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Criterium Engineers:
By Jim Romeo
Who said classified ads don't work? They did for Alan
Mooney. In 1974, he responded to a classified ad for a business opportunity
that caught his eye. Eventually he bought a license to the company, a
home inspection firm. Just as an engineer can build the greatest machine
or device with persistence, Mooney built his business venture into a major
player in the engineering inspection services market. Today, Criterium
Engineers is a nationally franchised building-related engineering services
firm with 67 offices in 37 states.
"In 1974 I saw a small classified ad about a firm in New York that was doing home inspections and was looking for professional engineers to 'license' to do the same work elsewhere in the country," explains Mooney. He visited Art Tauscher in New York, who had originally founded the inspection business in 1957. Mooney bought a license to Tauscher's business and moved his own practice north to Maine as a home inspections business. The business grew steadily and began to expand into commercial buildings as well as residential.
While his home inspection business grew in Maine, Mooney became concerned that the growth of the business was limited by the local economy. One way to overcome this obstacle would be to expand outside his domain by franchising. "By the mid 80s, an idea began to come into focus," he recalls." "By organizing as a franchise, we could expand beyond Maine and give engineers an opportunity to go on their own and grow professionally. I knew many engineers had the skills to be in their own business but were reluctant since the typical engineer is conservative and unwilling to take risks. By providing a support system -- the franchise -- we could provide that opportunity."
Mooney built on the licensing arrangement he had set up with the original principal. "My existing license with Art Tauscher had the elements of an informal franchise and served as a platform from which to build our system," adds Mooney. "I secured an option to purchase his system, which led to my acquisition of that system in 1988. By 1989, we had formalized our system and created the Criterium name and image. We were consulting engineers specializing in building inspections."
Today, Criterium ranks as the oldest nationwide building inspection company in the country. "Fundamental to our approach to inspections is that all work is either performed by or led by licensed professional engineers, and it has been that way since day one," says Peter Hollander, executive vice president of the firm. "That alone makes us unique in the inspection industry." Criterium is unique in that it offers registered professional engineers the opportunity to buy a franchise of its services. This allows it to reach throughout the United States with offices run by engineers and their associates.
Each office is owned by a licensed engineer or employs one in responsible charge of all work. In addition, Criterium's central staff in Portland, Maine has two P.E.s. Typically, disciplines are civil, structural, and mechanical, although there is a sprinkling of many others. Their engineers come from a background in design, construction management, or facilities management. Their work focuses on both residential and commercial work. Services offered include home inspections, structural inspections, commercial property condition assessments, environmental site assessments, construction monitoring, reserve studies for condominiums, insurance investigations, and litigation support. "We perform about 25,000 inspections of various types each year," Hollander states. "Most originate locally with our offices. We also serve a number of national commercial real estate investors through our national accounts program."
By
franchising each office and having it independently owned and operated,
the principal owner of that franchise has a vested interest to achieve
smooth operations and efficiency in its management. "That provides
our clients a degree of professionalism and accountability because 'the
owner is in the store,'" adds Hollander.
Being truly professional requires maintaining industry standards in the inspection business. Criterium was instrumental in the creation of the National Academy of Building Inspection Engineers (NABIE), an affinity group of the National Society of Professional Engineers. The objective of NABIE is to establish a standard for building inspections as performed by engineers. Hollander says this standard is higher than that of the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), which many residential home inspectors belong to.
Criterium points out that routine residential inspections are often characterized by checklists that realtors like, as they help enhance the sale, noting that a realtor has a fiduciary responsibility to the seller, not the buyer. "A number of companies offer checklist reports at the time of inspection," explains Hollander. "This practice was developed purely for the convenience of the real estate agent. Such reports don't convey understanding to the buyer. They also don't benefit from reflection and evaluations, as our reports are written after thoughtful analysis and are carefully reviewed. We try to give our clients an honest evaluation that leads to understanding, not fear or flight."
Jim Romeo is a freelance writer based in Chesapeake, Virginia. He is the author of Net Know-How. Surviving the Bloodbath. Straight Talk From 25 Internet Entrepreneurs.
Snapshot
Company: Criterium Engineers
Type: Consulting engineering firm
Location: Headquartered in Portland, Maine; 67 offices in 37 states
Services: Residential and commercial building inspections performed by licensed engineers
Contact for submitting resumes: Peter Hollander, 800-242-1969, phollander@criterium-engineers.com
Website: www.criterium-engineers.com
Progressive
Engineer
Editor: Tom Gibson
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