Meet Our Newest Client, Ilan Feder, Founder of DIF-USA

Capalino works with clients to achieve long-term sustainable success in New York City with many looking to expand their businesses into the NYC market for the first time. Our newest client, DIF-USA is one of them.

DIF-USA offers a suite of unique services that are immensely valuable to the NYC real estate industry. They are the leader in third-party expert reviews of construction and infrastructure projects. This includes auditing RFPs, BIDs and construction documents, and conducting final BID reviews. They also review contractor payments and change orders, and have saved their clients millions of dollars on over a hundred projects.

Capalino’s Senior Vice President Tom Gray interviews DIF-USA Founder Ilan Feder to find out what makes this company unique.

Tom Gray: What was your experience in engineering and construction before coming to NYC?

IlanFeder: I received my Civil Engineering degree from Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa and worked for over 20 years as a Project Manager on large construction and infrastructure projects. Working on construction projects, I observed the same mistakes again and again–overblown budgets, delays, inefficiencies, frequent change orders, head holding, and hand wringing. In 1999, I founded DIF Engineering, Ltd to resolve these issues, and soon after became the country’s leading third-party expert review company for construction and infrastructure projects.

Tom: What made you decide to start a company in New York City?

Ilan: For many years, I partnered with many engineering companies from around the globe on a variety of international projects. I became adept at identifying and resolving a wide variety of construction and infrastructure problems and saw a growing need for my services in NYC. I decided to form DIF-USA and merged DIF Engineering and two NY-based engineering companies, VM Consulting and Madsen Consulting Engineering. Our combined experience allows us to offer even more solutions to our US clients. By optimizing costs and streamlining processes, we provide the same services in NYC that helped D.I.F. Engineering’s clients in Israel save millions on large-scale construction and infrastructure projects.

Tom: What projects are you most proud of?

Ilan: I am extremely proud of my firm’s work on a project in Nahariya. While reviewing plans for a new road to be constructed in Nahariya, we discovered a serious error. According to the construction documents, an existing wall needed to be demolished to extend the pavement. However, this wall was actually a retaining wall supporting the sidewalk and landscape, including a number of old trees. Demolition of the wall would have caused the collapse of the existing sidewalk and landscape. Through our careful review of the construction documents, we saved our client a good deal of money and time and prevented extensive damage to the sidewalk and landscape.

Tom: What is DIF-USA’s unique value proposition?

Ilan: Our cumulative experience and detail-oriented approach to project analysis saves our clients valuable time and money. Our team of experts includes Civil Engineers, Structural Engineers, Architects, Electrical Engineers, Construction Managers, Transportation Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Cost Estimators, and Budget Experts who have worked for developers and designers as well as for contractors on over 200 construction projects. We have built a methodology based on our industry experience and thorough analysis of budgets, designs, bills of quantities, and schedules. With this methodology, we are able to streamline projects so much that our fees are minimal compared to the savings we provide.

Before he began work in the USA, Ilan Feder was a Member of the Governing Committee, a Member of Management, and the Treasurer of the prestigious Israeli Organization of Consulting Engineers and Architects (IOCEA) from 2009-2015. He is a certified Israel Bar Association arbitrator, certified by the Lawyers’ Association and the Engineers’ Association. To learn more about Ilan and DIF-USA, visit: http://www.dif-usa.com/index.php

To learn more about DIF Israel, visit http://dif.co.il/?lang=en

Tom Gray advises local and global clients on effective and valuable business strategies to enter and succeed in the NYC marketplace by identifying business opportunities, managing bureaucracy and mitigating risk. If you need assistance starting a new business in New York City, contact Tom Gray: tom@nullcapalino.com or 212-616-5819.

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