commercial building inspection - Do you have any idea what your expenses might be over the next 5 years for upkeep, repairs and maintenance for your commercial or multi-family building?



Depending on the condition of the building the answer can include the cost of repairing or replacing a roof or heating and AC units or electrical sub panels, etc. The ability to estimate what these potential repairs may cost you takes a lot of experience and knowledge to be sure that everything is covered.



To get the best possible answer to this question, you should find a well qualified commercial building inspection professional with years of experience. There are numerous industry standards concerning costs. A second thing that has an effect on costs is the variance of contractors' rates from area to area. There are also seasonal factors iin addition to emergency conditions that can have an effect on costs. For example, shortly after hurricane Katrina the cost of plywood more than doubled. This cost affected the roofing industry dramatically.



When the cost of petroleum went up so quickly over the last few years it also affected the roofing industry as well as the cost of petroleum-based sealers for asphalt parking lots. As you can see, it requires someone who keeps up with industry standards, local market pricing and current events that affect construction and repair work to be able to predict what future costs may be for a particular building.



Here is another scenario: The HVAC unit on the roof is nearing the end of its expected life. It won't last more than another five years. From my experience I know that this size unit will cost about $5000 to replace (both removing the old one and installing the new one) - MOST OF THE TIME! I could just give this amount to the client, based on what it says in the costing book, and feel like I've done my job. Unfortunately, although this might be an acceptable way for some to do it I wouldn't feel comfortable since I wouldn't have given my client all the information he really needed. Which type of connectors are needed to connect from the HVAC unit to the ducting? What kind of ducting is there? Does the ducting have any leaks? This type of ducting will require replacement - what difficulties will that entail? What is the access to the roof? In what city is the building located? (There will be an additional permit for crane usage if you need one and the building is in Beverly Hills.) The answer to these questions may make this $5,000 unit cost more like $9,000 or more depending on many variables.



Another classic area of judgment needed is the cost of roofing. For example, it would be good to know if your roof replacement could be done with an elastomeric material that costs about 40% less and lowers electric bills. In some cases you will recoup your investment on this type of roofing in five years or less. You will need to know if it would work for you because it can't always be used.



One more thing to know about is if there are any legislated building requirements as these will also affect costs. One example of this is HVAC: heating, venting and air conditioning. The mandates on this type of equipment in California has had a noticeable effect on cost. This has resulted in a doubling of cost over the last few years for what contractor's directly pay for HVAC units. In addition, there are certain kinds of HVAC units that will need roof mounted ducting. Replacement or installation costs can go up quite a bit because of this.



The answer is to have a commercial building inspection done by a qualified inspector who keeps up with changes in the various industries and knows what is occurring in your specific geographical area as well as your local requirements.