Criterium Engineers business support begins with this assumption: The franchise is your business. You identify the professional and financial goals you want to achieve, you select the building engineering specialties you want to emphasize, you decide how fast you want to grow. We don’t tell you how to run your business. But we know what it takes to run a successful consulting engineering business. We’ve been doing that for more than 60 years. And we give our affiliates the tools and support that we know can help them succeed.
Independent But Not Alone
Once you sign a franchise agreement with Criterium Engineers, you become an affiliate. Criterium Engineers affiliates can offer their clients the best of both worlds – the personalized service and market knowledge of a small, local company, backed by the resources and reputation of a well-known national consulting engineering practice. If you have large ambitions for a small company, click here.
Training
Training begins with a comprehensive program of independent and live virtual sessions covering topics including risk management, Criterium resources, engineering services, marketing strategies as well as other business and technical topics. We also sponsor additional programs, webinars and seminars periodically, to keep our owners updated and informed about relevant engineering- and real estate-related developments and trends.
Technical Support
Our clients look to us for our expertise and value the advice we offer and the effective solutions we recommend. No single engineer will have the answer to every question. But the Professional Engineers and Registered Architects on Criterium’s staff and in its national network of affiliates have decades of collective experience. If you encounter an engineering or design problem you can’t solve, someone in this group has almost certainly been there, done that, and can help. An email or phone call will connect you with our National Technical Resource (NTR) coordinator, who will direct you to the information you need or connect you with one of the more than 75 Criterium engineers who are available to consult with you by phone or online.
Business Support
Criterium Engineers also provides business support. Criterium Engineers staff work with you on an ongoing basis. We visit affiliate offices routinely to observe, consult, discuss new ideas, and address any concerns. But you don’t have to wait for these visits – we’re here for you any time you need us to answer questions, provide technical help or just offer a reassuring word. In addition to direct and on-line consulting from our management staff, you will have access to:
- Business referrals from the corporate office and from other affiliates
- Insurance coverage under Criterium’s professional liability master policies
- Modern, responsive website with email and hosting
- IT helpdesk support and consultation
- Accounting software
- Discounts on a wide range of products and services
- Engineering reporting systems, templates, standard agreements and other business forms
- Information resources, including: a weekly newsletter, technical bulletins and a members’ only segment of our website
Marketing Support
Criterium actively supports its affiliates with:
- Professionally developed brochures, newsletters, and other marketing tools
- A modern corporate website
- Relationships with valuable industry trade groups
- Name recognition
- Corporate branding (The Criterium name and our distinctive orange triangle are registered trademarks that our affiliates are exclusively licensed to use.)