services Archives

The Thermal Envelope Certificate Is Not a Substitute for Stretch Code–Compliant Design

January 8, 2026January 8, 2026Matt

Under the Massachusetts Stretch Energy Code, the thermal envelope certificate is often misunderstood. It’s often treated as an administrative requirement to be addressed at the end of a project—something to be obtained after design and construction decisions have already been made. In reality, the certificate is intended to document compliance with the Stretch Code’s envelope performance requirements, not to create that compliance.

Importantly, the thermal envelope certificate cannot make a non-compliant wall assembly compliant. If the building envelope does not meet the required performance thresholds, no amount of documentation at the end of the project will resolve that gap.

The cost of deferred maintenance

September 29, 2025September 29, 2025Matt

In a reality where funding is scarce and resources are limited, how can you best allocate those dollars to care for your most valuable assets?

Status quo: deferred maintenance

Much of the time, proactive maintenance is viewed as a cost. Those inspections and routine repairs are perceived as money out the door. This widely-held perception has led to deferred maintenance becoming the norm for many facilities.

Deferred maintenance is the practice of postponing maintenance activities such as repairs… in order to save costs, meet budget funding levels, or realign available budget monies. The failure to perform needed repairs could lead to asset deterioration and ultimately asset impairment. Generally, a policy of continued deferred maintenance may result in higher costs, asset failure, and in some cases, health and safety implications. (Wikipedia, emphasis added)

What if, instead, we could better tell the story of how investments in proactive maintenance are not costs but actually grow the bottom line?

Reports and repair designs, and when you need each one

September 21, 2025Matt

In our line of work two of the most common deliverables are reports and repair designs. These documents are related, but distinct. They serve different purposes and are for different audiences. In this post we want to clear up some common misconceptions and explain when you need each one.

What are reports?

We use reports to communicate the results of our work.

Often this means presenting the findings of a failure investigation or condition assessment, and explaining what they mean. We might also use a report to document what we saw during a construction phase site visit, or our opinions regarding a construction dispute.

The quest for better reporting

August 29, 2025September 21, 2025Matt

Our industry is obsessed with reports.

We have field reports, expert reports, and investigation reports. Contractors report on materials used and manpower. There are reports from material manufacturers documenting test results.

“When can we expect to see your report?” is a common question.

What is a report, though? People call lots of things reports.

A Practical Guide to Passive House Certification

March 17, 2025August 30, 2025Matt

As a building standard with a reputation for being ambitious and technically-demanding, pursuing Passive House compliance can be a daunting task for even the most experienced of architects.

In this post by Gert Guldentops and Autumn Dean, we see that while the design and construction process is certainly challenging compared to code minimum buildings, the barriers to entry have never been as low as today given available technical and financial resources.