Before Buildings Crumble: The Overlooked Importance Of Building Maintenance

Major, fatal building collapses are relatively rare. But they do happen, and the cost to human lives and budgets alike can be very high.

However, the potential for these tragedies to occur is reduced if owners are vigilant about routine building maintenance.

Just as people should schedule regular medical checkups to catch health problems early, the architectural and structural engineers at Klein & Hoffman urge commercial and residential building owners to be similarly proactive with their properties.

“Maintaining a building is just like taking care of your own body,” said Terry McDonald, a structural engineer and principal with Klein & Hoffman. “If you avoid regular checkups and don't pay attention to what your body is telling you, eventually it's going to break down and you'll start having issues — and then you will really have to pay attention.”

Caitlin Maggiano, a structural engineer and senior associate with Klein & Hoffman, said buildings should be regularly inspected from top to bottom. Even if the building appears to be in fine condition, there may be issues that are concealed or not visible to the untrained eye.

“Every three to five years, owners should perform a property condition assessment or a reserve study if it's residential,” she said. “The building envelope should be inspected to look for defects that may allow water intrusion that can lead to degradation of the underlying building components.”

Every building collapse is unique, but Maggiano said recent examples tend to be cases where the owners or managers did not make the building’s maintenance a high priority, or ignored early warning signs and reports of potential issues.

“What many buildings have in common is a lack of maintenance and inspection programs to review the integrity of the structure and envelope,” Maggiano said. “Often, owners prioritize the upkeep of interiors, such as lobbies and amenity spaces, to respond to tenant demands over the items with less visual importance.”

That can be an expensive or even fatal oversight, particularly if water is entering the building and damaging structural materials such as masonry, concrete and steel. The impact of this infiltration might not be immediately visible, but if left unaddressed it can lead to major headaches for the building owner, ranging from expensive repairs to civil or even criminal penalties.

“It is very rare that water is not involved when we find structural deterioration,” said Jacqueline Kerstetter, a structural engineer and associate with Klein & Hoffman. “A building’s water-resistive barriers, if they're not maintained, will lead to water intrusion and eventual deterioration of the structure. It seems as if that is not understood across the board by owners and property managers.”

Fortunately, water infiltration and most other structural threats can be caught early and fixed if the building is regularly inspected, she said.

“Inspections can find small issues that may not be obvious to the owner at the time, but can be addressed by something as simple as sealant replacement around a window, for example,” Kerstetter said. “What is a small job now, in 10 years if left unaddressed, could lead to a much larger and expensive job due to the effects of prolonged water infiltration such as steel corrosion or concrete delamination.”

Regularly scheduled inspections by qualified architects or engineers are merely the first step in protecting a building. A consultant’s report will do no good if the building owner does not act on it.

A lack of response is not uncommon from owners who are not trained structural engineers. However, McDonald said the 2021 Surfside collapse in Florida, with its numerous fatalities, motivated many building owners to act on their structural engineers’ recommendations, perhaps for the first time.

“Quite a few building owners have since come to us wanting to address issues in their buildings, saying, ‘You know that report that is collecting dust from five years ago? We want to fix our building now. Can you help us?’” he said. “This has become a higher priority for many building owners.” 

Once they are committed to making repairs, whether they are taking a phased, multiyear approach or addressing all of the building’s structural issues at once, owners need to hand the work off to qualified, experienced contractors.

Maggiano said checking references and making sure contractors have experience in repairing similar buildings are vital if the job is to be done correctly.

“You don't want to hire a residential masonry repair contractor that does sidewalks and stoops to repair your 10-story concrete building,” she said. “Likewise, you don't want to hire a contractor who does residential facade work to perform your parking garage’s structural concrete repairs, if they don't have significant experience.”

Maggiano recommended creating a detailed scope of repair work to be shared with contractors who bid on the project. This will help the contractors and owners understand exactly what needs to be done and competitively bid on an apples-to-apples basis.

It is also recommended to keep the engineering team that identified the building’s repair needs involved throughout construction. This way, they can monitor the work to confirm it is being done per their recommended scope of work and that all concerns have been addressed.

“The cost of having us out there usually pays for itself by keeping tabs on the scope of work and ensuring the repairs are done right to maintain the durability long-term, which ultimately limits the cost for the client,” McDonald said.

This article was produced in collaboration between Klein & Hoffman and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.