Buying a property for a new business or expanding your current venture involves a lot of planning and perseverance. What may appear ‘too good a deal' may also come at a hidden cost. If the building you are planning to lease or purchase has some aesthetic issues like a crack in the wall or a broken window pane, it is easier for anyone to detect this and evaluate it with the cost. But a building is more than just mortar and cement. It is raised on several complex engineering systems that an ordinary person may not be aware of.
This is where Property Condition Assessment (PCA) plays an important role. With their background knowledge, well-qualified engineering professionals will be able to determine if the property/ building equals your penny's worth. Not just this, such an assessment will help carry out an energy audit too, which will help optimize the energy consumption also. PCA can be realistically viewed as an investment upon the property that can save needless expenses and losses.
What Are The Five Key Benefits Of PCA?
- Improve your technical knowledge: So, if you have signed the contract to buy a new property and are currently in the “due diligence” period or the “investigation phase,” it is the best time to expose yourself to some technical knowledge. Knowledge is the real power and can influence you to make informed purchasing decisions. If you are particular about certain property features, like any pending legal dispute or non-adherence to government regulations, PCA will be of tremendous help. As you gain the required technical knowledge related to your property's future, you will have more power to walk away from the deal if need be.
- Scrutinize physical issues: Often, potential sellers don't let their potential buyers into tenant spaces to hide some of the physical damages that the property may have. A good PCA helps in listing down all the existing issues that the property bears. Sometimes the property dealers hide a serious engineering issue or construction problem that could have resulted from low maintenance by the owner. A PCA also reveals code violations, quality of the material used, poor design, etc. that can all shorten the lifespan of property and burn a hole in the pocket in the future.
- Cost Estimations: A good PCA chart out the costs that will be incurred in fixing all the problems, if any. This also lays out expectations of the near-term capital outlays. Usually, anybody who invests in a property must spend roughly 20% of its maintenance return. This figure will have to be tweaked up or down based on the PCA. All this will help you be prepared for the current and future expenses and capital outlays.
- Negotiate like a Boss: Will you pay full price for a motorcycle that has bald tires and a broken headlamp? Well, a useful PCA reveals all the tiniest details of a given property and educates you to negotiate with conviction. A PCA helps leverage contract terms and get a better deal. The discount of a good PCA can be in the form of lowered cost, sellers agreeing to make substantial repairs, etc. to keep the deal from going down the drain. You can negotiate like a king if your PCA provider is a trusted source like Prycoglobal, backed with necessary technical expertise and credentials.
- Cushioning Any Impact of Future Liabilities: Just as much as a good PCA provides a transparent view of the upcoming challenges/ hurdles, it equally is a precautionary measure against any unforeseeable hazard that may cause trouble in the future. PCA acts as evidence that even an expert could not identify the potential hazard and hence exempts you from bearing the cost of any injury.
The whole purpose of conducting a PCA is to evaluate the property that you desire to buy. The hidden damages and ill health of the property that could add on to the future expenses can be diagnosed well in advance. As mentioned earlier, PCA is an investment and is similar to health insurance, the benefits of which are well worth the investment.
