Readily Accessible and Easily Visible

Two defined terms bound what a PCA observes. Readily accessible areas are those the owner has made available for observation and that can be reached without removing or moving materials, entering confined or unsafe spaces, or using ladders and equipment beyond the ordinary; easily visible conditions are those that can be seen from those areas without dismantling, probing or testing. Everything else is concealed, and the report says so.

The terms are why a PCR routinely states that footings, wall cavities, piping in chases and the underside of a membrane were not observed. That is not a gap in the work; it is the scope, and the limiting-conditions section records it. A suite whose tenant declined access is not readily accessible, and the report lists it as an area not surveyed.

Related: walk-through survey, limiting conditions.