Historic Preservation
Project-based professional services where design authority, owner approval, and multi-discipline coordination determine delivery.
This interactive experience is the shipped product itself — the same application code customers run in production, mounted read-only in your browser over a real sample journey. Not a video, not a mockup: because the demo and the product are one codebase, it can never drift from the real thing.
Inside this journey
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Outcome Discovery
Align on project objectives, historic-tax-credit constraints, stakeholders, schedule, and the major preservation risks that must be mitigated.
Discovery Questions
Project snapshot and immediate priorities
- Tell me about the building and the work you are proposing, including the building era, primary envelope materials, and the immediate trigger for action
- Which of these best describes the project driver right now
- Who on your team is the day to day decision maker for scope, budget, and tax-credit eligibility conversations
- How soon do you need work to begin in order to meet your funding or occupancy target
- Which federal historic tax-credit milestone is most urgent for this project right now
- Estimate the project budget range you are planning for preservation design and construction observation
Where the risk lives, and which risk will stop the project
- If one hidden condition appeared in construction that would stop the project immediately, what would it be and why
- Which building elements do you suspect hide the greatest deterioration right now
- How often has hidden deterioration in previous projects required scope to be rewritten after construction started
- When those hidden failures occurred, what was the median increase in cost or schedule your team experienced
- Who gets notified first inside your organization when a facade or structural hazard is discovered
- Has there been regulatory pushback or a prior Part 2 rejection related to documentation quality on any of your projects
Why budgets and schedules keep shifting
- What single repair or hidden failure would blow your budget for this project
- Describe a past preservation project where contingency proved insufficient and what caused the shortfall
- How much contingency is typically approved for hidden conditions on your projects
- Who within your procurement or finance process must approve change orders above your contingency threshold
- Which cost control measure would you be willing to adopt to reduce the chance of mid construction surprises
- If early testing showed the worst plausible condition estimate, would you pause, redesign, or proceed with higher contingencies
Alternatives you are weighing and why you might stick with the current path
- Which option are you most likely to choose if the process and timeline do not change
- Which alternatives have you already evaluated or requested proposals from
- What would have to be true about your current approach for you to decide to stay with it instead of changing partners
- Has anyone inside your organization proposed solving this without an external vendor or partner
- If you stayed with your current approach, which single outcome would most likely lead to tax-credit disqualification or a failed regulatory review
Practical gatekeepers: permits, access, testing, and contractor readiness
- Which single permitting or access hurdle could keep construction documents from being issued on your target schedule
- Which of these access or testing constraints apply to this site right now
- Who controls temporary access and scaffold approvals for investigative work
- Do you have an incumbent contractor you plan to prequalify for construction observation and why or why not
- Which kinds of materials testing can you fund before design to reduce hidden-condition risk
- Which constraint would prevent us from starting investigative work within your desired window
Acceptance criteria, regulatory milestones, and what passes for success
- What failure in a Part 2 tax-credit submission would make you pause payment or stop construction
- Which of the following are nonnegotiable acceptance signals for this project
- Who within your organization must sign off on the preservation acceptance milestones before final billing
- How will compliance with federal preservation standards be verified during construction
- If we meet the acceptance signals you listed, what remaining approvals or paperwork would still block final tax-credit certification
Decision path, timing, and the next steps that accelerate or stall the deal
- If a conditions assessment showed the worst plausible cost estimate, what stops you from signing an engagement agreement within 10 business days
- Who are the assembled decision makers and approvers, and who can sign a contract without further committee review
- Realistically, when would you expect to reach mutual commercial commit including roles, schedule, and acceptance milestones
- What are the three biggest factors that would make you pick one preservation partner over another
- What practical support would move you from interest to engagement fastest
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Solution Experience
Walk through how conditions assessment, treatment design, and application documentation combine to protect tax-credit eligibility and control project risk in the buyer's real scenarios.
Solution Experience
- Solution Experience — How Assessment, Design, and Documentation Protect Tax-Credit Eligibility
- Confirm the current state and its cost to your project
- You confirm that the shown investigation-to-design workflow materially reduces the likelihood of six-figure mid-construction change orders.
- Provide a tailored investigation scope and budget estimate based on the validated repair scenarios and agreed evidence milestones.
- You confirm that the sample documentation meets the standards needed to avoid SHPO Part 2 rejection and preserve tax-credit eligibility.
- Walk through the investigation-to-design workflow using your scenario
- Confirm and share available as-built drawings, prior preservation reports, and any SHPO correspondence relevant to the facade.
- You agree on the immediate investigation milestone and accept the seller deliverable list required to move to Treatment & Documentation Scope.
- Map documentation to SHPO/Part 2 requirements with evidence examples
- Schedule the site visit window for materials testing and structural probes within the next 14 days.
- Validate this maps to your top concerns
- Define and document the decision criteria that will clear proceeding to Treatment & Documentation Scope.
- Align immediate evidence milestones and go/no-go criteria
- Solution Experience — Assessment to Documentation
- Solution Experience Deck
- Solution Brief — Assessment, Treatment, and Tax-Credit Documentation
- meeting
- slides
- document
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Investigation Workshops
Plan and record site visits, materials testing, and structural investigations to expose hidden deterioration and validate repair strategies before design.
Working Meetings
- Investigation Planning Workshop
- Site Walk and Condition Targeting (instantiate per site)
- Testing and Sampling Protocol Approval
- Investigation Data Review and Repair Strategy Decision
- Design-Ready Investigation Package Handoff
- Produce and publish the Investigation Findings and Repair Decision memo with appended data gap log.
- Prepare and assemble sampling kits, labeling, and chain-of-custody forms for the scheduled dates.
- Confirm lab reservations and expected report delivery dates.
- Recap the investigation scope and data collected
- A recorded decision for each priority location that names the repair strategy to advance to design or the additional data required.
- An updated list of data gaps and a timeline for completing any follow-up investigations.
- Confirmation that chosen strategies maintain the conditions needed for tax-credit eligibility or a documented mitigation path.
- Confirm investigation objectives and constraints
- Schedule any follow-up tests required to close data gaps with dates and expected deliverables.
- Update the project risk register and contingency allowances based on confirmed conditions.
- Walk through packaged deliverables
- Formal acceptance of the investigation package as design-ready or a clear list of items that must be completed before design can start.
- Documented acceptance criteria and listed construction observation needs that will be included in the design scope.
- Confirmed start date for the Treatment and Documentation Scope stage.
- Publish the final investigation package to the shared workspace and tag items that require monitoring during design or construction.
- Add agreed construction observation and verification tests into the upcoming design scope document.
- Schedule the kickoff for the Treatment and Documentation Scope stage on the agreed start date.
- Signed investigation plan that lists scope, methods, schedule, access windows, and acceptance criteria.
- Agreed list of required permits, safety measures, and contingency triggers to be in place before fieldwork.
- Confirmed timeline for interim deliverables and final investigation report.
- Publish the signed investigation plan to the shared workspace.
- Collect and upload existing drawings, prior reports, and historical photos relevant to the investigation.
- Reserve lab capacity for targeted tests on the agreed dates.
- Confirm site access windows and obtain any required permits before fieldwork begins.
- An annotated field sheet with photographed and tagged test locations that the team agrees to use for sampling and probes.
- Prioritized list of hidden-deterioration targets with rationale and sequencing for testing.
- List of immediate site safety issues and temporary protections required before testing.
- Upload the annotated field sheet, tagged photos, and GPS or grid references to the shared workspace.
- Physically mark test locations on site with durable tags and record tag IDs in the field sheet.
- Arrange temporary protections or traffic control specified for high-priority test locations.
- Brief review of mapped historic documentation and previous findings
- Review proposed testing matrix and rationale
- A signed testing and sampling protocol, including lab, chain-of-custody, and acceptance criteria.
- Confirmed dates for sampling and lab turnarounds that align with the investigation schedule.
- Documented temporary protection and conservation steps for invasive testing operations.
- Issue the finalized testing and sampling protocol to field crews and the lab.
- Confirm measurable acceptance criteria for design entry
- Guided site walk and targeted inspection
- Define investigative scope and methods
- Present findings by priority location
- Confirm sample locations, counts, and handling procedures
- Evaluate repair strategy options and code and tax-credit implications
- Schedule, access, and logistics
- Mark, photograph, and tag proposed test and probe locations
- Set lab deliverable formats, turnaround, and acceptance criteria
- Define construction observation and additional testing needs during design and procurement
- Decision and data gap log
- Finalize safety, conservation, and temporary repair procedures for invasive tests
- Safety, protection, and contingency triggers
- Prioritize targets and document access or protection needs
- Agree next steps and timing for Treatment and Documentation Scope
- Data handling and deliverables
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Treatment & Documentation Scope
Define assessment deliverables, repair design modules, construction-document scope, tax-credit application support, responsibilities, and measurable acceptance criteria.
Scope Configuration
- Conditions Assessment and Documentation
- Measured Drawings and Historic Fabric Recording
- Material Sampling and Laboratory Analysis
- Historic Structure Report and Treatment Rationale
- Preservation Treatment Design and Specifications
- Construction Documents for Preservation Repairs
- Temporary Stabilization and Facade Shoring Plans
- Shop Drawing, Mockup, and Materials Review
- Contractor Submittal Compliance Management
- Construction Observation and Preservation Oversight
- Part 2 Federal Historic Tax Credit Application Package
- Secretary of the Interior Standards Compliance Narrative
Scope Questions
Conditions Assessment and Documentation
- Which existing condition reports, previous repair records, or facade failure logs do you already have (attach filenames or describe)?
- Do you have up-to-date utility and structural drawings for the affected elevation(s)?
- How many discrete elevations or façade systems require hands-on inspection (e.g., east masonry façade, north cast-iron storefront)?
- Are there documented public-safety incidents or emergency shoring events related to the failing façade that we should prioritize in assessment?
- What level of photographic and annotated elevation coverage do you require for the assessment deliverable (select one)?
- Who on your team will coordinate site access, keys, and historical-photo archives for the assessment fieldwork?
Measured Drawings and Historic Fabric Recording
- Which delivery format do you require for measured drawings (select all that apply)?
- What drawing scale and level of detail do you need for historic fabric recording (choose one)?
- Do you want measured drawings to include indexed historic-conditions photography cross-referenced to drawing callouts?
- How will you use the measured drawings after delivery (select all that apply)?
- Are original historic drawings or Sanborn maps available to reference for the measured-drawing set?
- Who will be the internal contact to review and approve plan set milestones (schematic measured set, CAD final, BIM final)?
Material Sampling and Laboratory Analysis
- Which material types require sampling and lab analysis on this project (select all that apply)?
- What laboratory tests do you expect for mortar and masonry (select preferred tests)?
- How many discrete sample locations do you authorize for destructive sampling per elevation or assembly?
- Do you require chain-of-custody documentation and laboratory reports suitable for submission with a SHPO Part 2 application?
- Who will approve the laboratory selection and sign the sampling authorization in the field?
- If testing indicates hazardous materials (lead, asbestos), do you want us to include abatement design in the outcome or treat abatement as out of scope?
Historic Structure Report and Treatment Rationale
- What period of significance, character-defining features, or landmark designation text must the Historic Structure Report reference?
- Do you require a phased HSR with an abbreviated interim report for regulatory review before final archival HSR?
- Which archival sources should we prioritize in research (local preservation commission files, previous SHPO submissions, original construction drawings)?
- What level of treatment rationale do you expect: high-level justification for Part 2 or detailed comparative treatment alternatives tied to costs?
- Who will act as the primary reviewer for the Historic Structure Report and sign off on the period-of-significance statements?
- Are there previous incompatible repairs or modern insertions we must document and propose reversal strategies for (e.g., non-historic window replacements, cementitious tuckpointing)?
Preservation Treatment Design and Specifications
- Which repair approaches do you prefer for masonry: match-in-kind repointing with lime mortar, dutchman repairs, or full-unit replacement?
- Do you require bilingual or graphic-heavy specification sections for on-site contractors unfamiliar with preservation techniques?
- What tolerance for material substitution will you accept (select one)?
- Which assemblies need treatment-level details and product standards (select all that apply)?
- Who will be the approving authority for specification alternates (your project manager, the reviewing preservation commissioner, or a designated consultant)?
- Are there local code upgrades or accessibility interventions that must be reconciled with treatment choices (e.g., egress door alterations affecting historic storefronts)?
Construction Documents for Preservation Repairs
- Which set of deliverables do you require for bidding and permitting (select one)?
- What is the required drawing and specification acceptance metric for issuing construction documents (measurable criteria for completeness and SHPO-readiness)?
- Do you want the construction documents to include annotated mockup locations and mockup acceptance criteria for materials (e.g., mortar color, joint profile)?
- How many coordination meetings with structural and MEP consultants should be included in the CD scope before issuance?
- Will you require stamped drawings for permit by a licensed local engineer or architect, and if so, who will procure those stamps?
- Are there procurement constraints we should reflect in documents (single-source restoration contractor, prevailing wage requirements, or local historic-contracting provisions)?
Temporary Stabilization and Facade Shoring Plans
- Which emergency conditions trigger immediate temporary stabilization (e.g., falling masonry, voided lintels, delaminated terra cotta)?
- Do you require stamped shoring drawings for the permit application or only contractor-prepared shoring submittals?
- How long do you anticipate temporary stabilization will be in place (select one)?
- Who is authorized to approve emergency field modifications to the shoring plan when conditions differ from assessment findings?
- Do you need details for public-safety measures such as sidewalk protection, signage, and police-permit coordination included in the stabilization plans?
Shop Drawing, Mockup, and Materials Review
- How many full-scale mockups do you want as part of the contract (for masonry repointing, terra cotta repair, window restoration)?
- Which materials require pre-installation approval via shop drawings and mockups (select all that apply)?
- What is the timeframe for seller review of contractor shop drawings and mockup approvals (standard review turnaround)?
- Do you require retention of mockup panels after acceptance for archival records or future matching?
- Who will be the final approver for mockups if regulatory reviewers or preservation commissioners attend mockup inspections?
- Are laboratory-certified material data sheets and mill test reports required to accompany shop drawing submissions?
Contractor Submittal Compliance Management
- Do you want a centralized submittal log managed by the design team that tracks RFIs, submittals, and mockup approvals?
- Which substitution-control policy should be enforced (select one)?
- What turnaround time for submittal review will you require in contract language (to avoid schedule drift)?
- Who will have authority to reject a submittal based on preservation nonconformance (your authorized rep, design lead, or third-party conservator)?
- Do you want automatic escalation rules written into submittal management for overdue reviews or nonconforming materials?
- Will the contract require contractor-provided mockup permits, staging plans, and temporary protection measures to be reviewed as part of submittals?
Construction Observation and Preservation Oversight
- How frequently do you require on-site preservation observation during critical scopes (select one)?
- Which deliverables must the observer produce after each visit (select all that apply)?
- Who will be authorized to direct the contractor to stop work for preservation-nonconformance issues?
- What evidence will validate that preservation observation met contract requirements (select required artifacts)?
- Do you require third-party special-inspector services for anchorage, helifix, or structural tie installations?
- Are site safety plans and contractor LOTO (lockout/tagout) procedures to be reviewed by the observer before preservation work begins?
Part 2 Federal Historic Tax Credit Application Package
- Which attachments must be prepared for your Part 2 submission (select all that apply)?
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Mutual Commit
Finalize commercial terms, schedule, roles, and acceptance milestones (including regulatory submission milestones and construction observation scope).
Agreement Modules
- Master Services Agreement (MSA)
- Statement of Work (SOW)
- Fee Schedule & Payment Terms
- Project Schedule & Milestone Acceptance
- Construction Observation Scope Agreement
- Regulatory Submission & Approval Addendum
- Change Order Agreement
- Contractor Qualification & Subcontractor Approval
- Permits, Access & Third-Party Coordination Addendum
- Insurance, Indemnity & Warranty Schedule
- Acceptance Criteria & Final Sign-Off Checklist
- Notice to Proceed (NTP) / Authorization to Begin
- Retention & Final Payment Release Agreement
- Procurement & Public Records Addendum (conditional)
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Construction & Compliance
Prepare and execute construction with regulatory approvals, observation, and formal acceptance.
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Pre-Construction Readiness
Confirm contractor qualifications, permit and review timelines, site access, and sequencing facts the project depends on before issuing construction documents.
Pre-Construction Questions
Environment and site access
- Is the site available for contractor mobilization and observation visits? (select the statement that matches current access permissions — we use this to schedule site work and safety planning)
- Primary site contact (name and role) who will coordinate daily access and onsite logistics
- Known physical site constraints to plan around (scaffold zones, public‑right‑of‑way closures, active tenants, security requirements)
Permits and regulatory review
- Current status of historic preservation and building permit submissions (so we can align document issuance with review cycles)
- If submitted or under review, what is the next regulatory milestone and its expected date? (e.g., SHPO comment due, commission hearing date)
- Are there fixed regulatory or funding deadlines that must be met before issuing construction documents? (e.g., tax‑credit filing windows, grant conditions — this constrains schedule)
Contractor qualifications and procurement
- Procurement status for the general contractor and key trade contractors
- Have the contractor's preservation‑specific qualifications been verified (references, comparable preservation projects, required trainings)? (this confirms ability to meet preservation standards)
- Primary contractor contact (name and role) for pre‑construction coordination and verification
Timing, sequencing, and constraints
- Target date to issue construction documents (CDs) to procurement/permit teams (so we can build the delivery and review timeline)
- Which pre‑CD sequencing dependencies must occur on site before CD issuance? (check all that apply)
- Are there blackout periods or dates when site work cannot occur (academic terms, major public events, restricted review windows)? If yes, select the applicable option.
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Construction & Observation
Execute construction with scheduled observation, materials verification, substitution controls, and change-order management to preserve historic fabric and budget.
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Acceptance & Compliance Sign-Off
Formal acceptance gate: verify completed work, confirm adherence to federal preservation standards and regulatory review requirements, and clear items needed for final billing and tax-credit certification.
Checklist items
- Receive signed final construction observation report
- Confirm all punch-list items closed and accepted
- Obtain written regulatory approval required for tax-credit certification
- Receive preservation standards compliance statement
- Submit final as-built construction documents
- Submit final materials testing and laboratory reports
- Document and approve all material substitutions and field changes
- File hazardous materials abatement clearance certificates
- Approve final change-order log and cost reconciliation for final billing
- Receive unconditional final lien waivers and contractor closeout documents
- Obtain final occupancy/permit release required for project closeout
- Deliver photographic as-built record keyed to drawings
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Success
Confirm outcomes against the agreed success signals, capture lessons learned, and maintain a shared channel for warranty items, issues, and enhancement requests.
Success Reviews
- Post-Acceptance Health Check (Weeks 1-4)
- First Measurement Review (Weeks 4-10)
- 90-Day Post-Acceptance Compliance Review (Day ~90)
- Quarterly Operational Review (Ongoing)
- Annual Lessons Learned and Warranty Transition Review (12 months)
Issues & Enhancements
- Update the warranty register with status, next action, and target close date for each open item.
- Produce a cost-variance summary that explains deviations from the accepted budget and lists required follow-up actions.
- Submit any missing evidence or final inspection reports required by SHPO and record submission dates.
- Publish a final cost reconciliation workbook with variance explanations and supporting invoices.
- Create an escalation tracker for any items not closed by the agreed dates and circulate it weekly until resolution.
- Review outstanding warranty items and SLA performance
- Keep the open warranty item count and SLA closure percent visible and moving toward the targets recorded in Treatment & Documentation Scope.
- Ensure no regulatory evidence or SHPO queries remain unassigned or without a resolution date.
- Agree scheduling for prioritized enhancement requests that do not affect tax-credit compliance.
- Confirm handover completeness
- Produce a monthly summary of SLA compliance for warranty responses to distribute to stakeholders.
- Publish a prioritized enhancement backlog and suggested timing for low-impact items.
- Compare annual outcomes to Treatment & Documentation Scope
- Confirm annual performance for total warranty items and SLA resolution percent versus the targets recorded in Treatment & Documentation Scope.
- Produce a published lessons-learned report with clear recommendations for future projects.
- Establish and document the long-term warranty and maintenance transition plan and archive the project dossier for audit.
- Publish the annual lessons-learned report and distribute to the project steering list.
- Archive the final project dossier, including evidence required for tax-credit certification, in the agreed repository with retention notes.
- Document the long-term warranty SLA, response process, and contact protocol and circulate to operations and facilities teams.
- Shared workspace contains the complete as-built and compliance documentation required by Treatment & Documentation Scope.
- Warranty/issue-reporting channel is active and a prioritized initial snag list is published for remediation.
- Owners and dates for the first measurement data collection are confirmed.
- Publish the complete as-built and O&M package to the shared project workspace.
- Open the warranty/issue-tracking channel and publish triage instructions and contact points.
- Circulate the initial snag list with proposed remediation actions and target dates.
- Present first-period outcome data
- Determine whether open warranty item count and average days-to-resolve are trending toward the targets recorded in Treatment & Documentation Scope.
- Agree a remediation plan with concrete tasks and timelines for any metrics not meeting targets.
- Confirm documentation needed to close any outstanding SHPO questions and deadlines for submission.
- Publish a remediation action plan listing each open warranty item, target close date, and required evidence to resolve regulatory questions.
- Update the observation checkpoint log to show percent completed and outstanding items for the 90-day review.
- Circulate meeting minutes and the data snapshot used for the review.
- Reconcile outcomes to Treatment & Documentation Scope
- Document current compliance status against the measurable acceptance criteria recorded in Treatment & Documentation Scope without re-running acceptance.
- Agree firm closure dates for all outstanding regulatory and warranty items and an escalation path for unresolved items.
- Review open warranty and regulatory items
- Capture lessons learned
- Track regulatory follow-ups and evidence status
- Diagnose gaps
- Verify warranty and issue-reporting channel
- Present final cost reconciliation
- Review initial snag list
- Formalize long-term warranty and maintenance transition
- Agree corrective actions and timelines
- Assess change-order impacts and long-tail costs
- Confirm regulatory handoff
- Archive final project dossier
- Agree closure plan and escalation path
- Review regulatory correspondence
- Prioritize enhancement requests and maintenance work
- Short-status and next steps
- Agree next checkpoint
- Confirm next measurement checkpoint