Who we are
Wert-Berater, Inc. has prepared independent feasibility studies for lenders, certified development companies, and federal agencies since 1998 — more than four thousand engagements representing $40.2 billion in evaluated project value across all fifty states and international assignments. Our fiduciary duty runs to the lender and the agency, never to the sponsor’s optimism: fees are fixed, quoted up front, never contingent on findings, and a determination is never changed under pressure.
What we do
Shellfish culture — oyster bags and cages, clam beds, mussel longlines, off-bottom and bottom systems — earns on lease productivity: marketable pieces per acre per year, governed by seed supply, growing waters classification, and the multi-year path from spat to market size. The study documents the lease and its water-quality classification status, validates the grow-out timeline against local growing conditions, and builds the revenue case from the half-shell, wholesale, and restaurant channels at the price tiers the product's quality actually commands.
How we do it
Multi-year crop overlap modeling — several cohorts in the water at once — seed cost and availability by hatchery source, harvest labor as the dominant operating line, and closure-event sensitivity, since water-quality closures are the category's revenue interruption risk and the credit must carry through one.
How we can help you
Lease-based coastal operations in rural areas fit USDA programs; SBA structures serve integrated operations with processing or hospitality components; the lease itself, as the core productive asset, shapes collateral analysis in every framework. The firm's coastal and marina practice — including waterfront engagements under FEMA flood and storm analysis — carries directly into shellfish siting and infrastructure work.
How to engage us
Standard delivery is 10 to 15 business days from complete project data. Rush delivery for deals already in underwriting is accepted case by case for an additional fixed fee, quoted up front and committed in writing. Engagements are typically initiated by the borrower, with lender or CDC confirmation obtained before work begins — institutions differ, so confirm the procedure with your lending contact.