Building condition assessments
A building condition assessment is a visual inspection of every element in a building. Each element is rated against a defined scale, and its defects, rectification costs and remaining life are recorded against it.
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Designing your condition methodology
Condition rating is a judgement, so Kairos settles the method with you before anyone attends site. That means agreeing the rating scale, the elemental breakdown, the risk model and the way remaining life and replacement cost are estimated.
These decisions are made in an alignment workshop, then tested on a pilot that you sign off before the rollout begins. The pilot covers one representative building, or the number your specification asks for.
Rating with trade-qualified auditors
Every rating is given by a Kairos employee with a trade background in HVAC, electrical, plumbing or fire. A tradesperson understands the asset in a way a conventional auditor does not, so the rating is more nuanced.
Where a conventional audit records what an asset looks like, a trade-qualified auditor can tell whether it is running well, borderline or approaching failure.
Defining your condition assessment scope
The assessment breaks into six scope items. You can commission all six or only the ones your objectives need, and if you already have a scope of works, Kairos prices against it line by line.
Condition ratings by element
Each building is broken into elements and every element is rated: structure, roof, stormwater, floors, walls, ceilings, fit-out and services. Ratings are recorded at building, room and component level.
- Building, room and component ratings
- Photograph of every room
- Photograph of every defect
Defect identification and costing
Every observable defect is recorded with its location, its likely cause and the cost to rectify it. Anything posing an immediate risk is reported to your contract manager the day it is found.
- Defect, cause and location
- Rectification cost
- Recommended action and timeframe
- Immediate risk reporting
Risk assessment and prioritisation
Each defect is ranked by what happens if the work is not done and how likely that is. Defects with no safety implication are ranked no risk.
- Consequence and likelihood
- Risk ranking against your matrix
- Safety separated from aesthetics
Remaining useful life and replacement cost
Each element carries an estimate of its remaining service life and its current replacement cost. Costs are built like for like with modern equivalent technology, referenced to published Australian construction cost data.
- Design life and remaining useful life
- Current replacement cost
- Climate adaptation reflected where your specification requires it
Renewal and maintenance programming
The condition, remaining life, risk and cost data is built into a ten year capital renewal programme and a ten year maintenance programme. The assumptions and cost sources behind both are documented, so the numbers can be tested at review.
- Ten year renewal programme
- Ten year maintenance programme
- Major and minor works split
- Funding scenarios
Condition-based valuation
Where you scope it in, the condition data supports a valuation to AASB 116 and AASB 13. Valuation needs component level capture, so it is agreed at the start, and Kairos delivers it with a specialist valuation partner.
- Replacement cost by component
- Remaining useful life
- Documented assumptions and cost sources
What a visual assessment can tell you, and what it cannot
Findings come from visual and functional observation. Kairos does not do any of the following.
- Destructive or intrusive testing
- Removal of panels, linings or ceilings
- Confined space entry
- Operating plant to test it
An element that cannot be inspected is recorded as not inspected. Where a visual inspection cannot establish the condition of an element, the report names the specialist investigation that element needs.
Choosing your level of analysis
What you do with a condition rating depends on how far you take the analysis. There are four levels, and you can stop at any of them.
Fixed replacement schedule
Each asset is replaced at the end of its standard service life. This is enough where assets are similar across the portfolio and a failure is an inconvenience.
Remaining useful life
Service life is estimated from condition, maintenance history, duty cycle and environment rather than from age alone. Two identical units installed on the same day can return different remaining lives. One runs at half load in a plant room, the other runs continuously on a coastal rooftop.
Likelihood and consequence of failure
Each asset is scored on how likely it is to fail and what happens when it does. This tells you which failures to fund first, which is not the same question as which assets are in the worst condition.
Predictive modelling
Failure probability curves are built from your condition data and industry failure histories, and they replace fixed replacement dates. Instead of a generator falling due in year ten, you see a five per cent chance of failure in year eight.
Your 7-step condition assessment programme
You sign off at two assurance gates, the pilot and the draft report, so you approve the method before the fieldwork and the findings before the programmes are built.
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Initiation
Kairos completes your inductions and clearances, arranges access with the occupier of each building and agrees progress reporting with you.
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Alignment
Kairos proposes the rating scale, elemental breakdown, risk model and reporting format, and you sign them off.
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Assurance gate
Pilot
A pilot building is assessed, and you sign off the output before rollout.
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Field assessment
Kairos proposes the building sequence around your operations and submits data as buildings are completed.
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Processing and QA
The data QA team checks completeness, rating consistency, risk ranking and photographs before anything reaches you.
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Assurance gate
Draft report
You receive the condition report, the defect register and the ten year programmes in draft, and you review them.
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Final report and close-out
Kairos issues the final dataset and report, and runs a close-out review with you.
How your ratings stay consistent
A dataset rated mostly in the middle of the scale cannot separate the buildings that need money now from the buildings that can wait. Middle clustering happens when assessors lack the confidence to commit to a rating.
Kairos auditors are employees with trade backgrounds in HVAC, electrical, plumbing and fire. An auditor who has maintained the plant recognises a unit that is close to failure and commits to the rating. Each grade on the scale is anchored to reference photographs, so two auditors rating the same element reach the same grade.
Three checks run before the dataset reaches you.
Completeness
Every field and photograph is checked for completeness.
Ratings against evidence
A sample of ratings is reviewed against the photographs behind them.
Spread across the portfolio
A lead assessor reviews the spread of ratings across the portfolio, and anything that does not hold up is re-inspected.
Keeping your buildings open during the assessment
Access arrangements
Kairos arranges access with the occupier of each building, confirms attendance in advance and agrees each day’s areas with your site contact. Clinical, production and secure areas run to the same arrangements as an asset data capture: after-hours windows you set, and your contractor management, escort and sign-in rules.
Clearances and safe access
All field employees hold current police checks and Working with Children Checks. Roof access follows the safe method for each building, with drone inspection where safe access is not available.
Condition assessment pricing and timeframes
01
What it costs
The price is a lump sum by stage, with a schedule of rates for variations.
02
What sets the lump sum
The lump sum is set by the number and size of your buildings, the elemental depth, and whether costing, programming and valuation are in scope.
03
What triggers a variation
A variation arises from a change to the agreed scope or a site condition not known at pricing. Work outside the agreed scope needs your written approval before it starts.
04
How long it takes
Duration is set by the number of buildings and the elemental depth, and the pilot lands in the first weeks either way.
Questions about condition assessments
How often should a condition assessment be repeated?
Most council and government specifications run on a three to five year cycle. Between assessments the dataset can be aged forward using the deterioration assumptions in your model, but that is a projection rather than an observation.
Whose condition methodology do you use?
Your criteria, or IPWEA 1 to 5 where you have none. Where a five point scale leaves too many elements in the middle, Kairos rates on a ten point scale that separates them. The pilot output is signed off against the methodology before rollout.
Can you work from our previous condition report?
Yes. Kairos reviews it before site, marks previously identified works that have since been completed and reports the change in condition against it. Elements that no longer exist are flagged rather than deleted.
What stops every element coming back rated in the middle?
Auditors with trade backgrounds commit to ratings at the ends of the scale, and reference photographs anchor each grade. The spread of ratings is then reviewed across the portfolio before handover, and anything that does not hold up is re-inspected.
What do you do about areas you cannot access?
They are recorded as inaccessible. Where a reasonable inference can be drawn from similar areas in the same building, it is recorded as an inference rather than an observation.
What prequalification evidence can you provide?
Kairos holds the cover and systems council and government panels ask for.
- Public liability insurance of $20 million
- Professional indemnity insurance of $5 million per event and $10 million aggregate
- WorkCover registration
- Safe work method statements and a documented quality management system
- A published modern slavery statement and an employment and social procurement statement
Are valuations included?
Not by default. A valuation to AASB 116 and AASB 13 is scoped separately and delivered with a specialist valuation partner.
Can you assess condition and capture the asset register in one visit?
Yes. The same auditors do both in the same pass, so one mobilisation produces a register and a condition dataset that agree with each other.
What do you need from us?
On site, Kairos needs access arrangements and one person who can answer a scope question when it comes up. Before site, Kairos needs four things.
- A building list with addresses and contacts
- Your previous condition report, if you have one
- Floor plans, where they exist
- Your rating scale and reporting format
What do we receive at handover?
- Condition dataset in Excel
- Defect register with costs and priorities
- Ten year renewal and maintenance programmes
- Photographs indexed to the records
- Condition report
Where valuation is scoped, the valuation documentation comes with it.
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