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Buying a commercial building is an excellent investment to make. While you may have gone through all the right steps, from verifying the building is going for a good price to arranging your financing, you also need to have the building inspected. This ensures it is in good condition and there are no hazardous materials that could cost you a lot of time and money to remove later on. These are some of the most important areas of a building to be inspected before you buy it.

Roofing System

The first area of a commercial building you should have inspected before buying it is the roof. This part of the building can have a lot of issues that aren't obvious right away. From the street, it might look perfectly fine, then an inspector finds hidden leaks, low quality asphalt, and roof underlayment in dire need of replacing. Since roofing repairs can be expensive, it is definitely worth paying for a building inspection before you sign on the dotted line.

HVAC, Plumbing, and Electrical Systems

Some parts of a building are almost impossible to determine the quality on your own. While you can turn on the lights just fine, that doesn't mean the building's electrical system is good quality. What would happen if you started plugging in a lot of electrical appliances and hooking up computer equipment for a server room? It might be an entirely different story. Make sure the electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems are all inspected thoroughly beforehand.

Presence of Hazardous Materials

You also want to have the commercial building inspected to look for traces of hazardous materials. Quite a few hazards could exist in a building without you ever knowing until someone occupying one of the offices became ill. Among them are asbestos if it is an older building, lead paint, and mould. These can all make your tenants very ill. You also want to look for traces of pests, particularly termites because they can do severe structural damage.

Basic Building Structure

Have an inspection done for the building structure itself as well. This includes making sure all the floors are level, that the building can handle heavy furniture, and that everything from the floorboards to the walls between offices are strong and ready for tenants to move in. You also want to check additional areas like an attic, basement or laundry room if any of these are present.