The Honest Answer First
We inspect residential property. Houses, condominium units, townhouses, and residential rental property including small multi-family. That is what our license covers, what our standard of practice covers, and what we are good at.
Offices, retail, warehouses and industrial buildings are a different profession. Taking that work because someone called would mean producing a report against the wrong standard, and a buyer relying on it would be worse off than if they had hired nobody.
Where the line actually falls: buying a Merritt Island house to rent out is a residential inspection and we do it. Buying a unit in a strip center on Courtenay Parkway is a commercial property condition assessment and we do not. If you are unsure which side of that line your property sits on, one phone call settles it.
Residential Investment Property Is Still Residential
A good deal of the search traffic that lands on a page like this is not commercial at all. It is somebody buying a house or a small multi-family building as an income property and reaching for the word that sounds businesslike.
What We Cover on a Rental Purchase
The same full inspection as any house, with the emphasis shifted. On a property that will be tenanted, the items that matter most are the ones that create liability and call-outs rather than the ones that affect resale: GFCI protection where it is required, smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, water heater age and its relief valve and pan, the condition of the AC system, door and window hardware, handrails and guardrails, and any active leak.
The full scope is on the Merritt Island checklist, and it is priced from the same schedule as any other inspection on the cost page.
Waterfront Rentals Carry Extra
On a canal property that will be let, the seawall and dock become a tenant-safety question as well as a repair-cost one. We report visible condition on both and say when a marine contractor or engineer needs to look at them. Nobody wants to discover a failing dock piling by way of a guest.
What a Commercial Assessment Actually Involves
Worth knowing even though we do not perform it, because it explains why it is a different service rather than a bigger version of ours.
A Different Standard
Commercial work commonly follows the ASTM E2018 property condition assessment framework rather than a residential standard of practice. The deliverable is a property condition report, usually with cost estimates for immediate repairs and a projection of replacement reserves over a term. That is a different document with a different purpose from a home inspection report.
A Team Rather Than a Person
Commercial assessments are typically produced by several specialists: roofing, mechanical, electrical, structural, sometimes fire and life safety, sometimes an environmental site assessment alongside. Anything structural should involve a Florida-licensed professional engineer. It takes longer and costs considerably more than a residential inspection, and both of those are appropriate to what is being bought.
What to Ask a Commercial Inspector
Which standard they work to. Who is actually on the team and what each of them is licensed to do. Whether a professional engineer signs off on structural findings. How long the report takes, because two weeks is normal and it needs to fit your contract. And whether cost estimates are included, since that is often the part a lender wants.
We Do Not Take Referral Fees
Which is why this page names no company. We do not pay for referrals and we do not accept them, so there is nobody we benefit from sending you to. Search for commercial property condition assessment firms working Brevard County and ask the questions above.
If it turns out your Merritt Island property is residential after all, call 321-722-7321 or get a figure from the rates page. Back to the Merritt Island overview.