Friday, April 3, 2015

What About Contamination Risk? Why Your Next Environmental Report Should Be Clean - Or Free.

In early 2015, we sent an Environmental Risk Survey to lenders and Community Development Companies (CDCs) nationally.  

These two items in the survey sparked the most interest:

1) Desktop environmental screening sometimes reveals elevated environmental risk, triggering the much more costly and time consuming Phase I Environmental Site Assessment (ESA). 

    • About 90% responded thus:
      • "It would be nice if we could avoid this extra step up front. We're always looking for ways to speed our deals up and have them cost less."
and......

2) If the fee were waived for desktop environmental screens which found an "elevated risk" and then subsequently recommended a Phase I ESA (AKA "Clean or Free Guarantee"), it would be advantageous for our organization and our clients.

    • 100% of respondents said:
      • "Yes.  Eliminating this "double dip" would save time and money."

While suspected this would be the case, we were really surprised that the survey supported this so strongly.  

The result?  We've introduced a brand new concept in the environmental risk industry.

Here's the "Clean or Free" guarantee, in under 40 seconds:



This revolutionary approach to environmental risk management for real estate collateral has many fundamental and unique advantages: 
  • "Clean or Free" means that EZ-Screen quickly clears the property as low environmental risk, or there is no charge
That's right.  Your fee will be waived or refunded.  No more fear of being "double dipped" for additional investigations.
    • If there is additional work recommended, not only is there no charge for our effort, but you are free to contract with any local consultant of your choice in order to reap that benefit. 
    • Lenders love this program, because:
      • it's fast and inexpensive enough to serve as a first level "cut" for every deal, as part of a tiered environmental risk screening approach
      • This relieves the lender from the burden determining of which level of environmental reporting makes the most sense.
      • It paints the lender in a good light with the borrower.
      • It frees the lender up to work on other aspects of the deal where they are more effective.
      • If a legitimate concern is discovered, sometimes that concern can be investigated on it's own merit (e.g.: Phase II sampling), potentially saving weeks, not to mention thousands in Phase I fees.
    • We don't outsource or refer to a "network of partner firms" eager to profit from the upsell.
    • In this way, you - and your clients - can rest assured that we always have your best interest in mind.
    • Not only does the "Clean or Free" program eliminate all conflicts of interest, it also gives us a built in incentive to work hard to investigate potential environmental concerns and determine whether they truly and elevated threat to the property or not. 
    • In cases where other companies might see a potential problem and simply kick it up to a Phase I, we're going to put in that extra effort now, instead.  Your deal will always reap the benefits.
    • We provide personalized, in-house expertise on every project.  We never subcontract or "partner" with other firms.  We start your project, and we finish it.
    • EZ Screen meets or exceeds the US Small Business Administration's requirements for the Records Search with Risk Assessment (RSRA), but is not limited to SBA deals when used as a sensible component of a tiered assessment approach.
    • We've been in business since 1993, and in that time, our experience has taught us how to be the value leader.  At under $300 and 48 hour turnaround, no competitor can beat our value. 

    Our clients tell us that they won't entrust their environmental risk decisions with anyone else.  

    Give us a try on your next project and find out what they mean.

    To EZ-Screen your next deal, simply visit our order portal.
    To ask a question, email us here, or call (800) 769-SIERRA
    To find out more about us, please visit our website.

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