Earlier this year the sub-committee presented proposed changes to the PCA Guide at the ASTM National Conference, held in October 2015 in Tampa, Florida. ASTM used this conference to accept the recommended changes to the ASTM Property Condition Assessment Guide and now offers a new, revised guide E2018-15 for the due-diligence community to reference.
What changes have been made to the ASTM E2018 guide?
Most of the changes included non-technical changes in grammar punctuation and internal document coordination. However, several significant changes were made such as:
What changes have been made to the ASTM E2018 guide?
Most of the changes included non-technical changes in grammar punctuation and internal document coordination. However, several significant changes were made such as:
- Opinion of Probable Cost defined - This phrase has been condensed to remove the term "probable" throughout the guide. The phrase Opinion of Costs is the new definition of estimated costs, emphasizing the term "Opinion."
- Definitions of Physical Condition added - Definitions of good, fair, and poor have been added to the guide.
- Out of Scope Considerations re-organized - Limitations and exclusions have been removed from the general discussion in the guide and consolidated in a final section of the guide 11. Out of Scope Considerations. The overall summary of out of scope items does not appear to have changed.
- Utilities Section redefined - The requirement to summarize the utility providers has been removed and replaced with Special Utilities. The utility section of the PCA excludes local utility services and requires that "Special Utility Systems" such as water or waste water treatment systems on-site and special power generating systems. Observations and reporting should include system type, manufacturer, capacity, operator, etc.
- ADA accessibility expanded and reorganized - Discussion of three tiers of assessment have been removed and replaced with discussion of a checklist as the standard of care for Property Condition Assessments. The checklist has been expanded to include a limited Fair Housing checklist for multi-family housing. The checklist for both ADA and Fair Housing continues to be limited to a screening of accessibility concerns. No measurements will be required to complete the checklist. The overall outcome? Expanded evaluation of accessibility issues at multi-family properties and expected increases in number and cost of noted deficiencies.
- Termites and Pests observations redefined - The new guide excludes "reporting on the presence or absence of pests such as wood damaging organisms, rodents, or insects. The previous guide required that the assessor comment on readily apparent evidence of these pests.
- Guidance to Enhanced Due Diligence Services reorganized - Discussion of enhanced due diligence services has been consolidated in Appendix X1 of the guide. Discussion of enhanced services throughout the guide has been removed to consolidate discussion in Appendix X1.
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