The Tool Desk
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The best selection process treats engineering as a defined professional service rather than a commodity quote. A low price for a limited visual review is not comparable with a higher price that includes testing, repair design, and construction observation.
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1. What question are we asking the engineer to answer?
State the board’s decision in plain language before contacting firms. The assignment might be a condition assessment, targeted diagnostic investigation, legally required inspection, reserve-planning study, repair design, bid-document package, or construction observation. Each produces different work, liability, and fees.
Match the service to the decision
| Possible assignment | Decision it should support | Important boundary to clarify |
|---|---|---|
| Condition assessment | Which building components are deteriorating and how urgent are they? | Whether the review is visual only or includes testing and concealed conditions |
| Diagnostic investigation | What is causing a leak, crack, movement, corrosion, or other defect? | Whether the scope investigates root cause or merely records visible symptoms |
| Code-required inspection | Does the property meet a statutory inspection requirement? | The jurisdiction’s required professional, method, report, filing, and deadline |
| Reserve or funding study | How should the association plan and fund future component work? | Which components the association maintains and what financial assumptions are used |
| Repair design and tender documents | What should contractors build, and on what technical requirements? | Whether drawings, specifications, permits, and bid support are included |
| Construction-phase services | Is the repair being built in general accordance with the design? | Visit frequency, submittal review, payment review, testing, and closeout duties |
Ask the candidate to describe the assignment in one paragraph, list what decisions the final report will enable, and identify what the firm will not determine. This prevents a board from expecting a reserve study to diagnose a defect or expecting a visual inspection to provide construction-ready details.
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2. Who will actually do the work?
Evaluate the proposed project team, not only the firm’s name. Request the lead professional’s name, discipline, license or credential, role, and availability. Ask who will inspect the property, who will perform calculations or testing, who will write the report, and who has authority to answer technical questions.
Experience that matters
- Similar condominium or cooperative buildings, including comparable age, structure, façade, roofing, parking, mechanical, and waterproofing systems.
- Experience with the specific defect or decision facing the association.
- Past work of similar size, complexity, occupied condition, and resident-access constraints.
- Training, staffing capacity, past performance, and the capabilities of specialty subconsultants.
Ask for examples with enough detail to be meaningful: the building type, problem, investigation method, deliverable, and the professional’s role. Confirm how the firm supervises subconsultants and who remains responsible for their work. Verify licenses with the applicable regulator rather than relying on a résumé or proposal statement.
The American Society of Civil Engineers’ qualifications-based policy says an owner evaluates and selects the professional engineer based on demonstrated qualifications and experience in the required services without considering fee. That principle is useful for a board deciding whether a candidate is technically suitable before negotiating price.
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3. What exactly is included in the fee?
Require a written scope detailed enough that two proposals can be compared line by line. It should state the records to be reviewed, building areas and systems to be inspected, number and type of site visits, access assumptions, testing, optional destructive investigation, exclusions, schedule, report format, presentation obligations, and any planning-level repair-cost estimates.
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Scope questions to put in writing
- Will the engineer review drawings, prior reports, maintenance records, leak logs, warranties, permits, and repair histories?
- Which roofs, façades, balconies, garages, equipment rooms, landscaped areas, and units are included?
- Are photographs, measurements, moisture readings, probes, laboratory tests, or other diagnostics included?
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- What concealed conditions, destructive testing, engineering calculations, or permit work are excluded?
- Will the engineer distinguish observed facts, assumptions, opinions, and limitations?
For a recurring condition, ask directly whether the proposed method can identify root cause. A report that documents stains without determining how water enters may be accurate yet insufficient for a repair decision. Trade guidance on condominium procurement warns that vague requests produce proposals based on different assumptions, making their prices misleading to compare.
4. What will the board receive, and when?
Ask for a redacted sample deliverable and a schedule with milestones. Clarify whether the final product is signed or sealed when required, whether it includes an executive summary, photographs, prioritized recommendations, urgency categories, additional-investigation needs, and a presentation for the board.
Agree on reporting and safety escalation
- Who receives a draft, and how many review cycles are included?
- How are factual corrections handled without changing professional conclusions improperly?
- What happens if the engineer observes an immediate safety concern?
- Which person is contacted outside a routine meeting cycle?
- What is the due date for the draft and final report, and what events could change it?
Florida’s official milestone-inspection guidance illustrates the level of specificity a statutory report may require: material findings, inspection methods, deterioration and repair recommendations, unsafe conditions, follow-up inspection needs, a summary, and the responsible professional’s seal. A board elsewhere should ask its own regulator what its law requires rather than assume Florida’s format applies.
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Name the day-to-day contact and the person with authority to resolve technical questions. Condominiums often require access to occupied units, roofs, parking structures, mechanical rooms, balconies, and locked service spaces. Ask who coordinates notices, keys, escorts, shutdowns, pets, and rescheduling.
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Set operating expectations
- Meeting cadence and format during investigation and report review
- Expected response time for routine questions and urgent conditions
- How schedule changes, missed access, and weather delays are communicated
- How unexpected conditions are documented and authorized
- Whether the manager, board president, counsel, or another officer receives formal notices
There is no single universal communication standard, so these terms need to be negotiated for the engagement and written into the agreement or scope.
6. How are additional services and fees approved?
Ask for the fee basis, reimbursable expenses, assumptions, exclusions, hourly rates, fixed-fee add-ons, and written authorization process. Clarify whether testing, repeat visits, meetings, agency coordination, contractor questions, and repair-cost estimates are included.
Do not authorize open-ended work based on a verbal understanding. Require a written description, price or rate, schedule effect, and board authorization before extra services begin, except for narrowly defined emergency actions. ASCE’s recommended sequence is to select on qualifications, develop or review the scope and schedule with the selected engineer, and then negotiate the fee for that agreed scope.
7. What contract and insurance terms apply?
Obtain the proposed agreement before the board votes. Have association counsel and the insurance adviser review it, especially where the work could influence major repairs or statutory compliance.
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Terms to examine
- Professional standard of care and the precise services promised
- Professional-liability and other insurance coverage, limits, and certificates
- Any liability cap, exclusions, indemnity obligations, and consequential-damage language
- Ownership, permitted use, copying, and reliance on the report by future owners, contractors, lenders, or insurers
- Confidentiality, public-record treatment where applicable, and conflicts of interest
- Dispute-resolution process, governing law, termination rights, and payment timing
Ask whether the firm has recently worked for a contractor, developer, insurer, or other party whose interests could affect this assignment. Independence should be considered alongside technical competence.
8. Can we speak with recent, comparable clients?
Request references for similar condominium or cooperative assignments, preferably a board member or manager who can discuss the engagement from the owner’s perspective. Ask whether the firm met its schedule, explained findings to non-engineers, raised urgent issues promptly, stayed within the agreed scope, and provided useful follow-up.
Reference calls should test the exact risks in your project. A firm may be excellent at new construction yet poorly suited to an occupied building with recurring leaks and difficult access. The Condominium Authority of Ontario’s procurement guidance includes reference checking, proposal evaluation, interviews, negotiation, and documenting the contract award as normal procurement steps.
9. How do we compare engineering proposals?
Prepare a common scope and evaluation rubric before requesting proposals. Compare qualifications and scope first; compare fees only after confirming that the firms priced the same meaningful work.
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| Comparison area | What to verify |
|---|---|
| Relevant experience | Comparable buildings, defects, materials, age, and assignment type |
| Named team | Credentials, roles, availability, supervision, and subconsultant responsibility |
| Investigation method | Records, site work, testing, sampling, destructive options, and limitations |
| Deliverables | Report contents, photographs, priorities, seal, presentation, and schedule |
| Communication | Contacts, access coordination, response expectations, and urgent escalation |
| Exclusions | Concealed conditions, repeat visits, agency work, cost estimates, and repair design |
| References | Performance on comparable owner-side assignments |
| Risk terms | Insurance, liability, independence, reliance, termination, and disputes |
| Fee | Price against the identical scope, assumptions, allowances, and extra-service rates |
For complex consulting or engineering work, an RFP is generally more useful than sending a bare request for a fee. Document the criteria, questions asked, scores or reasons, conflicts review, and final award. This creates an auditable board record and reduces the chance that a later disagreement becomes a dispute about what was promised.
10. What should the board do after selecting a firm?
- Review governing documents, procurement policy, budget authority, and applicable local requirements.
- Write the building issue and the decision the board needs to make.
- Prepare a common scope and invite proposals from qualified firms. Use an RFP when the scope is complex or uncertain.
- Check credentials, assigned personnel, experience, references, approach, exclusions, insurance, conflicts, schedule, and deliverables.
- Record how proposals were evaluated and why the selected firm was chosen.
- Negotiate the fee only after the scope and schedule are clear.
- Sign an agreement covering reporting, extra-service approval, insurance, liability, and use of the work product.
- Calendar the report review and the next decision, including possible repair design, contractor procurement, or construction oversight.
Florida example: milestone inspections and reserve studies
Florida illustrates why a board must separate legal requirements from general engineering advice. The Department of Business and Professional Regulation describes milestone inspections for covered residential condominium and cooperative buildings at statutory age thresholds. It describes Phase 1 as a visual structural assessment and says Phase 2 may involve destructive testing when Phase 1 identifies substantial deterioration.
Florida DBPR also describes a Structural Integrity Reserve Study as reserve planning for specified structural elements, including a funding schedule and qualified professionals responsible for performing or verifying the study. A milestone inspection and a SIRS therefore have different purposes, qualifications, and deliverables; one should not be substituted for the other merely because both concern the building’s structure.
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11. Should we hire the same firm for repairs and construction oversight?
Ask the candidate whether it can separately provide repair options, performance-based specifications, design documents, contractor tender materials, bid evaluation, submittal review, site observations, payment reviews, and closeout. Request separate phases or prices so the board can authorize the next step after understanding the findings.
Diagnostic assessment and scope development should precede contractor pricing when the cause and extent of a problem are uncertain. Construction-phase oversight should scale to project complexity and risk. A small, well-defined repair may need limited observation; a major structural, façade, waterproofing, or occupied-building project may justify more frequent visits, testing, submittal review, and payment verification. The contract should state whether the engineer is observing general conformance or guaranteeing construction quality; those are not the same obligation.
A board-ready interview checklist
- What exact decision will this assignment support?
- Who will lead, inspect, calculate, write, and present the work?
- What comparable buildings and defects has that person handled?
- What records, areas, systems, tests, and visits are included?
- What is excluded, and how will concealed conditions be handled?
- What report, photographs, priorities, seal, presentation, and deadline will we receive?
- How will urgent safety concerns and factual corrections be communicated?
- Who coordinates resident access and responds to schedule changes?
- How are extra services priced and approved?
- What insurance, liability, reliance, independence, and termination terms apply?
- Which recent clients can we contact?
- Can you price later design, tender, and construction-phase services separately?
The decision standard
Select the firm that best fits the association’s defined need, team, scope, reporting requirements, risk terms, and ability to explain findings—not automatically the firm with the lowest fee. A documented qualifications-first process, followed by scope and fee negotiation, gives the board a defensible decision and a better chance that the resulting report will support the next action.
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