Projects underway this year for Apple REIT Companies total over $136 million in construction value.

Apple Hospitality
When Apple REIT Companies (Apple), an innovative real estate investment trust company specializing in the acquisition of turnkey hotel properties needed design and construction expertise, they contacted R.A. Yarling and Company.

Apple traditionally employs outside specialists when they are interested in purchasing property to make sure their financial investment is sound and minimize business risk. In this case, R.A. Yarling and Company is responsible for assisting Apple REIT Companies with owner's representative and construction quality assurance services.

To begin, our team develops a comprehensive architectural engineering construction document review process that identifies coordination errors and additional detailing related to design. We also review the project specifications to make sure they coordinate with the drawings and bring any discrepancies to the attention of the architect and engineer so that the documents can be corrected. This necessary quality assurance step minimizes construction change orders due to coordination errors between architectural and engineering drawings.

Additionally, as an owner's representative our firm is providing Apple with comprehensive construction quality assurance services. This includes numerous site visits to each property to prepare construction observation reports for each. The reports outline any issues that might be of concern related to quality of construction, timeliness or other problems that could arise from ongoing construction activity. At this time, we also are inspecting each property, from roof to basement, to ensure that it meets the construction documents and incorporates required brand standards of the franchiser- in this case, Marriott International, Inc.

When our recommendations and reporting are complete, R.A. Yarling and Company will complete a nine-month warrantee walk-through for each property. This provides Apple and the hotel management company with three months to work with the original contractor to correct any problems that might require addressing without incurring any extra costs to do so.

Ultimately, this pro-active approach allows the Apple to know exactly what they are buying by holding the design and construction team accountable. They will also use the prepared documentation to require that the contractor agree to correct problems prior to and after the time of purchase. This knowledge assures Apple that when they purchase a building they are not overpaying and assuming excessive business risk or future liability because of poor construction.

“To date, my experience with R.A. Yarling & Company has been a very positive, client focused one with attention paid to the purpose of ensuring these properties are built right.”

Craig Amos, Vice President of Asset Management, Apple REIT Companies