LOS ANGELES-Seven top engineering firms have come together to form the National Engineering and Environmental Due Diligence Association to promote and foster real estate technical due diligence. President of Partner Engineering and Science Inc., one of the organization's founding members, Joseph Derhake tells GlobeSt.com about the new organization's goals.

“After competing for years, we all know each other and we saw an opportunity to come together over issues we all deal with,” Derhake explains to GlobeSt.com. “We all want to manage our liability and educate our clients on the value and limitations of our products. We also want to protect ourselves and our clients from onerous government regulations. A lot of times a well-intentioned state regulation may adversely affect due diligence making the process slower and more expensive.”

The group's other founding members are EMG, Nova Consulting, IVI International Inc., AEI Consultants, Dominion Due Diligence Group and PM Environmental. Earlier this year, the founding firms created bylaws, membership criteria, a code of ethics and consistent procedures to protect clients. These practices are important in ensuring a standardized set of results. “Some firms may use experienced staff or may use formats that, whether good or bad, give lenders pause,” says Derhake. “A borrower rightly expects that if they order a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment or a Property Condition Assessment that the report will meet the needs of their bank, but due to inconsistencies in practices from firm to firm this is not always the case.”