beyond many non-licensed professions. Also keep in mind that nobody can offer engineering services to the public without holding a valid license.
Community Engineering Services, PLLC brings a wide variety of experience in major engineering disciplines to your project, when you need it at a price that makes sense. Community Engineering Services, PLLC is a collection of independent engineers, several hold MBAs, and collaborate with each other to bring forward the best solution to your important technical problems. We hope to deliver engineering closer to the public in a new way in order to support the infrastructure of communities.
We are Coengineers