How can I know if a building is well constructed?
Answer:
The answer somewhat depends on whether this building is recent construction, or it is an older structure.
If this is a home, hire an indepentent home inspector to review the building. Verify that appropriate permits were obtained during construction and that the municipal inspections were performed.
Proof of permits and municipal inspections may be difficult to obtain if this is an older building.
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Check the building blueprints, or create a small-scale model of the building and test.
Hire a building inspector to check it out.
Let your fingers do the walking thru the yellow pages of your phone book.
If you're talking about a public building, or a corporate building, etc., you can pretty much trust that it's well-constructed. Most of these types of buildings were designed by an engineering firm, a quality building contractor was hired to build based on the design, and a resident engineer(s) follows up on the whole construction process and does a final inspection to make sure everything was done properly.
If you're talking about a house or private building, then it depends who built it and if any corners were cut in the process. Most building contractors work hard and are good at what they do. However, there are people out there I'm sure that cut corners in order to finish jobs quicker and to earn more money quicker. It would be hard to accurately determine if a private building was well-constructed without having an experienced engineer or construction contractor do a building inspection. It might be more obvious though if there are issues with the building like bad plumbing, faulty wiring, etc.
Thinking about some of the other answers so far, keep in mind that just looking at blueprints and design drawings and making sure permits were obtained is not necessarily going to tell you if the building was well-constructed, because building contractors must also follow the design accurately and abide by the permits in order to produce a sound building.
Best wishes!
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