- Home
- Businesses
Premises
Offices, medical and dental suites, showrooms and small retail across Newport Beach and the coast.
Three generations of equipment on one deck
In a building that has changed hands or changed tenants several times, the plant is an archaeology: units from three different decades, some serving spaces that no longer exist in that configuration, one or two abandoned in place and still connected.
The survey untangles it. What is live, what is dead, what serves which space, who appears to own it, and what condition each piece is in. That document is what turns a building from a set of surprises into something that can be budgeted.
Twice a year, recorded against the unit
Spring, before the load
- Condenser coils cleaned properly rather than rinsed
- Charge verified by superheat and subcooling
- Belts, bearings and drive alignment where fitted
- Economiser dampers opened and proved to travel
- Drains cleared and float switches tested
- Electrical connections torqued, contactors inspected
- Corrosion noted and photographed on coastal plant
Autumn, before the cold
- Combustion tested on gas sections, figures recorded
- Heat exchangers inspected
- Flue and combustion air checked as installed
- Defrost proved on heat pumps
- Filters replaced with ones that fit the rack
- Outside air dampers checked for having been shut and forgotten
- Readings compared against spring and the drift noted
Three things worth settling in writing
Whose equipment is it
In a great many suites nobody can say with confidence whether a given unit is the landlord’s or the tenant’s until something expensive fails. The survey records what we found, which does not settle the lease but stops the argument starting from nothing.
What condition it was in at handover
A five-year lease that starts with a twelve-year-old rooftop unit and no record is a dispute waiting for a hot July. A survey before signing is a negotiating position; a survey after is a repair bill.
Who maintains it, and to what
“The tenant shall maintain” is a common clause and a vague one. A schedule attached to it — twice a year, these checks, recorded — protects both sides, and we are glad to write one that is specific enough to be useful.
What we turn down
Chiller plant, building management systems on proprietary protocols, commercial refrigeration and hood cleaning. In medical and dental suites we will install, maintain and measure but we will not certify ventilation against a clinical standard — that wants an engineer who does that work and can take responsibility for the design.
We also turn down a maintenance contract on a building we have not surveyed, and we will not give advice about a lease. We will describe equipment accurately; what the document requires is for somebody else.