An honest look at a building or a site, with options and real numbers, before anyone commits to a plan.
A town knows the roof leaks. What it usually does not know is whether the building is worth keeping, what the code will require once work starts, what the whole job costs, and which piece has to happen first.
That is what a study answers. We document the existing conditions, run the code and accessibility review, test two or three ways forward, and put an order-of-magnitude cost against each one. You end up with a document you can take to a select board, a bond vote, or a grant application.
A study is a complete piece of work with its own fee. Many of ours lead to design work later, and some correctly conclude that the right move is to do nothing yet. We would rather tell you that early.
Measured drawings of a building that has no record set, which is most buildings in the Northeast Kingdom. Envelope, structure, and systems observed and photographed. Where the question is structural we bring in an engineer rather than guess.
What the current Vermont Fire and Building Safety Code will require once the work is large enough to trigger it, what the accessibility rules will require, and where the 20 percent alteration rule lands. On municipal buildings this is usually the single biggest cost surprise, and it is much cheaper to find now.
Two or three scenarios, priced at the level of confidence the information supports, and labeled as such. Renovate, add, replace, or phase. We show what each option does and does not solve, including the option that costs the least.
For a new facility, whether the program actually fits the site. Truck geometry, circulation, storage, utilities, wastewater, and stormwater get tested before a building form is fixed. For a town garage, this is most of the work.
A written report and a presentation built for people who do not read drawings. We attend the select board or committee meeting and answer questions in plain language, because the study only works if the town understands it well enough to vote on it.
Pre-design feasibility of three sites for a new garage in Thetford. Garage scenarios in Sharon. A pre-design study for the Brandon highway garage. A code-compliant exit analysis for Woodbury Elementary School. A post-flood building assessment for the Woodbury Fire Department. An expansion study for the Plainfield COOP. Before Vermont, statewide facility assessments for the Oregon Employment Department and building assessment work for the Oregon Department of Education.
See our projects →Usually comes before
Grant & Funding Support
USDA RD, MERP, VCDP, EDA, FEMA and VTrans compliance: procurement, wage rules, agency gates, reimbursement requests, and closeout.
Usually comes after
Architectural Design
The full arc, schematic design through construction documents. The anchor service — everything else is upstream or downstream of it.
Next step
Tell us the building and what is worrying you about it. Most studies start with a walk-through.