Method14 min read
Building inspection checklist: the method for technical visits on a tablet
Building inspection checklist: preparation, route, common areas zone by zone, photos, priorities and the inspection report, on a tablet.
The homePad team
A building inspection checklist lets you walk through the common areas along a fixed route, record their condition with photos, then rank each problem by priority so that the right works are started. On a tablet, the method comes down to four stages: prepare from the history, follow the same checklist zone by zone, work offline in the basements, then turn the findings into repair requests.
A technical building inspection (or technical building visit) is a visual and functional inspection of the common areas, that is, the zones and equipment used by all the occupants, carried out by the property manager, the managing agent or administrator, the caretaker or a contractor, and it ends in a dated, illustrated report.
Why carry out a building inspection, and how often?
A building inspection serves to spot defects before they turn into insurance claims, to check the work of maintenance contractors and to keep a dated record of the building's condition. A blocked gutter seen in October is dealt with by a clean-out. Discovered in February through a stain on a top-floor ceiling, it becomes water damage and an insurance claim.
The frequency depends above all on the managing agent's or administrator's contract, or on the management mandate. As a benchmark: one or two visits a year for a small building, one a quarter where there is a lift, a car park and a boiler room, plus a targeted visit after a claim or works. Schedule the autumn visit before the heating season and the rains. The framework by country:
There is no legal frequency: the managing agent's (syndic) contract sets the visits, and the standard contract (annex 1 to decree no. 67-223 of 17 March 1967, introduced by decree no. 2015-342 of 26 March 2015) provides, within the flat fee, for a minimum number of periodic visits and checks, their duration and whether a report is written (clause 7.1.1). The managing agent keeps the maintenance logbook (art. 18 of law no. 65-557 of 10 July 1965). A residential co-ownership building more than 15 years old draws up a draft multi-year works plan, updated every 10 years (art. 14-2).
In condominium ownership (PPE), the administrator manages the building and takes urgent measures against damage on their own initiative (art. 712s of the Swiss Civil Code); the owners' meeting appoints them and may set up a renovation fund (art. 712m). There is no legal visit frequency and no legal maintenance logbook: the PPE regulations and the administration contract decide.
The managing agent (syndic) of the association of co-owners (ACP), appointed for three years at most, carries out protective measures and keeps the post-intervention file (art. 3.89 of the Civil Code). A reserve fund of at least 5% of ordinary charges is required after five years, unless refused by a four-fifths majority (art. 3.86 § 3). There is no legal frequency: it is set in the managing agent's contract.
The syndicate of co-owners is liable for failure to maintain the common areas (art. 11 of the amended law of 16 May 1975); the managing agent (syndic), appointed for three years at most, sees to maintenance and urgent works (art. 14 and 21). A works fund has been mandatory since the law of 30 June 2022 (art. 11bis). There is no legal frequency: it is agreed with the managing agent.
How do you prepare a building inspection at the office?
A well-prepared inspection starts with three things open: the report template, the last visit report and the repair requests in progress. Without them, you forget to check what was supposed to be repaired.
- Choose the template suited to the building. One template per building type avoids empty sections: a building with no lift or car park has no need for those of a residence with a shared boiler room.
- Reread the previous report and note the items marked "to monitor", to be photographed again from the same angle.
- List the open requests. Every repair reported as done is checked on site: you close it or you chase it.
- Gather the means of access: keys or badges for the boiler room, the roof and the plant rooms, the caretaker's number.
- Keep the maintenance contracts to hand, with the dates of the last visits, to compare with the logbooks on site. In a co-ownership building, add the maintenance file kept by the managing agent or administrator.
- Sync and charge the tablet, and bring a power bank and a torch.
Which route should a building inspection follow?
The right route goes from the outside in, up by the lift, back down on foot, and ends in the basements, always in the same order. Going up in the car tests the lift; a constant order makes two reports comparable line by line.
The standard order: façades, entrance hall, lift, accessible roof, stairs on the way down, cellars, car parks, bin store, boiler room, green spaces on the way out. Only go onto a roof if access is safe and authorised; otherwise, note "not accessible", which is a finding too.
The building inspection checklist, zone by zone
This checklist covers a residential building; remove the lines that do not apply. Emergency lighting units (BAES) light up during a power cut to mark the escape route. Smoke ventilation removes smoke from a stairwell, often through an opening at the top. A fire door slows the spread of fire and only does its job when it is closed.
| Zone | Points to check | Warning signs |
|---|---|---|
| Surroundings and façades | render, joints, balconies, railings, gutters and downpipes | stepped crack, spalled concrete exposing the steel, loose railing |
| Accessible roof and terraces | roofing, valley gutters, outlets, waterproofing, chimney stacks | standing water, vegetation, waterproofing upstand coming away |
| Entrance hall | door and door closer, access control, intercom, letterboxes, lighting | door that does not close by itself, magnetic lock out of order |
| Stairwells and landings | steps, handrail, lighting, walls and ceilings, service ducts | loose stair nosing, damp mark on the ceiling, open duct |
| Lift | operation, levelling at floors, landing doors, lighting, alarm | step between car and landing, abnormal noise, alarm with no answer |
| Cellars and basements | damp, ventilation, lighting, doors, visible pipework | musty smell, leaking joint, bulky items blocking the passageways |
| Car parks | automatic door, lighting, ventilation, floor and ceiling | spalled concrete on the underside, door that does not stop for an obstacle |
| Bin store | cleanliness, water point, ventilation, bins | smells, pests, broken bins |
| Boiler room and plant rooms | locked, nothing stored, leaks, boiler logbook | room turned into a storeroom, logbook not filled in |
| Green spaces | trees, fences, gate, paths, play areas | dangerous branch, lifted paving slab, jammed gate |
| Fire safety | extinguishers and their inspection label, emergency lighting, smoke ventilation, fire doors, evacuation plans | fire door wedged open, emergency light off, missing extinguisher, smoke ventilation control obstructed |
| Mandatory inspections (depending on the country and the building) | logbooks and latest reports: lift, heating, fire safety, garage doors, asbestos | date of last inspection missing or overdue, reservations not cleared |
The inspection checks the dates of mandatory inspections and whether reservations have been cleared. The main obligations in 2026:
- Lift: maintenance with a visit every six weeks (art. R134-6 of the Construction and Housing Code), technical inspection every five years (art. R134-11).
- Asbestos: technical asbestos file if the building permit predates 1 July 1997 (art. R1334-29-5 of the Public Health Code).
- Lead: lead exposure risk assessment (CREP) of the common areas of residential buildings built before 1949, then before works that damage the coatings, unless an earlier assessment found no lead (art. L1334-8 of the Public Health Code).
- Automatic garage doors: written maintenance contract and two visits a year (order of 12 November 1990).
- Fire safety: at least a yearly check of detection, smoke extraction, ventilation and dry risers, with a safety register (art. 101 of the order of 31 January 1986, for buildings whose permit was applied for after its publication).
- Boiler room: annual servicing of boilers from 4 to 400 kW (art. R224-41-4 et seq. of the Environment Code).
- Lifts: cantonal rules; in Geneva, maintenance by an authorised specialist, inspections according to SIA standards (art. 16 of the lift regulations, L 5 05.08). In other cantons, check with the cantonal authority.
- Asbestos: no general survey; before works, the contractor identifies the hazards (art. 3 OTConst, Construction Work Ordinance).
- Electricity: periodic inspection, as a rule every 20 years for a residential building, and on each change of owner if the last inspection is five years old; the owner submits a safety report to the network operator (art. 36 and annex of the OIBT).
- Heating: the authority has emissions measured, as a rule every two years for an oil boiler and every four years for a gas installation up to 1 MW (art. 13 OPair).
- Fire: AEAI fire protection requirements, applied and checked by each canton; check with the cantonal fire protection authority.
- Lifts: maintenance according to the manufacturer's instructions, otherwise at least twice a year; preventive inspection by an accredited inspection body (SECT) every year, plus a half-yearly inspection, if a certified maintenance company does the maintenance, otherwise every three months; risk analysis at least every fifteen years (art. 4 and 6 of the royal decree of 9 March 2003).
- Fire: the royal decree of 7 July 1994 sets the basic standards for new buildings; for an existing building, check with the municipality and the fire and rescue zone.
- Asbestos: in Flanders, an asbestos certificate on the sale of a building built before 2001, and one for the common areas of a co-ownership by 31 December 2026 at the latest (OVAM).
- Boilers: periodic servicing or inspection required by each region, depending on the fuel (in Flanders, from 20 kW: every year for oil, every two years for gas).
- Lifts: annual examination and tests by an inspection body, maintenance by qualified staff and a safety register (ITM-SST 1203.1 requirements of the ITM, the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines).
- Fire and heating: the inspections depend on the building; ask the CGDIS (fire and rescue service) about fire prevention and have the boiler serviced by a professional.
- Asbestos: before works in an older building, have the asbestos located and ask the ITM about the applicable rules.
How do you work offline in cellars and car parks?
A building inspection app must work without a network, otherwise the visit stops at the first basement. With a full offline mode, the report and the photos stay on the device and sync when the network comes back. Sync before setting off, finish the visit in an area with coverage and check that syncing is complete before switching the tablet off.
Which photos make a building inspection report hold up as evidence?
An inspection photo is only worth something if you know what it shows, where and when it was taken. The rules are those of the digital inspection report, with one extra requirement: comparing over time.
- an overall view of each zone, then a close-up of each defect, attached to its line in the report
- a scale marker next to a crack or a chip
- for an item to monitor, the same shot at every visit; on a crack, a dated pencil mark at each end shows whether it is growing
- time-stamped, geolocated photos, which date and place the finding
- no people, no number plates, no names on letterboxes: the report does not need this personal data (see the GDPR checklist)
How do you rank the problems found?
Three priority levels are enough, provided each one has a written definition known to the whole team.
| Priority | Definition | Examples | Follow-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urgent | danger to people or ongoing damage | railing come loose, active leak, fire door wedged open | made safe the same day |
| To schedule | real defect with no immediate danger | broken door closer, open façade joint | repair request before the next visit |
| To monitor | stable defect | hairline crack, old and dry damp mark | same photo at the next visit |
A smell of gas falls outside this ranking: call the gas distributor's emergency service before anything else.
What should a building inspection report contain?
A useful building inspection report shows the urgent items on the first page, then details each finding with its photo, its priority and the action decided. It states the date, the person who carried out the visit, the zones that could not be accessed and how the monitored items have changed. Send it the same day to the owner or the co-owners' council, and to the caretaker.
Every urgent finding or finding to schedule becomes a repair request with its photos, a person in charge and a deadline, following the method in our guide to repair management. The next visit starts with these requests: it is this closed loop that turns a round of the building into technical follow-up.
What homePad does for you
homePad follows the building inspection through to the works, for property managers, real estate investment companies and social housing landlords. The visit is carried out with homePad App on an iOS or Android tablet or smartphone; the version of homePad Reports that installs on a Windows computer is for inspection reports.
- homePad App: guided technical building visits, templates in your brand, full offline mode, time-stamped and geolocated photos, automatic PDF.
- homePad Reports, from the Pro plan: the visit history of every building, a visit assigned to a colleague or created from the previous one, reports sent to the parties when the visit is closed.
- homePad Resolve, Entreprise plan: a repair request starts from the works noted in the report, with quotes, contractors and real-time tracking.
- homePad One, from the Pro plan: dashboards and property mapping across the whole portfolio.
Frequently asked questions
Who can carry out a building inspection?
The property manager, the managing agent or administrator, the caretaker or an appointed contractor can carry it out. What matters is that the person knows the building, follows the shared checklist and has the authority to raise a repair request. For a specific technical issue, such as a structural crack, the visit flags the problem and a qualified professional analyses it.
What is the difference between a building inspection and a comprehensive technical survey?
A building inspection is a regular visual check, carried out in-house or by a contractor, to spot and follow up defects. The comprehensive technical survey and multi-year works plans are studies by qualified professionals that plan works over several years; whether they are mandatory depends on the country (see the box above). Successive visit reports usefully feed these studies.
Can you do a building inspection on a tablet without a network connection?
No, if the app has a full offline mode. The report and the photos are saved on the device in cellars and car parks, then synced when the network comes back. Remember to sync the tablet before setting off.
What should you do if a fire door is wedged open during an inspection?
Close it if it is not held open by a device designed for that purpose, photograph the situation and rank the finding as urgent. Look for the cause: a broken door closer, a wedge left by an occupant or a delivery driver. A notice in the entrance hall and a check at the next visit prevent it from happening again.
How do you monitor a crack between two building inspections?
Photograph it with a scale marker, always from the same spot and at the same angle, and draw a dated pencil mark at each of its ends. At the next visit, the new photo shows whether it has grown longer or wider. A crack that is changing moves from "to monitor" to "to schedule", with the opinion of a building professional.
Does a building inspection report have to be signed?
No signature is required for an internal report, but having the person who carried out the visit sign it dates the finding and makes them accountable for it. When the caretaker or a member of the co-owners' council accompanies the visit, their signature confirms what was seen together. The time-stamped, geolocated electronic signature in homePad App fulfils this role at the end of the visit.
- building inspection checklist
- common areas
- technical building visit
- fire safety