Scoping a PCA Engagement: The Proposal Items E2018-24 Expects You to Settle First

The 2024 edition of E2018 asks the user to state the objectives of the assessment and the evaluation period before the work starts. In practice that is the consultant's job to draw out, and the proposal is where it happens. A proposal that settles the items below produces a report whose deviations list has no surprises.

Standard and edition

Cite ASTM E2018-24 by name. If the lender wants an agency format, name the form and its edition too, and price the difference. See what changed in E2018-24.

The user and the purpose

Who the report is for and their position in the transaction (prospective purchaser, lender, owner), and the purpose (acquisition due diligence, financing, capital planning). These appear in the executive summary and govern reliance.

Evaluation period and inflation

The reserve table's horizon: ten years is common for buyers and banks, twelve for securitised loans, the loan term plus two years for agency lenders. State the inflation rate (3 percent is the agency convention) and that costs are in current dollars inflated from the report year.

Reporting threshold

E2018's default is $3,000; some users want a different figure. State it, and state that life-safety and code items are reported regardless.

Additional considerations

Which out-of-scope subjects the user wants included by agreement: the abbreviated accessibility screening, moisture observations, flood zone and seismic notes, anything else. Each is a deviation and a scope item with time attached.

Access and site-visit assumptions

One visit; an escort with keys; roof access; tenant suites available or a sampling plan; equipment operating; drawings on site. State what happens when access is refused (the area goes in limiting conditions; a return visit is priced separately).

Documents

Attach the document request list and the pre-survey questionnaire to the engagement letter, with a date by which the user's point of contact returns them. See the document request list.

Deliverable and reliance

The PDF report with photographs; the number of reliance letters included; the fee for additional relying parties; the shelf-life caveat.

Turnaround

Site visit within a stated number of days of authorisation and access; draft to the user within a stated number of business days after the visit and receipt of documents; one round of user comments included.

Exclusions

Reproduce the guide's out-of-scope list in your own words so the user is not surprised that no calculations, testing, code-compliance determinations or environmental work are included.

Fee

Fixed fee for the scope above; unit prices for the variables (additional buildings, return visits, reliance letters, rush).

Baseline PCR's job intake carries the scope items the report needs (user, purpose, evaluation period, inflation, threshold, additional considerations, areas not accessed) so the draft's deviations list and methodology match the proposal. The sample report shows them in place.