What is a condition survey?
A condition survey assesses the physical state of a building and its assets, grading each against a scale so that investment can be planned rather than reacted to.
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<img src="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/condition-survey/diagram.svg" alt="condition survey — diagram from FacilityOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
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<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk/glossary/condition-survey">What is a condition survey?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://facilityoptix.co.uk">FacilityOptix</a>
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</figure>Grading is what makes it usable. A narrative description of a roof is an opinion; a graded assessment against a defined scale can be compared between buildings and between years.
Its value decays. A survey three years old describes a building three years ago, and without updates the investment plan built on it drifts out of line with reality.
It is not the same as a compliance inspection. A survey can find an asset in poor condition that is nonetheless compliant, and a compliant asset can be days from failure.
In practice
A survey commissioned every few years and read once.
It grades elements and produces a cost profile. The report is filed and the following year's budget is built from last year's spend.
A condition survey is only useful where it feeds a lifecycle plan, and otherwise it is an expensive photograph.
The most valuable column is the one that says what happens if the work is deferred.
What goes wrong in practice
- Surveys commissioned and then never refreshed or updated from work done since.
- Grading scales differing between surveyors, so results cannot be compared.
- Confused with statutory inspection, leaving compliance assumed.