Building Condition Assessment Report Template: The ASTM E2018 Outline with Example Wording

A building condition assessment (BCA), sometimes called a building condition survey, is a report on the physical condition of a building and what it will cost to keep it working. When a buyer, an owner or a lender in the United States orders one for a commercial or multifamily property, the report they usually expect is a property condition report written to ASTM E2018-24. This page is a template for that report, section by section, with example wording you can adapt.

Two cautions before you copy it. First, E2018 prescribes what the report must contain, not its format, so the numbering below is the industry's convention, not the guide's. Second, a template supplies structure, not conclusions. Every rating, remaining-life opinion, cost and recommendation is the professional judgment of the reviewer who signs the report, and no template, spreadsheet or software substitutes for it.

First, which template do you need?

"Condition assessment" covers several documents with different readers and rules. Pick the right one before you start.

Report	Who orders it	Governing document	What the deliverable looks like
Building or property condition assessment (this page)	Buyers, owners, banks and other private lenders	ASTM E2018-24	A report: narrative by system, Table 1 (immediate and short-term costs), Table 2 (long-term costs) when requested
Facility condition assessment (FCA)	Owners of portfolios: school districts, hospitals, agencies, corporate facilities	No single standard; institutional guidance and the vendor's method, often classified by UNIFORMAT	A component inventory and cost forecast, usually a spreadsheet or asset database, summarized by a facility condition index
HUD capital needs assessment (PCNA)	Lenders on FHA-insured multifamily and healthcare loans	HUD's MAP Guide appendix on capital needs assessments	Entries in HUD's CNA e-Tool plus a narrative, with a schedule commonly twenty years long
Fannie Mae multifamily PCA	Fannie Mae DUS lenders	Form 4099 instructions and exhibits, on top of E2018	Seven fixed sections, two agency schedules, and an Excel data supplement
Commercial building inspection	Buyers and tenants, often paying cash	CCPIA ComSOP or the inspector's own standard	Findings and recommendations by system, without the cost tables

The differences are covered in PCA vs facility condition assessment, PCA vs HUD capital needs assessment and ASTM vs Fannie Mae 4099 vs HUD PCNA. If you are looking for the field side rather than the report, use the commercial building inspection checklist.

The template at a glance

The section order below is the one the published reports of three national firms follow (cited at the end of this page), and it carries every element E2018-24's report section requires.

• Cover, transmittal letter and table of contents
• 1. Executive summary
• 2. Purpose and scope
• 3. System descriptions and observations
• 4. Additional considerations
• 5. Document review and interviews
• 6. Opinions of cost (Table 1 and Table 2)
• 7. Out-of-scope considerations
• 8. Qualifications
• 9. Limiting conditions and reliance
• 10. Exhibits

Cover, transmittal letter and table of contents

Include: property name and address; the client (the "user" in E2018's terms); the consulting firm; the site-visit date and the report date; a project number; the field observer and the PCR reviewer by name; the standard and edition.

Example: Property Condition Report, [property name], [street address, city, state]. Prepared for [user] by [firm], project [number]. Site visit [date]; report date [date]. Prepared in general accordance with ASTM E2018-24. Field observer: [name]. PCR reviewer: [name, credentials].

Print both dates. A PCR describes conditions on the day of the visit, and readers need to know how old that day is.

1. Executive summary

The most-read section, and the one the guide specifies most precisely. Keep it in this order.

1.1 General description. Use, size, age, location, construction type and occupancy; who the consultant and the user are; the user's position in the transaction; the purpose; the site-visit date.

Example: [Property name] is a [two-story office building] of approximately [24,300] square feet, constructed in [year] on a [2.1]-acre site, with [wood-framed walls on a slab-on-grade foundation]. It was [92 percent] occupied at the time of the site visit on [date], as reported by [the property manager]. [Firm] performed this assessment for [user], the [prospective purchaser], for acquisition due diligence.

1.2 Findings and opinions. Overall condition, the apparent level of preventive maintenance, capital work pending, in progress or recently completed, and a summary of the material physical deficiencies with their remedies and costs. Most firms add a systems summary table:

System	Condition	Action	Immediate	Short-term	Long-term ([10]-year period)
Site	[Fair]	[Short-term repair]	[$]	[$]	[$]
Structural frame	[Good]	[Routine maintenance only]
Roofing and building envelope
Plumbing
Heating
Air conditioning and ventilation
Electrical
Vertical transportation	[Not applicable]
Life safety and fire protection
Interior elements
Totals			[$]	[$]	[$]

The action column follows the costs: a system with an immediate cost is coded immediate whatever its rating. See condition ratings for keeping the two consistent.

Example: Overall, the property appears to be in fair condition with an average level of preventive maintenance. The most significant findings are [open seams and ponding on the main roof] and [a fire alarm panel showing a trouble signal]. The point of contact reported that [parking lot resurfacing is budgeted for next year]; no proposal was provided.

1.3 Deviations from the guide. Every place the scope was extended or narrowed. Leaving this out is the most common way an otherwise sound report fails to conform.

Example: At the user's request, this assessment departs from the baseline scope of ASTM E2018-24 as follows: long-term costs are presented in Table 2 over a [10]-year evaluation period; an abbreviated accessibility screening is included as an additional consideration; [the reporting threshold was raised to $5,000 at the user's request (list this only if the threshold was changed)].

1.4 Consultant disclosure. Where the field observer and the consultant differ, for example an observer subcontracted for the site visit, disclose the relationship.

1.5 Recommendations for further study. Specialist evaluations the observations call for, each with the reason.

Example: Evaluation by a structural engineer of [the diagonal cracking at the northeast stair] is recommended to determine its cause and whether repair is needed.

2. Purpose and scope

Include: why the assessment was commissioned and the user's position; what was surveyed and how; representative observations of repetitive items and their extent; what was excluded; the condition-term definitions; and the cost methodology.

Example (condition terms): Good: in working condition and not expected to need immediate or short-term repairs costing more than the reporting threshold. Fair: in working condition, but may need immediate or short-term repairs above the threshold. Poor: not in working condition, or needing immediate or short-term repairs substantially above the threshold. These are paraphrases; write your own definitions from the guide.

Example (cost methodology): Opinions of cost below $3,000 are omitted and treated as routine maintenance, except life-safety and code items, which are reported regardless of cost, and groups of more than four similar items that together exceed $10,000. Costs are order-of-magnitude construction costs and exclude design, permitting, construction management and general conditions. Quantities are approximate. Unit costs are from [the consultant's cost files, updated 2026]. Expected useful lives are from [the HUD CNA e-Tool estimated useful life table]. Remaining useful life is the field observer's opinion. Long-term costs are inflated at [3] percent per year from the report year.

Name the unit-cost source honestly; E2018-24 lists six acceptable bases, and some commercial cost databases restrict use for this work. See unit-cost sources.

3. System descriptions and observations

One subsection per system, in the guide's walk-through order: site; structural frame; roofing and building envelope; plumbing; heating; air conditioning and ventilation; electrical; vertical transportation; life safety and fire protection; interior elements. Many firms split roofing from the envelope; either is fine as long as both are covered.

Use the same six parts in every subsection:

• Description: what the system consists of, with approximate quantities.
• Age and its basis: installed year and where it came from (observed nameplate, reported by the point of contact, or a document).
• Condition: the rating, using the definitions in section 2.
• Observations: what was seen, heard or smelled, and why each material deficiency matters in plain terms.
• Not observed: what was concealed, shut down or inaccessible, and why.
• Recommendations: the remedy for each deficiency, pointing to its line in Table 1 or Table 2.

Example (roofing): The main roof is a [fully adhered EPDM membrane] of approximately [24,700] square feet over [polyisocyanurate insulation on a metal deck], drained by [four interior drains]. The point of contact reported that the roof was installed in [year]; no warranty was provided. Condition: [fair]. Ponding was observed around [two of the four drains], and an open seam was observed at [the curb of RTU-3], with water staining on the ceiling tile directly below in [suite 210]. Continued water entry at the seam can damage the insulation and deck beneath it. Repair of the open seam is recommended as an immediate item (Table 1, item [3]); replacement of the membrane is carried in Table 2 in [year].

Three habits make this section hold up. Attribute every statement: observed, reported (by whom) or documented (in what). Explain significance; the guide's own example is that naming aluminum branch wiring without saying why it matters is not enough. And record what you could not see, because the limiting conditions depend on it. The system-by-system guides, such as the roofing section guide and the HVAC section guide, cover what each subsection should carry.

4. Additional considerations

Anything beyond the baseline that the user asked for, kept apart so a reader can see it is outside E2018's standard scope: the abbreviated accessibility screening (Appendix X2), the Fair Housing Act screening for multifamily (Appendix X3), moisture observations, flood zone and seismic notes. Each one is also listed as a deviation in 1.3, and any costs are shown separately from the baseline tables.

Example: An abbreviated accessibility screening was performed in accordance with Appendix X2 of ASTM E2018-24. It is a screening of readily observable items and not a determination of compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act or any other accessibility requirement. [Observations.] A full survey by an accessibility specialist is recommended if the user requires a compliance determination.

See the abbreviated accessibility screening.

5. Document review and interviews

Include: a table of the documents requested, whether each was provided, and the material information it contained; the documents requested and not provided; and the substance of the interview.

Document	Requested	Provided	Material information
Certificate of occupancy	Yes	[No]	Not provided
Roof warranty	Yes	[No]	Not provided
Fire alarm inspection report	Yes	[Yes, dated]	[Two deficiencies listed; see 3.x]
Prior property condition report	Yes	[No]	Not provided
Capital expenditure history	Yes	[Partial]	[Paving sealed in year]

Example: [Name], [title] of [management company], was interviewed on site on [date] and completed the pre-survey questionnaire. [Name] reported [the information, attributed].

The "not provided" rows are the cheapest lines in the report and among the most protective. See the document request list.

6. Opinions of cost

Two tables, kept separate as the guide requires. The format is the firm's; the content is not.

Table 1, immediate and short-term costs. Immediate items meet one of E2018-24's three tests: an imminent life-safety issue; a condition that would cause a system to fail or significantly escalate the cost of the remedy if left uncorrected; or a recorded or reported building or fire code violation. Short-term items are deficiencies to be addressed on a priority basis. Keep the two segregated.

No.	Item and location	System	Category	Basis	Qty	Unit	Unit cost	Cost	Source
[1]	[Repair open seam at RTU-3 curb]	[Roofing]	[Immediate]	[Escalation if uncorrected]	[1]	[LS]	[$]	[$]	[Cost files, 2026]
[2]	[Replace failed sealant at expansion joints]	[Envelope]	[Short-term]	[Priority repair]	[ ]	[LF]	[$]	[$]	[ ]
	Totals							Immediate [$]; short-term [$]

Where a quantity was not measured, print "engineer to provide" with the reason rather than a guessed figure.

Table 2, long-term costs (the replacement reserve). Components expected to reach the end of their useful life within the evaluation period. It belongs to Appendix X1, so it appears only when the user asks for it and is listed as a deviation.

Component	Qty	Unit	Unit cost	EUL (source)	Effective age	RUL	Year due	Cost in year due	Source
[Low-slope membrane roof]	[ ]	[SF]	[$]	[yrs, table and row]	[yrs]	[yrs]	[year]	[$]	[ ]
Total, uninflated								[$]
Inflation factor and inflated total								[$]
Per square foot per year, uninflated								[$]

The arithmetic: effective age is EUL minus RUL (not the calendar age); year due is the report year plus RUL; cost is quantity times unit cost. RUL is an opinion, informed by condition and documented age. The reserve table guide and the cost categories guide cover the rules in full. Unit costs in any template are placeholders; the figures must come from a source you can name.

7. Out-of-scope considerations

State, in your own words, what a baseline assessment does not do: exploratory probing or destructive testing, calculations, measurements to verify owner-provided information, entering unsafe areas, opinions on equipment that was shut down, environmental sampling, and statements of warranty or code compliance. See out-of-scope considerations.

8. Qualifications

Name the field observer and the PCR reviewer and summarize their qualifications, or say where the statements of qualifications are kept. The reviewer is the professional of record: the person who reviews the draft against the evidence, takes responsibility for its opinions and signs it. Lenders and clients often require that reviewer to be a licensed engineer or architect; that is their requirement, not the guide's.

9. Limiting conditions and reliance

Include: areas not accessed and why; concealed construction; systems not operating; equipment not tested; documents not provided; weather and time of day; then who may rely on the report.

Example: The [roof over the east wing] was not observed because [no safe access was available on the day of the site visit]. Tenant suites [105 and 210] were not accessed at the tenants' request. Conditions in areas not observed may differ from those described.

Example (reliance): This report was prepared for the exclusive use of [user] and may be relied on by [user] and by any party named in a reliance letter issued by [firm], subject to the limitations stated here. Have your firm's counsel approve the final wording. See reliance letters.

10. Exhibits

Numbered, captioned photographs correlated to the text; site plans or sketches; the pre-survey questionnaire; material owner documents; the statements of qualifications. E2018 sets a minimum photograph list (elevations, site, roof, structure, plumbing, HVAC, electrical, conveyances, life safety, representative interiors and unusual conditions). See photograph requirements.

If you need an FCA template instead

A facility condition assessment template is usually a spreadsheet or asset database, not a narrative. Its columns run component by component: building, system (often by UNIFORMAT), component, quantity and unit, condition, installed year, expected and remaining life, deferred maintenance cost, replacement cost and the year each renewal falls due. The facility condition index divides deferred maintenance cost by current replacement value. The inventory has to be complete because it feeds a capital plan that is refreshed on a cycle. The sections above still apply to any narrative that accompanies it, but the spreadsheet is the product.

If you need a HUD capital needs assessment

For FHA-insured loans, the CNA e-Tool is where the assessment lives: components, conditions, useful lives and costs are entered into HUD's application, which checks them and produces the schedules HUD reviews, alongside the narrative. A Word template can organize your narrative, but it does not replace the e-Tool, and HUD's current MAP Guide and tool govern the format. See the HUD PCNA.

If the lender is Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae's Form 4099 replaces the free format with seven fixed sections, a 1 to 5 component rating, two agency schedules and an Excel data supplement. A plain E2018 template will not be accepted on a Fannie loan. See Fannie Mae Form 4099.

Where Baseline PCR fits

Baseline PCR drafts the E2018-24 report in the order above from your photographs, field notes and documents: every statement tagged as observed, reported, documented or not provided, the guide's section references at each heading, and Table 1 and Table 2 computed from your firm's own unit-cost library with each line's arithmetic and source shown. The reviewing engineer edits every rating, opinion and cost, and approves and signs the report; nothing is issued without that review. It does not produce FCA databases, HUD e-Tool files or the Fannie Mae format today. The sample report shows the complete template filled in for a 1985 office building.