Same Thing, Different Name

• Technical due diligence (Australia, also used in Britain) · building survey or building condition survey (Britain) · property condition assessment, often to ASTM E2018 (United States). Each assesses physical condition and likely capital needs before a transaction.
• Building consultant or building surveyor in the consultancy sense (Australia) · chartered building surveyor (Britain) · property condition assessor or consultant (United States). In Australia, a registered building surveyor is also the statutory role that issues building permits, which is a different job.
• Environmental site assessment, contamination report (Australia) · environmental report (Britain) · Phase I environmental site assessment, often to ASTM E1527 (United States).

Due Diligence Across Three Markets compares how these are scoped.

• Make good (Australia) · dilapidations, reinstatement and yielding up (Britain) · surrender condition or restoration obligations (United States). What a tenant must do to the premises at lease end.
• Outgoings (Australia) · service charge (Britain, multi-let) · common area maintenance, operating expenses and pass-throughs (United States).
• Gross and net leases (Australia) · full repairing and insuring lease (Britain) · gross, modified gross and triple-net leases (United States).

Who Pays reads what these structures mean for capital.

Some of the most expensive mistranslations are about area and cost, because a figure can be correct and still not mean what the reader assumes.

The habit that prevents most errors is the first one this paper names: ask what the number includes, and under which standard it was produced.

• Strata title, owners corporation or body corporate (Australia) · leasehold flats with a freeholder or residents’ management company, or commonhold (Britain) · condominium and homeowners association (United States).
• Sinking fund, capital works fund or maintenance fund (Australia) · reserve or sinking fund within the service charge (Britain) · reserve fund, with a reserve study to set it (United States).

First, ask what the number includes. A capital figure may or may not include design fees, contingency, preliminaries, tax and access costs, and the conventions differ by market. Second, ask what the area is. Net lettable area, net internal area and rentable square feet are measured differently and can differ by ten per cent or more for the same floor. Third, ask what the horizon is. A ten-year forecast, a twelve-year reserve table and a schedule of immediate works are not the same instrument, and only one of them is comparable with another building’s ten-year forecast.

Moyne Ross keeps these on the cost basis of every line: currency, measurement basis, inclusions and exclusions, base date. It is unglamorous, and it is what makes cross-border comparison honest.

• NABERS ratings and Commercial Building Disclosure (Australia) · Energy Performance Certificates and Display Energy Certificates (Britain) · ENERGY STAR scores and city benchmarking (United States).
• Net lettable area (Australia) · net internal area (Britain) · rentable and usable square feet, often to BOMA standards (United States). Floor area definitions differ, so capital per square metre or square foot is only comparable once the basis is aligned.
• Essential safety measures and annual fire safety statements (Australian states) · fire risk assessment under fire safety legislation (Britain) · fire inspections and code compliance under local adoption of model codes (United States).