Introduction
The definition of building inspection, technically, is somehow not very much clear, especially to non-technical background. One of the accepted technical definition and commonly being used is the definition provides by Construction Industry Council.
Building inspection basically involves three protocols, namely:
i) visual inspection;
ii) non-destructive testing; and
iii) destructive testing.
Visual inspection
Visual inspection is basically using a naked eye. The technology nowadays has combined the image classification with hand-held devices (2019).
Non-destructive testing
Non-destructive testing involved the usage of building inspection tool. The tool normally to measure the seriousness of the defects, with unit of measurement. It also highlights the defects that cannot be confirmed or detected by visual inspection. An example to this is by using infrared thermal imager, as in this video.
Destructive testing
Destructive testing involved taking sample from the building for further testing, usually in the lab.
Profiling of the practices of building inspection in Malaysia
This study tries to suggest a profiling of the practices of building inspection in Malaysia. It will help determining the direction of building inspection practices. We appreciate your precious time and effort in completing this survey. Heartiest thanks for your kind support. The Principal Researchers are Adi Irfan Che-Ani & Hafsah Yahaya.
Standards for building inspection
There are various building inspection standards, that particularly gives emphasizes on the reporting of building condition survey work, as well as procedural on-site inspection.
1. Malaysia - Qlassic. Details about Qlassic, can be viewed from CIDB website. As to track the progress of Qlassic, CIDB has conducted an impact study. Qlassic is now widely used by Malaysian developers, and the good practice sharing is also available. Qlassic is meants for new construction only, with the principle of doing the right thing at the first time. As for existing building, the periodical building inspection must be carried out for building more than 5-storey height at the cycle of every 10-years, as stipulated in Act 133 (Street, Drainage & Building Act 1974). Kuan You Wai (2020) explained about this dated 13 May 2020 in iProperty.com.my.
2. Singapore - Conquas 21, latest is 8th edition 2014 version. Conquas enhancement series is to complement the need of high demand of homeowners towards industry workamanship standards.
3. ASCE - Guideline for Condition Assessment of the Building Envelope (2014)
4. RICS - Home Buyer Report (2009) & Condition Report (2010)
5. ASTM - Standard Guide for Property Condition Assessments: Baseline Property Condition Assessment Process (2008)
Latest issues
Why do we need to carry out inspection when buying a home? This is an interesting question and we can follow through the discussion via my RICS Linkedin group; the importance of commissioning a survey before buying a home.
Introduction
Many flat roof suffers from water ponding defect; this might not be the case for pitched roof. Worse case, no body notice if this is happen, unless its symptom appears underneath, perhaps at the top-floor ceiling. It is worth if there is a system that can detect this water ponding before it turns into disaster.
Defective Flat Roof
The main concern is at what point the water ponding considered as defective to flat roof. BS EN 12056 (Part 3) outlined 2-minute time of concentration. National Roofing Contractors Association (NRCA) defines roof ponding as “water that remains on a roof surface longer than 48 hours after the termination of the most recent rain event”. Some of the point to figure out i.e. at what point water ponding is deem to occur? what is the time taken of rainwater to discharge? what is the height of water level that considered ponding? what makes water ponding? why water ponding is so critical? what is the structural loading if water ponding occur? etc. These are critical issue that need to be discovered in dealing with flat roof problem.
Related literature
In moving towards Building Information Modeling (BIM), we are trying to integrate the sensor approach in detecting roof water ponding problem. It is acknowledged that BIM should support the ease of maintenance (Liu & Issa 2014). Detection of defects is not new. It is a growing concern, as example to monitor crack response for structural health monitoring, application of electromagnetic waves in monitoring water infiltration in concrete flat roof, concrete crack assessment using digital image; to name a few.
IT is an important keywords and growing concern for FM, apart from 3P (people, property, process). One of the interesting IT in FM is about Surveying Apps, that best applicable to FM practitioners, especially for those who have building surveying background. A few Surveying Apps is recommended via my Linkedin group of RICS, namely (this list is from end user point of view, not from vendor):
1. GoReport - still developing
2. iAuditor - for iPad/iPhone, so far not available for Android. really good apps
3. Technology Forge - various tools develop. very helpful. comprises of (i) Property Management Software for Schools i.e. tf beacon, (ii) online training, (iii) online inspection
6. quickinspect
8. iSurvey
During the pandemic of Covid-19, there is pressure need to shift into IR 4.0. Digitalization is a must to remain competitive and relevant to the industry in securing a business. But, are we ready to shift into this paradigm, having said that physical building inspection is very much off-line intense activity. Technology non-adoption have their own reason, why it is difficult to move into digitalization, as studied by Fahim Ullah et al. (2021); with one of the key findings is 21 barriers that hamper the implementation of digitalization.