Building Condition Assessment (BCA)
Required by lenders for financing or refinancing, and by buyers before an acquisition, the BCA documents the condition of the building’s main components and estimates the expenditures to plan for over the next ten years. Our engineers visit the building, review the documentation and sign the report.
- Report signed by engineers (OIQ)
- 10-year anticipated expenditures
- Report in English or French
Engineers (OIQ)
The site visit, the analysis and the report are done by the engineers who sign it.
10-year term
Anticipated expenditures, year by year, in today’s dollars and with inflation.
All components
Site, roofing, envelope, structure, mechanical, electrical, elevators and fire safety.
All types of buildings
Residential towers, rental buildings, warehouses, commercial and institutional buildings.
When is a BCA required?
A BCA answers a simple question: what condition is the building in, and how much will need to be invested in it over the coming years? It usually comes into play at the time of a financial decision.
Refinancing
Before renewing or increasing a loan, the lender wants to know the condition of the building and the major expenditures ahead.
New financing
Mortgage on a rental, commercial, industrial or mixed-use building: the BCA accompanies the market value appraisal.
Update of a previous BCA
The lender requires an update: we review the findings and costs of the previous report, whoever prepared it, and bring them up to date.
Acquisition
Due diligence before the purchase: know the work ahead to adjust the offer, negotiate or plan the financing.
Technical audit of an institutional building
Museums, performance halls, public buildings: a technical building audit to plan maintenance and capital investments.
Capital planning
Owners and portfolio managers: a costed picture to set the budget for the coming years.
Good to know: a BCA is not the reserve fund study that Bill 16 requires of condominiums. It meets the needs of a lender or a buyer, generally over a 10-year term. For a condominium, see our reserve fund study instead.
What the BCA covers
The inspection is visual and non-intrusive. It covers all of the building’s components, from the common areas to a representative sample of the units or premises, and draws on the available documentation and on interviews with the maintenance staff.
Site and landscaping
Paving, sidewalks, drainage, fences, lighting and landscaping.
Roofing
Membrane, drains, flashing, parapets and rooftop equipment.
Building envelope
Masonry, cladding, curtain wall, windows, doors, sealants and balconies.
Structure
Foundations, slabs, beams, columns and slab on grade, in the visible sections.
Parking structures
Underground garages and multi-level parking: concrete, membranes and drainage.
Mechanical
Heating, ventilation, air conditioning, plumbing and domestic hot water.
Electrical
Service entrance, distribution, panels, lighting and generator.
Elevators
Visual assessment by a specialized technician, included in the report.
Fire safety
Sprinklers, fire pump, alarm, fire separations and emergency lighting.
Common areas and units
Interior finishes of the common areas and of a sample of units or premises.
Accessibility
Barrier-free access and apparent compliance with current requirements.
Document review
Previous reports, work history, available drawings and known notices.
Findings ranked by priority, costs over 10 years
Each deficiency is described, photographed and paired with a recommendation and a cost. The interventions are ranked by priority, then carried into a table of anticipated expenditures, year by year.
Immediate to short term
0 to 1 year. Safety, compliance and deficiencies likely to damage other components.
Short to medium term
1 to 3 years. Replacements and repairs to plan for now.
Medium to long term
4 to 10 years. Foreseeable end of service life and major renewals.
Assessment parameters
Term of analysis
Generally 10 years from the site visit, or the term required by the lender.
Materiality threshold
Amount per item below which an expense is treated as routine maintenance, set for each mandate.
Cost estimates
Order-of-magnitude figures in current-year dollars, excluding taxes, with inflation over the term.
Remaining useful life
Estimated for each component from its apparent age, its condition and recognized service lives.
From request to signed report, in 5 steps
A single point of contact from start to finish, and a schedule built around your closing date.
1. Request
Address, building type, lender requirements and target date. We send you a quote.
2. Documents
Previous reports, work history, drawings and maintenance contracts: anything that sheds light on the current condition.
3. Site visit
Inspection by our engineers, interviews with on-site staff, complete photographic survey.
4. Analysis and costs
Remaining useful life, recommendations, priorities and table of anticipated expenditures.
5. Signed report
Report signed by the engineer, in English or French. We then answer the lender’s questions.
A report built for decisions
The report reads at two levels: a summary for the lender or buyer, and component-by-component detail for the manager who plans the work.
Executive summary
Building description, overall condition, priority interventions and total anticipated expenditures.
Observations by component
Description, condition, photographed deficiencies and remaining useful life of each system.
Prioritized recommendations
Interventions ranked from priority 1 to priority 3, with their estimated cost.
Anticipated expenditures table
Costs spread year by year over the term of the analysis, in today’s dollars and with inflation.
What comes next: when a deficiency calls for more than a visual inspection (structure, façades, parking), the same team can carry out the structural assessment or the detailed inspection required.
What our clients find from one mandate to the next
The engineers who sign are the ones who visit
The site visit, the analysis and the report are carried out by engineers who are members of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec.
Façades, parking and structure in-house
Our Bill 122 inspection and structural engineering practice informs the assessment of the most costly components.
More than 2,350 projects
Residential towers, rental buildings, warehouses, museums and institutional buildings, condominiums.
In English or French
The report is written in the language of your lender or buyer.
From assessment to construction
When the BCA reveals an intervention to design, our engineers can take it on: assessment, plans and specifications, construction supervision. A single team that already knows the building.
Building Condition Assessment
Inspection, 10-year anticipated expenditures, signed report for the lender or buyer.
Structural engineering
Technical opinion, calculations, plans and specifications, construction supervision.
Reserve fund and maintenance log
Long-term planning of replacements and contributions.
What we are asked about BCAs
What is a BCA?
A Building Condition Assessment (BCA) is an engineer’s report that describes the condition of a building’s main components, recommends the required interventions and estimates their cost over a set term, generally 10 years. It is also called a PCA (Property Condition Assessment).
How is it different from a reserve fund study?
Bill 16 requires condominium syndicates to have a reserve fund study: it covers the common portions and sets contributions over 25 years or more. A BCA instead meets the needs of a lender or buyer, for the whole building, over a shorter term.
How is it different from a pre-purchase inspection?
A pre-purchase inspection mainly targets houses and small buildings and generally does not cost the work. A BCA is an engineer’s report for income-producing, commercial and industrial buildings: it estimates the costs and spreads them over time.
My lender requires a specific format or parameters. Can you meet them?
Yes. Send us the requirements with your request (term of analysis, materiality threshold, table template, report addressee): we build them into the mandate.
How long does it take?
The timeline depends on the size of the building, site access and the documentation available. Tell us your closing date: we set the schedule accordingly in the quote.
Can the report be written in French?
Yes. We write the report in English or French, depending on the needs of your lender or buyer.
Are the costs in the report contractor quotes?
No. They are order-of-magnitude estimates based on published cost data and comparable projects. They are used for planning and financing; actual prices are obtained by tender when the work is carried out.
Do you perform destructive testing?
A BCA is a visual, non-intrusive inspection. When a condition calls for it, the report recommends further investigation (exploratory openings, testing, structural assessment), which we can also carry out.
Let’s talk about your building
Tell us the address, the building type, your lender’s requirements and your closing date. An engineer calls you back to clarify the mandate and send you a quote.
- Free, no-obligation quote
- You speak directly with the engineer
- Report in English or French
Prefer to call?
514-929-8752 · info@groupedarheim.ca