Property Selection & evaluation
NOTE: We’ve had an increased demand for site consults over the last year. Please look to hear back from us within 1-3 weeks.
Property Selection
In order to achieve one’s goals nothing is as foundational (aside from skills) as one’s site. We work with you to develop land selection criteria based on your goals for your future property and provide guidance on selecting sites in the region of interest. We have an intimate working understanding of the New England climate and landscape, as well as the cultural and physical characteristics of Vermont in particular. We perform an entire range of site selection services, including but not limited to:
Regional property identification
Site inspections of prospective parcels for Vermont relocation projects
Rural New England land procurement
Remote site evaluation for sites outside of New England
Multi-property comparison reports when necessary
Property Evaluation
There are as many potential site problems as building problems, yet buyers do not often carefully inspect the site, or know how to. We can help spot problems on prospective sites before the problems become yours.
Based on your goals for the property, we will evaluate the prospective property(ies) and advise on how well they may fit your goals. This service is offered in-person as well as remotely, based on aerial imagery, contour maps, and other digital land observation tools.
We help answer the following questions facing prospective landowners:
Is there a resilient house, pond, barn, garden, pasture, or orchard site here?
How affordable is this access? Is this road going to be expensive to maintain? Is it well constructed and properly drained?
How water-secure is this property? How drought tolerant? How safe from contamination from off-site sources?
Are these good soils? Is this a healthy forest? Is this pond going to have problems in the future? What can be done about any of that?
Might permitting become an issue with developing this site? Is this land too big or too small for what I want to do and how well suited is it to all of my goals?
— and dozens of other questions a landowner needs to address before making a big land decision. As with most other disciplines, you have to know where to look to see the potential challenges and opportunities.
PROCESS
Please book a consultation using the button on the left. We will send you a confirmation and links for deposit and scheduling.
Our property selection and evaluation services begin with a phone call to discuss goals, followed by a client meeting, and then a site visit(s).
COST
Costs depend on process complexity and travel required. In-person site consults are based on a daily rate. A deposit of $250 is required at booking.
Hour-long online consults cost $325, and include 45 minutes of prep time for our team to perform site review, 60 minutes of video conference time, and up to two follow-up emails if needed. Time can be extended hourly for $195/hr.
Testimonials
“Without your property evaluation we would have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the wrong site. Thanks to you, we avoided a major mistake and have now found the property which optimally suits our goals. ”
Testimonial from Priscilla M. —
"Greg and I hired Ben as our land design consultant why we were in the process of buying a parcel of land in Vermont this past summer.
During our first meeting Ben saved us a lot of time, money and stress by evaluating that property and causing us to get out of that contract.
Since that day in August, Ben has been working with us so that Greg and I could find a parcel of land that meets our short as well as long term goals. I have no doubt that Ben's work will help generations to come and I look forward to learning so much more from Ben in the monhts and years to come!"