For the vast majority of us, buying a house is often the biggest purchase of our lives. But business owners and real estate investors must buy much larger buildings… and more expensive ones! That’s when the question pops into their minds: should I have the condition of the building assessed before I buy? Read our article and see what our building inspectors have to say about the relevance of a condition inspection before purchasing a commercial building.

Whether you’re considering buying a condo, a single-family home, a duplex, an apartment building or a commercial building, it’s always a good idea to call in a home inspector to perform a condition assessment. To be clear, this condition assessment or pre-purchase inspection is not intended to determine the building’s market value. Rather, it should help you determine whether the purchase is a good investment, or whether it’s likely to cause more problems and expense than you anticipated.

How do we do this?

Well, a building condition assessment helps you plan the renovations that will be necessary in the short and medium term, by identifying the problem areas of the building you’re interested in. Once these elements have been identified, a good contractor will be able to quickly provide you with an estimate of the cost of each job. In other words, an assessment of the building’s condition gives you a better idea of the costs you can expect to incur shortly after the transaction and over the next few years.

While you can anticipate expenses for work that needs to be done on the building, you can also use defects discovered during a building inspection to negotiate the asking price. Let’s take the example of a commercial building that needs to be re-roofed in the short term. Your trusted contractor gives you a quote of $20,000 for the work. With this in hand, you can then ask the seller either to carry out the work before the transaction or to lower the asking price.

In concrete terms, the building condition assessment focuses on the condition of the following common-area components:

– Have the components been well maintained or neglected? Are there any cracks in the foundations? Are there any signs of leaks?
– What about roofing, siding, stairs, exterior doors and windows? When will they need replacing? What’s the estimated cost?
– What about electricity, heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and so on?

All these items will be listed in the report, classified according to the building inspector’s assessment. Red items require immediate attention, while those rated green/yellow require regular monitoring and maintenance to ensure their integrity, performance and durability.

So if you’re getting ready to buy a building, whether residential or commercial, don’t forget to call on the services of a trusted building inspector to carry out a condition assessment. Your lending institution may require a building condition assessment, but even if it doesn’t, your inspector’s condition assessment report can save you a lot of headaches!