FCI, FCA and condition survey: what each one is

A facility condition assessment is the survey: somebody walks the building and records what state everything is in. A facility condition index is the number that comes out of it. You cannot have a meaningful index without an assessment, and you can absolutely pay for an assessment and get no usable index, which happens constantly.

What an assessment produces

• •A list of systems and their condition, scored consistently
• •The defects found, with photographs
• •An estimated cost and a recommended year for each item
• •What could not be assessed, and why

What the index needs from it

Only two things: a total cost of outstanding work, and the replacement value of the building. If the survey came back with adjectives and no costs, you have paid for a report and cannot produce the number that would have funded the work.

Ask for costs in the scope, in writing

This is the single most useful line in a condition survey brief: every finding above a stated threshold carries an estimated cost and a recommended year, in a spreadsheet, with the scoring definitions attached. Say it before the survey, because it cannot be added afterwards without going back.

Who should do the survey

External surveyors bring consistency, comparability and independence, which matters when the number will be used to ask for money. Your own team brings context and costs nothing, and knows which findings are real. The usual good answer is external for the baseline and internal for the annual refresh.

Refresh on a cycle, not all at once

A fifth of the estate every year keeps the data current, spreads the cost, and means there is always a survey running to feed the forecast. A complete assessment every five years produces a number that is four years stale for most of its life.

Keep risk separate

Condition and risk are different questions. A fire door that does not close is a compliance problem this week, whatever the building’s FCI. Do not let condition scoring absorb life safety findings, because they move at different speeds and go to different people.