Between-cycle building checks: a condo defect record that works

Between BCA's structural and facade inspections, most of the useful work is unglamorous: a short, repeatable look at a handful of signs, written down with a date and a location. BCA's own pages fix the two mandatory checkpoints — non-residential buildings every five years, residential every ten, and facade inspections every seven years for buildings over 20 years old. Everything else is the years in between. ^{[1] [2]}

This is an optional editorial routine, not a BCA requirement, and it is not an inspection report. What it does is give an owner or manager something concrete to hand over: a record that says what was seen, where, when, and whether it has changed. That is exactly the shift BCA described in its March 2025 reply on managing agents, where flagging visible deterioration during routine maintenance checks feeds into an engineer's assessment. ^[3]

The two checkpoints, and who holds the years between

BCA's Periodic Structural Inspection page sets the frequency at once every five years for non-residential buildings and once every ten years for residential buildings, excluding detached, semi-detached, terraced and linked houses used exclusively for residence, and temporary buildings. On the same page, four owner duties: appoint a Structural Engineer within the stipulated timeframe on receiving a PSI Notice, provide site access, ensure the SE submits the report to BCA on time, and implement recommended rectifications within the given timeframe. For strata-titled developments, the Management Corporation assumes the role of building owner. ^[1]

The facade side works the same way. BCA's PFI page, effective since January 2022, requires buildings over 20 years old to be inspected every seven years, and puts the owner's first duty on receiving a notice: appoint a Competent Person. Defects the CP detects must be repaired promptly. BCA's October 2021 media release supplies the detail that page summarises — the height threshold of more than 13 metres, the exemption for landed houses and temporary buildings, and the requirement that proposed rectification works be carried out within a period BCA specifies. ^{[2] [4]}

What to look at, and the five fields to write down

Fix a date each month and walk the same route: carpark ceiling and walls, stairwells, corridors, the void perimeter, downpipes and the base of external walls. CNA's reporting on how Singapore's inspectors track defects sets out the contrast worth watching for. Plaster cracks and water seepage are common and minor; corrosion and spalling concrete are more serious. On facades, hairline cracks and peeling paint are minor, while spalling concrete and loose cladding panels need repair. ^[5]

For each item, record five fields: date, exact location, what you saw, its size or count, and a photograph taken from the same angle as last month. A hypothetical example: a hairline crack on the stairwell wall at level 3, first seen 14 August, recorded as roughly 200mm at last month's check, with two photographs and a note that the same corner of the wall is damp after rain. That is enough for someone else to compare against the previous month. A record without measurements or photographs is an opinion; with them, it is a baseline. ^{[1] [6] [7]}

When a log entry becomes a call

Escalate on three triggers, and only these three: the item is new, it is measurably larger than last month, or it could shed. Anything at a third party's reach should go to whoever handles routine maintenance checks, so the MCST or owner can engage a Structural Engineer for structural signs or a Competent Person for facade signs. BCA's facade rules show how the professional end works: the CP must personally review all inspection outputs including photographs, images, readings and reports, and must immediately notify the Commissioner of Building Control on identifying unsafe facade defects. ^[2]

One clock is worth knowing by heart. If an exterior feature has actually fallen, BCA's PFI page directs the party to call its Safety Incident Hotline within six hours of first becoming aware, or reasonably suspecting, that a safety incident has arisen, then submit the incident report within 24 hours through the Reportable Matters Regulation 2025 fallen exterior features form. Two boundaries keep this routine honest: it says nothing about who must pay for a repair, and it does not change the rules on alteration. BCA's owner guidance notes that structural elements such as slabs, beams, columns and walls cannot be altered without assessment by a Professional Engineer and approval from the Commissioner, and that an owner is responsible for a unit's upkeep once the Defects Liability Period has passed. ^{[2] [6]}

What a run between-cycle year looks like

There is a professional-operator version of this, and BUTLER Magazine is published by BUTLER, so we disclose that plainly. BUTLER Property Management's public site lists a property care discipline covering condition inspections, preventive schedules, repair oversight and project coordination, alongside a residence administration discipline that maintains service records, manages approvals, reports expenditure and consolidates approved costs into one invoice. The discipline is the point: a named schedule, a record that is kept, and a person who closes the loop. ^{[8] [9]}

Its documented scope matters for honesty. That site describes landed homes, Good Class Bungalows, private landed residences and secondary and investment residences, and a service running since 2016 for ultra-high-net-worth and high-net-worth individuals and families. BUTLER's group site lists BUTLER IPMS, an integrated property management solution for condos and buildings, as 'Coming Soon'. So this is a model of how a between-cycle routine is run, not an MCST or managing-agent service — for a strata estate, the routine sits with your council, your managing agent and your engineer. ^{[9] [10] [3]}

The decision to make this month

The two inspection cycles are fixed and publicly documented, so they are a deadline rather than a starting point. Your job in the years between is narrow enough to do: pick a date each month, look for stains, peeled paint, cracks and loose exterior elements along the same route, and record each observation with its date, location, size or count and a photograph. ^{[7] [5]}

Then escalate the moment an item is new, growing or could shed, rather than waiting to see whether it settles. That dated record is what turns an observation into something your MCST, a Structural Engineer or a facade Competent Person can act on — and it means the next notice or quarterly council discussion is a paperwork exercise rather than a scramble. BCA's group director for building resilience, Thanabal Kaliannan, put the logic plainly to CNA: proactive inspections mean defects are identified and rectified before they deteriorate to a more severe state, which bears fruit in maintenance and life cycle costs over the long run. ^[5]

Disclosure: BUTLER Magazine is part of the BUTLER group. This article covers a BUTLER business or service.

Sources

1. Periodic Structural Inspection (PSI) | Building and Construction Authority
2. Periodic Facade Inspection (PFI)
3. Reply to 'Train managing agents in building inspections to flag defects which may endanger people' | Building and Construction Authority
4. New Regulations for Periodic Inspection of Building Façades to start from 1 January 2022 | Building and Construction Authority
5. From cracks to corrosion: How inspectors track down defects in Singapore's buildings – CNA
6. What to know as a condo owner | Building and Construction Authority
7. Strata Management Guides | Building and Construction Authority
8. Private Residence Management Services Singapore | BUTLER® Property Management
9. BUTLER® Property Management | Total Management for Exceptional Homes
10. BUTLER – Singapore's Finest Asset, Property, And Lifestyle Management Group

BUTLER Magazine Editorial · AI-assisted research and writing, reviewed by our automated editorial team. Sources checked 2026-10-06. Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration.