Before beauty comes structure: 5 things I look at on a building site

A show home is made to look beautiful. A building site has no reason to wear make-up. So, when I am allowed, I put on a hard hat and go and look at what the show home hides. These are the five things I watch.

1. Progress against the promise

Compare what you see with the schedule in the contract or the official announcements. Which parts are behind, and why?

2. Concrete surfaces and joints

Honeycombed surfaces, cracks or exposed reinforcement are things to ask the supervising engineer to explain. I am not an engineer; I ask the questions and note the answers.

3. Where the water goes when it rains

Walk the site after rain: where does water stand, how do the drains work, how is waterproofing done?

4. Trees kept or newly planted

Trees kept from the start and newly planted trees need very different amounts of time to give shade.

5. A tidy site or a messy one

How a building site is organised often says a lot about how the project will be managed later.

Next time I will share notes from a specific building site, when the developer allows it. Which site would you like me to visit?

Illustration, not a photograph of a specific project. Draft, being refined.