Each year, Midwest Real Estate News inducts a new class into its Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame. Here is a look at one of our new inductees, Craig Miller, president and managing partner of Duffy+Duffy Cost Segregation, with offices in Cleveland, Columbus and Detroit.
Since 2007, Craig Miller has built a reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and trusted cost segregation study consultants in the Midwest.
This is a big deal: By using cost segregation strategies, commercial real estate developers and investors can significantly lower the income taxes they pay each year for their owner occupied or investment properties. Miller, then, is a key ally for real estate investors who want to boost their bottom lines and free up more cash flow to invest in additional properties.
Miller, a Certified Public Accountant, the company president and the managing partner at Duffy+Duffy Cost Segregation, brings a wealth of tax knowledge to his current position. He is a former tax commissioner agent for the State of Ohio and a past adjunct faculty instructor of accounting and finance at Cleveland State University and Lorain County Community College.
Armed with this knowledge, Miller helps to educate taxpayers and their advisors about the complex and changing tax codes that commercial real estate developers and owners must navigate. His knowledge and passion for saving the tax dollars of commercial real estate investors has helped Miller build a steady stream of repeat clients.
Miller credits the cost segregation professionals who staff Duffy+Duffy’s offices in Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, and Detroit, Michigan, with boosting the company’s success.
“We’ve now worked in 40 states, in France, in Germany and in St. Thomas,” Miller said. “We get a large number of new clients who are referred by existing clients each year. Working closely with CPAs and tax advisors for their clients’ real estate acquisitions and their construction tax planning is exciting. We look forward to new and complex challenges every day.”
This success doesn’t mean that Miller hasn’t faced challenges in his career. He has, and he has overcome them. A good example is the Great Recession that devastated commercial real estate and hit Duffy+Duffy hard in 2008.
“We didn’t know what the future of real estate was going to be,” Miller said. “My wife and I were raising four young children and there were no cost segregation study engagements coming in.”
But Dennis Duffy, the company’s founder, assured Miller that the real estate industry would come back strong.
“And he was absolutely right,” Miller said. “Our company’s post-recession growth was tremendous, and the growth that we’ve seen in the last five years has been remarkable.”
Despite his busy career, Miller has found time to give back to his profession. He has been a NAIOP of Ohio Board Director since 2009 and was recognized as NAIOP Member of the Year for Northern Ohio. He is currently serving his second appointed term on the NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Finance and Tax Subcommittee in Washington, DC.
Miller is also a former chapter board director of the U.S. Green Building Council and serves on the State of Ohio U.S. Green Building Council Regional Leadership team.
Outside of work, Miller enjoys golf and baseball, and is an especially ardent fan of his hometown Cleveland Guardians. He also enjoys watching his two daughters compete in NCAA College Fastpitch Softball.