A new apartment from a contractor is supposed to be built to code and match the technical specification you were given. And yet more than 30% of new apartments have some kind of dampness problem, and it is hard to find one, in the private units or the common areas, that is entirely free of construction defects.
Can a luxury building that costs a fortune and carries a well-known developer's name really have been built poorly?
How would you even know if your own apartment has a defect, given that this is often the most expensive purchase you will ever make: an apartment tower, a farm, a villa?
Should you supervise the contractor yourself, standing guard to make sure every system works, nothing is wrong, and construction matches the spec? That is not realistic.
Whether the building is old or new, uncovering every defect during the inspection period calls for a home inspection (bedek bayit) by a specialist home inspection engineer, ideally carried out when the keys are handed over.
What a home inspection covers
A home inspection engineer carries it out on new apartments from a contractor and on resale apartments alike.
The goal is to catch every construction defect before it becomes a real problem: before residents move into a freshly built home only to find they cannot live in it through the winter because of leaks, or face some other disaster that makes the place unlivable. It is also done on older buildings, to assess their condition and feed into an appraiser's conclusions.
What the inspection looks for
Waterproofing and insulation - any point in the house that was not properly sealed and insulated can become its Achilles' heel, causing serious trouble in winter and, since prolonged dampness is so destructive, even the collapse of an entire wall.
Cracks - cracks in the concrete base of the walls let heat and cold escape through the seasons and pose a real risk to everyone living in the house.
Windows - openings in the walls are a weak point that needs a close look, since wind and rain will widen any crack or gap, even in a single window.
Infrastructure - the water, sewage and electrical systems are central to how the house functions. A thorough check lets you demand repairs from those responsible and save significant money before a fault gets worse.
So, if you are putting money into a residential or investment apartment, rather than a plot of land or a farm, make sure it was built properly.
The engineers of Arad Bedek Bayit, led by building engineer Ron Arad, whom courts appoint as their own expert on construction defects. The company has been inspecting apartments and buildings since 2001. Engineer Ron Arad · More about the company