Building Inspection Services was recently hired to perform a rather interesting commercial building inspection. Before I tell you what we’ve been hired for, let me give some background information.
The owners of this 15,000 square foot commercial building leased the property for a number of years to a fitness center. It was an upper scale fitness center which included a swimming pool, running track, wet and dry saunas, masseurs, etc. Recently, this fitness center decided to move out so the owners got a new tenant, a widely known drug store chain.
In preparation to move in, this drug store performed major demolitions to the structure including removing all the interior partition walls, the electrical system including panels, plumbing, flooring, running track, showers, restrooms, drywall etc. In addition to that, they dumped all of the construction debris into the indoor swimming pool which destroyed the pool. If you walk into this building, all you see, for the most part, is just bare concrete floors and walls.
For some unknown reason, this drug store decided they changed their minds and did not want to lease the property. So after destroying all of the interior improvements to the building, they just walked away. This is where we came in for a litigation inspection.
We were hired by the owner of the building as a construction expert witness to determine the cost of the improvements that the drug store demolished because there is a pending lawsuit on the matter. We are still working on this case, however first estimates are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Broward Sheriff’s Office (B.S.O.) crime prevention unit has issued a warning for realtors “Protection Begins With Awareness – Think Safe, Stay Safe”.  Here are a few tips from B.S.O.

1. Never meet a strange or unqualified prospective buyer alone at any property. Always ask a prospective buyer to come to your office first – and consider it a danger signal if he or she refuses.

2. Most assaults are robbery-motivated. You can help avoid them by not wearing expensive jewelry or carrying large cash amounts during house showings.

3. While driving to and from appointments take the safest and best lighted route – night or day – and keep your car windows and doors locked.

4. If you have any suspicions or uneasiness about a buyer, do not go to the showing alone, no matter what time of day. Instead, ask another salesperson to accompany you.

5. Before leaving for a showing inform your office where you’ll be, whom you’ll be with, and when you’ll next be in touch. And make sure the person you’re meeting knows you’ve given your office this information.

6. Your office should also keep a file on each agent’s automobile – make, year, model, color and license plate number.

7. Be aware of the neighborhood in which you’re showing a listing. If that neighborhood poses any possible threat to your personal safety, have another salesperson go with you to the showing.

8. When showing a property let the client proceed ahead of you. This will cut down the possibility that you can be pushed into a room and the door closed behind you.

9. Make sure your cellular phone is fully charged each day. Keep it readily available.

10. At an open house keep all doors unlocked for easy escape.

While hosting a dinner party last week, I found myself in the middle of a discussion about the state of the economy. Our friends were discussing their frustrations in being unable to sell their home in the current market.

These particular friends were planning on moving out of state and their moving date was fast approaching. They knew that they were not going to be able to sell their house before they had to leave South Florida and were leaving their home in the hands of a realtor. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us have heard of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA). It’s a set of laws to help prevent discrimination against people with disabilities. Part of those laws deal directly with construction. If you own or are a tenant in a commercial building, then you better pay attention because most likely, you aren’t as compliant as you think you are. Read the rest of this entry »

The National Bureau of Economic Research has officially declared what most of knew a year ago — we’re in a recession. But what hasn’t been said and what many money-savvy individuals are finding is that there are a huge number of opportunities for individuals and investors alike.

With the large number of houses currently available on the market and more being listed every week, it has become a true buyer’s market. Many sellers and banks are highly motivated to off-load properties. They’ve been offering huge incentives and price reductions that have never been seen before! With the vast number of foreclosures on the market, it has become more important than ever to retain a qualified Miami home inspector. Many of these homes are rough diamonds, but can just as easily turn into nothing more than a lump of coal. Frequently, there is no contact with the previous homeowner in a foreclosure. You’re just dealing with the bank and are not even given the ability to review a seller’s disclosure statement. Many of these homes have been neglected for some time and Building Inspection Services can identify many of the key problems and offer cost solutions to help make your dream home a reality.

Whether we are performing Miami home inspections, Broward home inspections, Palm Beach home inspection, or Florida home inspections in general, the same questions seem to always come up. So I would like to take some time and post these questions with some informative answers.
Roofing System Inspection- What is a leak?

During the course of our roofing inspection, we often find leaks in the roof which have not created a ceiling stain. A couple common scenarios could be if someone has nailed Christmas lights to the edge of the roof, or bolted a satellite dish to the roof. Just because it doesn’t rain inside your living room whenever there is a storm, doesn’t mean it’s not a leak. When metal nail penetrates every layer of your roof, you have a blocked hole in the waterproofing material. The metal nail expands and contracts at a different rate than your roofing system which causes the nail to, over time, work its way out. Thus leaving the hole, without the blockage, which allows moisture to eventually penetrate the roof.

Termite Inspection – No live insects are found, so I don’t need to treat the house, right?
Wrong. Some people think that even if we find termite damaged wood, but no insects, that damage must be old and the termites have since left. If we find evidence of termites (such as pellets, wings, or damaged wood) in a structure and it has not been treated, our inspectors will always recommend treatment. To explain this, I usually think back to my childhood when my mother would prepare a sandwich just the way I liked it. She would put just the right amount of peanut butter and jelly on my favorite type of bread, pull the crust off, and then cut it into little squares. To a termite, your house is this perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Someone has come in, brought in an all you can eat sampling of different types of wood from across the country (the imported stuff is always the best) and piled it up just for you! Termites just simply wouldn’t voluntarily leave a feast like that.

Electrical Inspection- Adding to your service

During a BIS electrical inspection I frequently get people telling me they want to do some remodeling to the house once they get in and they want to know if they need to update the electrical service. There is no simple answer to this question. To answer this questions, a qualified electrician needs to perform a load calculation on the existing service, and then compare that to the new load requirements.

Air Conditioning Inspection – Why do I need to change my filter every month?

Without getting too technical, I’ll try to explain the chain reaction a dirty filter can cause. A fan inside your unit draws the air in from inside your house, through the filter, and across extremely cold pipes filled with refrigerant (the coil). If your filter gets too dirty, it restricts the air flow across the coil. Think of the refrigerant inside the coils as water in a river. You can have a river flowing in below freezing temperatures because of the rapid movement of the water. It’s the same thing in the coil. However once you slow down that air flow (due to the debris on the filter), the refrigerant in the coil will begin to freeze just like the water would in the river if you created a dam to slow the flow of water. Once the refrigerant freezes and stops flowing, you now have created a blockage in the compressor (which acts like a pump for the refrigerant). The pump has to work many times harder to try and pump through the frozen refrigerant and will eventually fail. Once this happens, you have now caused the failure of almost every major component of the air conditioning system which could add up to several thousands of dollars when it could have been avoided by a $5 filter each month.

Structural Inspection – How can a little crack cause such big problems?

Houses today are built to move. They expand and contract with the heat and are built to withstand settlement and high winds. When structures move, it creates small hairline cracks at the exterior walls. Although they look harmless enough, even the smallest crack can allow moisture to penetrate the structure. This can cause unsightly water stains, mold development and even structural problems. (see our future blog on mold issues)

The purchasing of a home is the single biggest investment most of us will make. Therefore a problem with that investment can cost you tens of thousands of dollars. Go with a Miami Home inspector that will make the unknown known….BIS.