Globally, building maintenance is a constant. However, the life and health of the buildings being maintained are directly impacted by whether businesses, employees, and commercial maintenance providers handle building maintenance better than others. Unfortunately, maintenance is frequently disregarded or even ignored, much to everyone’s detriment, because it isn’t as exciting as new construction and progress.
The finest maintenance practices for buildings are based on dependable processes connected to effective documentation, planning, and organization.
The building maintenance checklist is one of the most reliable tools commercial maintenance companies and building owners use to maintain their structures.
A professional building inspection checklist is just like a guarantee that ensures a certain piece of equipment is free from any damage or failure. In addition, the checklist ensures that a proper inspection or examination has been conducted on certain equipment.
A person performs the inspection, and he has a checklist that contains various points and items on the list. So, every time he ticks an option on the checklist, the inspector confirms that the equipment is a good working order on condition.
Furthermore, the building inspectors’ checklist also needs to be equipment-specific so that a thorough inspection can occur. The inspection also requires a close examination of each area and essential component for the equipment to work properly.


These inspection checklists are simply designed and include all the items that require inspection in a comprehensive specific disorder. In addition, the checklist itself tells how to inspect equipment and other specific items. Thus, it should be easy to use by the inspector.
In the past, these checklists were available in a paper format, but now, you can design your own digital checklists with the advancement in technology. So yes, now it is easy to quickly design a checklist according to your requirement.
Moreover, you can do a thorough inspection by using your mobile devices. Thus, it is easy for you to do a comprehensive inspection and save time and effort. This article will cover how you can create a building inspection checklist? You will also get to know various types of checklists and their advantages.
Related Article: Free Building & Facility Maintenance Checklist Template Excel
How To Create A Building Inspection Checklist?
A general building inspection helps you understand and highlight some common issues during inspection. For example, you can know what structural issues are present in your building and what maintenance requirements should be there.
Although it is impossible to always understand what issues need repairing, fixing, or repairing, focus on issues that demand your attention? Thus, in this way, you can make the right decision during the inspection.
For those responsible for maintaining a facility, a maintenance checklist can be the only reliable source of information. The example template allows businesses or employees to adhere to a rigid and trustworthy system for crossing off all of those significant maintenance activities across:
- Roofing
- HVAC
- Plumbing
- Lighting
- Overall check-ups
Use this template for a building maintenance schedule to streamline and enhance your maintenance management procedures.
An inspector or maintenance worker can access and complete this checklist onsite using a mobile or tablet device. In addition, all records are automatically synced to the cloud, where they can be easily found, opened and actioned at any time.
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Building Inspectors Checklist
A Building Inspectors Checklist helps you identify the spots that demand immediate attention, and you cannot ignore them. So, before creating a general building inspection checklist, it is a good option to consult with professionals. But you can also run a general inspection of your building by following these steps.


Examine Each Door And Window
Examine each door and window of your building thoroughly and see if there is any damage on the frames or working right. Make sure everything is in the right place, and no door or window is making the creaking sounds.
In addition, make sure to examine whether the gaps between the door or window frames are in equal space or not.
Check the cracks in the window by opening and closing each window one by one. Check if there is any sign of damage that needs repair. Some common signs that demand repairing are:
- Patches in frames
- Crack in window glass
- Condensation
Safety
A well-maintained structure should undergo routine safety and interior safety material inspections to ensure both are met. This makes it possible to prevent and steer clear of typical building-related risks. For example, you could include the following inquiries on your checklist:
- Are all first aid kits inventoried and replenished as necessary?
- Is the presence of eyewash stations and bottles checked?
- Is the labelling on the equipment and safety indicators in good shape?
- Respirators checked and cleaned?
- Are fall prevention equipment and harnesses inspected?
Examine All Walls and Ceilings
Inspect all walls and ceilings of your building and search for any signs of stain, sagging, or patch area. In addition, make sure to examine brick walls for stains, dampness, and mold.
Patchy or saggy ceilings are signs of leaky or problematic roofs. For looking deeply into these walls, you can use thermal cameras. For inspection of wall surfaces, you can also use flashlights.
Inspect Kitchen, Laundry Room, and Toilets
In the kitchen, you need to search for signs of stains and dampness around the sink and the backsplash. Gently jiggle the fittings to examine them properly. In addition, you need to examine all the cabinets for water leakage or dampness.
Also, don’t forget to inspect the exhaustion system. You need to look for rust and stains inside or outside in the laundry room. Also, examine the tiles and walls of the room.
Similar things need to inspect in the toilets. Finally, check your plumbing system thoroughly for gas or water leaks.
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Electrical System and Roof Structure Inspection
The most important building area that demands attention is the electrical system. Carefully inspect all the building fuses and see for earth leakage, wire breakage, or circuit breaker. Also, check if the building is demanding new wiring.
In roof structure inspection, you need to look for any patchy area or damage. If there is any crack on the roof, repair it immediately. It is essential because if you ignore the cracks, they will cause more damage in the future.
If you see the roof is fading, you need to fix its sealing. If you observe any signs of rust or damage on the gutters, downpipes, or eves, don’t delay their fixing. In addition, if the roof of the building is made of iron, it should be rust-free at any cost.
Also, never paint your roof to hide the signs of rust. Fix it properly. The other essential points that include in Building Inspectors Checklist are:
- Inspection of exterior sliding
- Check for large brick cracks
- Replace loose brick motor immediately
- Ensure no water stains or rotten wood near the ground surfaces, plumbing pipes, and window sills.
- Look for water pooling underneath the building and fix it
- Electrical maintenance.
- Cooling and heating maintenance.
- Paint and whitewashing of walls.
- Infrastructure changes.
- Kitchen or room remodelling.
- Sanitary improvements.
- Installation of fire alarms and sprinkler system.
- Expansion of car parking.
- Wiring and lightning.
Whether it is an apartment building inspection checklist, commercial building inspection checklist, or a fire department inspection checklist, all types of building examination checklists require you to examine the foundation thoroughly and carefully.
All checklists demand that stumps and footings should be robust and secure. If there are any wooden stumps, closely examine them and see the damage signs. It is because wooden stumps demand replacement after thirty years of use.
Building Inspection Forms Software
You can use numerous software to develop a building compliance checklist. The software helps you to design your checklist without using any paper. So, you can get rid of paper-based inspections.
Furthermore, the software also eliminates the need for manual data entry and image uploading to generate inspection reports. Instead, a digital building inspection application enables inspectors to run professional inspections with the help of mobiles devices and generate final reports instantly.
If you want to run an onsite inspection of your property, the software can help you. It allows for taking notes, multiple photos, annotations, and instantly sending inspection reports to the clients. Thus, the software can help you reduce inspection time and run a successful inspection of any building.
The modern-day software is designed to reduce the total inspection times, enhance the inspection quality, and remove the typical productive barriers and frustrations.
In addition, checklists can easily identify the damages, failure, quality or compliance issues, and any potential risk using the software. Thus, you can enjoy a comfortable inspection experience.
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How many types of building inspection workers are?
Building maintenance personnel fall into three categories depending on their backgrounds and responsibilities.
- Janitor: These people often take care of a building or facility’s cleaning. In addition to vacuuming carpets and washing floors, their duties include cleaning bathrooms, windows, and glass doors.
- Maintenance technician: These team members carry out duties such as building HVAC, electrical and water system inspection, maintenance, and repair. Maintenance managers frequently allocate all of these duties.
- Maintenance Supervisor: The supervisor’s responsibilities are planning, assigning, and managing the maintenance team members for a specific shift. These managers organize the maintenance department’s workload by reviewing incoming work orders and short- and long-term goals for the day or week. These supervisors are also in charge of hiring, interviewing, and training maintenance personnel.
Which organizations use the business inspection excel template?
Companies that use the building maintenance excel template:
- Businesses: As we all know, every company needs building maintenance services. Smaller companies contract services and handle these tasks as part of routine business operations. Larger companies, on the other hand, maintain an internal maintenance staff to handle these demands.
- Residential complexes: To perform jobs like inspecting, maintaining, and monitoring all of the complex’s internal and exterior maintenance requirements, a crew of building maintenance personnel is stationed nearby apartment or condominium complexes.
- Government: Municipalities use building maintenance staff to keep civic structures like post offices, libraries, and city halls in good operating order.
Why Building inspection Checklist Excel Template?
The materials used to construct a building have a lifespan of their own. The building begins to deteriorate as they end their useful lives. A maintenance checklist is necessary to prevent infrastructure and building breakdown. The building maintenance checklist template is the name of this list.
Building inspection Checklist provides comprehensive information on the building and describes the necessary repairs. Additionally, it provided you with information regarding the state of your facilities. Weekly, biweekly, monthly, and yearly maintenance should be carried out to record all damages and degradation.
Therefore, you can take the appropriate action to reverse this degradation and stop similar failures and degradation in the future. A maintenance checklist is kept after natural disasters and geological changes to repair the damages quickly.
The inspection checklist is vital for all of these reasons. First, it informs building owners about the upkeep of their assets.
It aids them in maintaining the condition of their property. The template for the vehicle maintenance log should also be examined.
Advantages of Inspection software Checklist


Not Many Things To Carry
An inspector has to inspect, measure, capture images or barcodes and test various things when examining a building. The inspector has to carry a clipboard, pen, a barcode/RFID scanner, and a camera for doing all these things.
However, the inspector does not need to carry all these things with him with building inspection software checklists. The inspector can do all these tasks with the help of a mobile device. Hence, the inspection process gets quicker and easier.
Updated Forms
It is not easy to make changes in paper form as it is a very hectic task. In addition, it demands a lot of attention and time. Also, the risk of errors is more in paper reports.
However, with the help of software, you can design digital forms that are easy to change. The digital forms are linked with a mobile device, so they update automatically when the inspector saves inspection data on the device.
Better Compliance
The standards are already defined in the digital inspection checklist. When you add data against a specific question, the answers directly measure against the standards. Thus, with the help of this, the inspector can easily identify non-compliance issues.
Less Use of Paper
The digital inspection checklists also help to save money by using less paper. In addition, it is also a wise decision to use a digital tool for a clean environment. Thus, digital checklists make the whole process quick and efficient and reduce redundancies.
Efficiency and Accuracy
A building inspection checklist software ensures that the collected data is free from errors. It also helps to determine that the whole process is going efficiently.
In contrast, paper-based inspection checklists need time to compile, and sometimes it gets difficult to arrange them in a logical sequence. With the help of a digital inspection checklist, inspectors perform their duties properly and ensure that each answer is complete.
If any answer is left, the question is highlighted, and the inspection process remains incomplete until that answer is completed. Also, almost all inspection devices allow taking images of RFIDs, barcodes, equipment, etc. that ensure accuracy.
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Improved Operational Efficiency
Digital inspection checklists enable inspectors to get detailed and instant information and make reports quickly. These checklists help the inspector to make informed decisions, avoid false decisions, and reduce the total administration cost.
As the data is correct, there is no chance of any false decision. In addition, the inspection process becomes faster than usual with the help of inspection checklists. Thus, the chances of errors and mistakes are zero. The inspector can also develop a preventative schedule of maintenance.
Types of Building Inspection Checklists
Various types of building inspection checklists are almost the same and differ by only a few points. The general building examination checklists are:
- Checklist of Office building inspection checklist
- Checklist of Building safety inspection
- Inspection Checklist of a newly constructed building
The steps of inspection are almost the same as mentioned above. However, the inspection checklists of safety and the newly constructed building contain these points.
Building Safety Inspection Checklist
A building inspection checklist is used to evaluate the general state of a building’s components, including its roof, electrical, fire, mechanical, and hydraulic systems, flooring, and fit-out. A UK-based provider of education and skills support services uses this checklist for building maintenance as part of an audit of their school’s audit management program (AMP).
The safe and ideal checklist for your building meets your needs and ensures your safety. A safety inspection checklist of a building contains the following points:
Signs and Bulletin Boards
- Are they readable and clean?
- Do they get changed and updated frequently?
- Do items restrict the smooth walking of people?
Emergency Equipment
- Check the fire control equipment at regular intervals. Test it and check whether it is certified or not.
- Ensure that your building has the appropriate equipment to meet your needs in an emergency.
- Check emergency lighting and test them regularly to ensure they are working or not.
Hazardous Products
- Check if there are any hazardous products
- If yes, make sure that they are properly labeled?
- Also, ensure a relevant safety data sheet specific for each product.
- Are the workers capable enough to work near hazardous products safely?
Security
- Is there enough personal security at entry or exit for workers at night?
- Are emergency (evacuation, bomb threat, hostile person) procedures operative and in place?
New Construction Building Checklist
A checklist for newly constructed buildings contains the following points:


Foundation Inspection
It is necessary before backfilling the soils in the foundation wall system. Make sure that:
- Weepers drain complete with stone cover.
- Waterproofing or Wall damp proofing, paging, and drainage layer complete.
- Deliver a copy of the site report if valid to project.
Excavation Inspection
Provide a copy of the subgrade report to the inspection officer before placing any material for filling.
Under Floor Slab Plumbing
Before casing pipes and finishing in the trench
- Inspect sewers that are under test.
- Deliver a copy of the site report if valid to project.
Plumbing Rough-In Inspection
Before wall/ceiling finishes or is covered with insulation
- Make sure to inspect water supply lines and all DWV.
Insulation Inspection
Before wall/ceiling finishes
- Provide test results of insulation for spray foam systems.
- Deliver a copy of the site report if valid to project.
Fire Systems Inspection
- To view the commissioning procedure or installers per NFPA guidelines.
- Deliver a copy of the site report if valid to project.
Cost-effective Solution for Upkeep Problems
Building maintenance managers frequently face challenges in controlling overall operational costs, daily performance, recordkeeping, and data analysis of building maintenance reports. The world’s most effective mobile inspection app, iAuditor, can help you easily uncover maintenance issues, increase asset lifespan, and prevent critical systems failure.
- Add pictures to the report you write for the day. Check out a sample report.
- You can assign urgent repairs on the spot and receive updates on the tasks you allocate.
- Receive notifications when inspections are ready to begin and never miss another scheduled maintenance check again.
- Use for free with small teams.
- Easily keep track of all inspections finished and uncompleted by logging into one platform. For premium accounts, reports and storage are unlimited.
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Top 5 Frequently Asked Questions
What fails a building inspection?
It is a failed checklist if a building inspection checklist does not suspect deterioration on the structure’s joints and bearers, walls, stumps, and flooring. Moreover, a report prepared from such inspection will surely put your building and investment at risk.
What is the role of the building inspector?
Building Inspectors or inspection officers determine the structural soundness of construction projects and buildings. They are accountable for assessing and inspecting the structural quality of a project. In addition, they ensure compliance with zoning regulations, contract specifications, and national building codes.
What is a construction checklist?
A construction checklist is a set of activities or items that a site inspector or in charge must check, verify, and inspect to confirm the project’s systematic progress. So, it is a great tool that can assist in organizing and optimizing a project in different ways.
What are four things that would be inspected before preparing a defect report?
The four things that are examined before making a defect report are:
1. Movement and Cracking of the Structure
2. Structural Dampness
3. Structural Deformation
4. Timber Pest Damage to the Structure
What is considered a structural defect?
It is actually physical damage to any load-bearing elements of any building. These damages can be due to the failure of load-bearing elements that also affect the load-bearing function of these elements. So, these defects show that the home is unsanitary, unsafe, or unlivable.