Commercial property inspection explained!

Commercial property inspection is a detailed inspection of a commercial property that you own, want to buy, or sell!

A detailed commercial inspection includes the inspection of the complete commercial building from roof to the foundation, interior and exterior included.

A visual review also known as a preliminary inspection is done first and then explained to the current concerned person. This includes telling them the superficial situation of the property as to how it appears to be and then recommending to them what is needed.

It is up to that person to choose according to their budget what they want. Generally, a complete property inspection comprises a very thorough and detailed inspection of all the surfaces, structures, and equipment present in that property. Even the structural frame, exterior walls, parking, and pedestrian surfaces are also included.

Why should we get the commercial property inspected?

This question can be answered in three ways!

1.       If you are a buyer:

If you are a buyer of a commercial property, it is a sound investment or you can say an investment of your lifetime. You need that property for your business and might as well hire employees as well so for your and their safety, you need to get the place inspected thoroughly due to two reasons:

l  Structural safety:

The structural safety of the building is not only a big issue if we talk about money but also to avoid any disturbance at your workplace. To discuss some of the structural issues as an example, we can say that if you buy a building and it has pest infestations or cracks in walls and floors, this is a serious threat as the building is not in a good condition. Repairs cost of such a building is a lot and apart from that, to get this fixed, you might need to evacuate the building as well so getting an inspection before buying the building so that you can negotiate with the seller too if any defects are found. You just have to pay for the inspection and the cost of the repair will be paid by the seller if he wants to sell the commercial property to you. Not only that, but you can also negotiate for the asking price of the property because all the issues found are a weakness from the seller's side.

l  Health concerns:

The presence of toxic gases like radon poses a huge threat to the health of the people present in that certain property. Insulation materials like asbestos present in properties are also known to cause lung diseases. These and many other gases and their presence inside the property affect the people working there a lot hence it is very important to get this perspective focused upon. If you get this checked before buying the property, you can have an upper hand in the negotiations during the finalization of the buying process.

2. If you are a seller:

If you are a seller, you need to get a property inspection as soon as possible. When you decide that you want to sell this certain property that you own and you also want the price on your terms then the first thing you should do is to check the property thoroughly and if you doubt that there can be something wrong with the property, you need to go and call a commercial property inspector to come and check it for you so you can sell it with 100% satisfactory condition. Even if you do not doubt anything, this is still the best thing to do to spend a few hundred dollars over a property inspection because it does not only remove all the doubts but also provides few warranties which can be very helpful while negotiating with the buyers.

If you are an owner of the property, this puts you in a very critical situation, let’s see how? If you are selling a property that has structural defects or health concerns and in this world, who does not know about a property inspection? If you are not going to get it done yourself, the potential buyers can do it and they might negotiate a lot which will be a shock to your expectations when you have to lower the price of your property along with paying for any repairs needed.

To avoid this, what you can do is to get the property inspected by yourself before publishing the listing of the property, and this way you can know beforehand if there is any problem, you can get it fixed. Not only this, but property inspections also come with few warranties which can increase the value of your property, and if not that, you will always have the upper hand during the negotiations as you know each and everything about your property, and the buyers cannot surprise you with something new even if they get another inspection done as well.

3. If you own a property:

If you already own a property, getting a commercial property inspected is very important because there might be people working there for you and their health is at risk. Not only this, if the property has some structural defect and it goes unnoticed for a longer period of time, this can result in a great of getting repairs done which will not only cost you a lot but your work will be affected as well so it is very important in all cases to get a commercial inspection done as soon as possible.

Constituents of a commercial property inspection:

If you are convinced with the arguments that you need to get a commercial property inspection, you need to know what will be included in this so you can be aware of what Commercial property inspectors will be doing and if he has covered all the aspects or not!

It starts with:

1.       Site characteristics

2.       Mechanical and Electrical Systems

3.       Air Conditioning and Ventilation Systems

4.       Structural Frame and Building Envelop

5.       Heating System

6.       Roof System

7.       Plumbing System

8.       Life Safety and Fire Protection

9.       Vertical Transportation

10.    Document reviewing

11.    And last but not the least:

12.    Recommendation ( What problems are found that need your immediate attention)