Vital building & pest inspections will try to summarize our experience as architects in five councils when advising communities of owners to pass the Building Inspection with guarantees …

Building Inspection – Separate technician and construction company

For us, the starting point is always to separate the technician who carries out the Building Inspection of the company that wants to carry out the repairs if the result is an unfavorable Inspection.

The technician who carries out the Building Inspection and the contracted company should not have common interests to correct the deficiencies if we want to avoid a conflict of interests that will almost always result in having to correct more problems of the really existing ones. An independent architect will defend our interests by conducting an impartial Building Inspection.

Experience of the technician carrying out the Building Inspection

In the Building Inspection the technical criterion prevails, so it is important that the architect who carries it out has experience in pathology. Otherwise, it could indicate in the minutes the performance of more expensive works than necessary.

Distrust a Building Inspection at a bargain price

Some time ago we wrote an article … the myth of Building Inspection at 99 aud . Two years later, we continue to insist on the work involved in a Inspection, the responsibility that we acquired and the impossibility of obtaining a professional Inspection service for an offer price.

A Building Inspection is a professional service that has nothing to do with a product that can be offered or auctioned. It is necessary to visit the building, complete minutes, write a report, return to the building for the owners to sign and present it at the City Council.

Perhaps the best example is the following: is it worth saving 100 aud in the Inspection and then pay 5000 euros more in the works derived from the Inspection?

Take advantage of the unfavorable Building Inspection works to incorporate accessibility and energy efficiency.

With the new IEE Building Assessment Report, accessibility becomes the object of inspections, but until it is not mandatory, it is a good option to adapt the accessibility elements to the current regulations, as well as to try to incorporate energy efficiency as a fundamental objective of the intervention (for example if we have to renovate facades or roofs).

Raising awareness in the culture of maintenance

The owners and communities of owners must comply by law with their obligation to perform the necessary works for the proper conservation of the property and its services, guaranteeing structural conditions, sealing, habitability and security.

However, experience shows us that one thing is what the law says and quite another is what we find on the street. That’s why Vital building & pest inspections also leave some tips for the good maintenance of your building …