Architecture Ancillary Services: Lease Space Services

We are experts in design and can provide drafting of existing spaces, preliminary remodel design/estimating to determine project feasibility, and full architectural and interior design for complete bid and construction ready plans for any tenant fit-up or remodel project.

Additionally, we can provide building or lease space assessments and evaluations for potential tenants as well as as-built plans for marketing your vacant spaces. We can also help to ensure accurate information for leasing through detailed area analysis, complying with BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) standards for measurement.

We're also able to provide full building and site design if you're considering construction of commercial strip malls, retail condos, mixed-use buildings, storage facilities, multi-family apartments/condos/townhomes, and multi-tenant buildings in general. Whatever your needs are, we can help!

Ryan is a Vice President at Ackerman-Estvold and the architecture team lead and has been applying his trade in the region around Minot for the past 17 years. If you have any questions throughout this series or would like more information on a particular topic, by all means contact us and we'd be more than happy to have a conversation.

Architecture Ancillary Services: Energy Audits & Evaluations

With an increasing focus on energy consumption, energy costs, and energy independence many clients are focusing more and more on what they can do to save energy to reduce costs in their buildings - we can help with that!

It all starts with analyzing your current building envelope - what the foundation, wall, and roof construction is and the details of your current windows and doors. We also review your historical energy costs as that relates directly to the current energy efficiency of your building.

Armed with that information we can figure out your current insulation, how it relates to your current energy usage, and ultimately lead to suggestions for improvements in the building envelope to increase your energy efficiency and related reduction in energy usage and cost, resulting in an estimated cost savings estimate.

Additionally, we can partner with Prairie Engineering, PC to analyze your HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems to evaluate possible upgrades in those systems to realize even greater efficiency and energy reduction.

A full-blown energy audit will include all of these aspects to give you a 360 view of energy efficiency.

We also have the capability with our UAV services to map the exterior of your building with infrared cameras to identify specific energy weak points in your building envelope. With that information we can target specific areas of the building that may need further investigation or very clearly need added insulation or replacement of building elements.

We can also investigate alternative systems and energy sources to realize true sustainability with your facility, including anything from grey water recycling and rainwater capture/storage to ground source heat, wind, and solar energy to passive solar, mass wall, and daylighting design. We can help you accomplish your sustainability goals!

Ryan is a Vice President at Ackerman-Estvold and the architecture team lead and has been applying his trade in the region around Minot for the past 17 years. If you have any questions throughout this series or would like more information on a particular topic, by all means contact us and we'd be more than happy to have a conversation.

Architecture Ancillary Services: Building Evaluations

Working with existing buildings can be a daunting task - whether purchasing, renovating, or adding on, careful thought needs to be put into the approach, the intended use of the building, and if it's feasible to accommodate that use. Our architecture team can provide a number of services to help in this process and what the potential might be.

We can start by provide an existing facility survey (also termed "assessment" or "evaluation") that thoroughly analyzes the building's current conditions, structural integrity (foundations, floor/wall/roof structure), mechanical & electrical systems, condition of the exterior envelope (walls, windows, doors, roof) and condition of the interior spaces. Our environmental team can also provide asbestos surveys and phase I/II environmental to ascertain any potential health risks.

We can also assess the level of current building code compliance as well as ADA compliance - this can be a standalone service by itself if you're looking to make some code-required improvements or increase the handicap accessibility of your facility.

Armed with all that information we can provide a report detailing what improvements need to be made, what capital maintenance projects will need to be considered in the future, what opportunities exist that can be taken advantage of, and what potential costs could be. In the end this will help to assess feasibility of any project being considered and important items to consider in the re-use of the building for another purpose (adaptive re-use).

We can also preliminary design, planning, and 3D visualization services to help envision what the potential of the building could be along with the potential cost. We can also work through potential master planning and phasing of a potential project to fit your long term project goals with a phased approach.

Any of the services mentioned above can be provided on its own to fit your needs and they can be used prior to purchasing a building, during due diligence when purchasing a building, or with existing buildings already owned and operating out of…at any point we can provide valuable guidance for you as you consider any potential building project.

Ryan is a Vice President at Ackerman-Estvold and the architecture team lead and has been applying his trade in the region around Minot for the past 17 years. If you have any questions throughout this series or would like more information on a particular topic, by all means contact us and we'd be more than happy to have a conversation.