Smaller Means Better in the All Appropriate Inquires Market

(PRLEAP.COM) Environmental Advantage, Inc., a provider of environmental due diligence services in the Greater Atlanta Metropolitan Area and throughout Georgia, explains how small businesses provide a higher level of expertise and service than large environmental firms.

For almost two decades, buyers of commercial real estate have had to review a property’s environmental history prior to closing the deal. This process, known as environmental due diligence or all appropriate inquiries, involves conducting a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA). The purpose of a Phase I ESA is to guard against purchase of contaminated property and to qualify the purchaser for specific environmental liability protections, should existing contamination go undiscovered.

High overhead costs have forced most larger firms to hire relatively inexperienced and low-paid employees to conduct environmental due diligence. Many of these employees have just recently graduated from college. To stay within budget, these young professionals are rushed through each of their projects and are rarely given time to be meticulous and thorough. The senior professional tasked with reviewing his inexperienced subordinates’ work will usually spend no more than an hour before the Phase I ESA report is finalized. Management at these large firms contend that the budget on a typical Phase I ESA will not justify the use of higher-level professionals – who happen to be the people most qualified to make good decisions on the environmental well-being of a property.

“It is ironic that the closing of a commercial real-estate deal worth millions of dollars is often delayed due to the questionable findings of a recent college graduate with little investigative or real-estate experience,” says Allan Nix, a licensed professional geologist and founder of Environmental Advantage , Inc., in Woodstock, Georgia. “Conversely,” Mr. Nix goes on to say, “possible indicators of a genuine environmental problem, such as an old vent pipe from an underground tank or a sheen on the surface of a creek, may go unnoticed by a novice.”

Many senior environmental professionals have left the larger environmental-consulting firms, bringing with them a high level of experience and expertise to smaller firms. Lacking the burden of high overhead, these smaller firms can use these senior professionals on due-diligence projects. If the right firm is selected, an environmental professional with 15 years or more of experience will be doing your Phase I ESA from start to finish. For more insight into the Phase I process, go to http://www.envadv.com/phase1.html.

Environmental Advantage is a progressive environmental consulting firm based in the metro-Atlanta area, serving Georgia and the entire Southeastern United States. Environmental Advantage specializes in environmental due diligence and underground storage tank (UST) environmental compliance. For more information on the company, go to http://www.envadv.com.

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