Condo Association Management Blog

It is important to have an independent engineer to review the site plan approval resolution that conntains all the conditions that the developer is required to complete for the project together with the approved plans. The condo association engineer will then compare the filed building plans against eh site plan set of plans filed with the original application. This is important becasue sometimes the builder/developer will change the construction plans and this can be a problem. Additionally your engineer will confirm whether the builder/developer has conformed to the approvede plans and built everything where it is supposed to be. Finally the engineer should be able to give some indication whether the builder built the infra-structure in a good and workmanlike manner or whether he used shoddy workmanship. 
 
So..it is really important to have your own expert. Good luck!

It is advisable to hire an engineer to inspect for multiple reasons - one, you know what you have from a practical standpoint and the engineer can help you develop maintenance schedules and recommendations. Secondly, the engineer can inspect for changes (as indicated by Mr. Cerillo) that are not in the site plan or should not have occurred. The engineer can also report defects and other unseen issues. In many states, there is a finite amount of time an association may go after the developer for these items from a legal standpoint. From a practical standpoint, it is best to do it early before the LLC or whatever entity the developer or development partners set up and all the assets are gone and the entity has been dissolved.  
 
Remembe, the developer or builder often hired other people to do the work and you don't know how carefully they inspected the work before, during and after. 
 
It puts your association in amuch stronger position going forward and sets you on the right path.