Physical Deficiency

A physical deficiency is the unit of the cost tables. E2018-24 defines it, in substance, as an easily visible defect or deferred maintenance of a material building system or component identified during the assessment. Two things are excluded by definition: de minimis conditions (those that do not threaten occupants and that routine maintenance would address, or whose cost falls below the agreed reporting threshold) and routine maintenance itself, which is work within the budget and skills of ordinary maintenance staff.

The definition matters for what belongs in Table 1. A warranty transfer fee, a recommended survey or a permit search is not a physical deficiency and does not get a cost line; it is a recommendation in the narrative. For each material deficiency the report must give a suggested remedy and explain its significance in plain terms. See cost categories.

Related: immediate costs, short-term costs, reporting threshold.