Milestone Inspections help detect problems early before they become a major – potentially life threatening – safety issue. The law encourages a proactive approach to building maintenance, saving costs in the long run.
The state-mandated Milestone Inspection is a structural inspection of a building by a Florida-licensed architect or engineer for the purposes of:
- Inspecting for high-level structural integrity beyond visible disturbances like cracks, leakage, water damage, distress, corrosion, and sagging. Hillman Engineering will inspect surface imperfections more closely and document them in the final report if the imperfections indicate more intensive structural deterioration.
- Determining the general structural condition of your building as it affects the safety of the building, including a determination of any necessary maintenance, repair, or replacement of any structural component of the building.
- Ultimately, establishing if your building is suitable for human occupancy and whether the structural (and in some counties, electrical) components require maintenance, repair, or replacement.
In Florida, condominiums having three or more floors must undergo a milestone inspection when they reach 25 or 30 years of age, depending on their location:
- Buildings that are 25 years old or older (based on the date the certificate of occupancy was issued), are 3 stories or taller, and located within 3 miles of the coastline, must complete your building’s inspection by December 31, 2024, and every 10 years thereafter.
- Buildings that are 30 years old or older (based on the date the certificate of occupancy was issued), are 3 stories or taller, and located more than 3 miles from the coastline, you must complete your inspection by December 31 of the year in which the building reaches 30-years of age, and every 10 years thereafter.
Please have the following available at the time of your Inspection:
- Certificate of Occupancy
- Construction Plans and Specifications
- County or State Notifications
- Warnings or Violations
- Pictures and/or narratives of any existing issues
- General access to the property
Hillman Engineering has extensive experience in Milestone Inspections and will walk you through the process so you can fully understand the study requirements, what you’ll need, and put your mind at ease.
OUR MISSION
We live, eat & breathe engineering and construction in all its forms. Keeping construction going strong in South Florida is day-to-day mission.
RESULTS
We know that you’re reputation is only as good as the results of your last job. That’s why we pride ourselves on a results-oriented approach.
METHODOLOGY
At Hillman Engineering, Inc., we’ve taken our collective experience to create our own methodology to keep your project on track and under budget.
3 PHASES TO COVER ALL YOUR NEEDS
Initial Inspection
Hillman Engineering will conduct the inspection as per the guidelines and provide a written engineering report on our findings. This report will identify all deficient items that need to be corrected to pass the inspection. These inspections will include interior inspection of the of the units of the building. The firm will visually examine all of the Electrical Elements of your buildings and prepare the Electrical portion(s) of the 40-year Re-certification report with our findings. The structural inspections cover all the structural components of your building including beams, columns and decks of parking garages, plaza decks, pools, balconies catwalks, and roofing assemblies.
Design
Hillman Engineering will prepare a complete set of construction documents including plans and specifications with a cost estimate and bid tabulations. In addition the firm will prepare the bid documents to obtain bids from qualified contractors for the necessary work to bring the building(s) into compliance for the 40-year recertification. The firm will assist the Board of Directors in acquiring & evaluating competitive bids for the necessary repairs.
Construction Management
Hillman Engineering will be the Engineer of Record for the project(s) and provide the Building Department required daily ongoing observations during the reconstruction to assure quality work and adherence to the plans, specifications and code requirements. We will conduct weekly meetings with the contractor and the building's representative to update construction schedules and budgetary issues.