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Commercial · Commercial Lease HVAC InspectionCommercial HVAC Inspection for Leases & Turnovers
A commercial HVAC inspection for leases and turnovers tells you, before you sign, what the rooftop units over the space are likely to cost you during the term. Most net leases put HVAC repair on the tenant and some put replacement there too, so a unit past 15 years old or still charged with R-22 is a liability to price into the deal or push back to the landlord. We date each unit from its serial number, test it, and give you a written report with a remaining-life estimate and budget ranges.
Tenants order this inspection because the lease, not the equipment, decides who pays. Under a typical net lease the tenant maintains and repairs the heating and cooling serving the premises, and unless the document says otherwise, a failed compressor in year two lands on the tenant. The time to find a 19-year-old unit is before the offer to lease is firm, when a cap or a landlord replacement clause is still a negotiation and not a dispute. Our explainer on who is responsible for HVAC in a commercial lease covers the clauses; this visit supplies the facts that go into them.
The second visit comes at the other end of the term. Most leases require the premises to be handed back in good repair, and landlords increasingly ask for proof that the units were maintained and work on the day you leave. A turnover inspection gives you a dated record of each unit with photos and test readings, so the make-good conversation is about evidence instead of opinion. Landlords and buyers order the same report from the other side of the table when a unit turns over or a building changes hands.
Refrigerant type is the fastest single test of where a unit stands. Equipment built for R-22 left the Canadian market around 2010, so an R-22 unit on your roof is roughly 16 years old or more, and a leak on one usually ends in replacement because the refrigerant is phased out and what remains is reclaimed stock. Units on R-410A are the mid-life fleet. A nameplate reading R-454B or R-32 tells you the landlord replaced recently.
On gas-fired rooftop units the heat exchanger decides the heating side. We look for cracks and corrosion, run a combustion analysis and watch the flame when the blower starts, because a gas technician who finds a failed exchanger is required to shut the heat section off and tag it. On the cooling side we compare compressor amp draw to the rated load on the nameplate. A compressor pulling well over its rating is telling you how much time it has left.
The inspection is priced per unit and by roof access, and the price is confirmed in writing before the visit: a single-storey plaza bay with a roof hatch is a short morning, eight units and no fixed ladder is not. If the report points toward replacement, see what a commercial rooftop unit costs and the commercial HVAC overview for how that work runs. To book inside a conditional period, contact the shop with the address and your waiver date.
Equipment we install and service
Make, model and serial number photographed and decoded for the year of manufacture, tonnage compared with the floor area it serves, then compressor and fan motor amps, contactors, capacitors, coil condition and the temperature drop across the coil. Each unit gets its own page in the report.
Heat exchanger, burners, inducer motor, flame sensor, gas valve and venting, with combustion readings recorded. A cracked exchanger on a unit this size is rarely worth repairing, which makes it the most expensive single finding an inspection can turn up.
The damper, actuator and sensors that bring in outdoor air. They seize shut, which means no fresh air and no free cooling, or seize open, which means heating the parking lot all winter. Either way the tenant pays for it on the utility bill; the fix is covered under rooftop unit economizer repair.
Which thermostat runs which unit and which unit serves which bay, a question nobody can answer in a plaza that has been subdivided twice. We also check the curb and flashing for rust and water entry, the condensate drain, the gas line supports and the electrical disconnect.
What goes wrong in these buildings
- The landlord says the units were serviced regularly and cannot produce a single report.
- My lease says I repair and replace, and nobody told me the unit is older than my business.
- I have five days left on my conditional period and no idea what is on the roof.
- We are moving out and the landlord wants a new unit on our dime.
- Two units on the roof, three tenants in the building, and nobody knows which one is mine.
- The broker told me the HVAC is fine, and that is the entire disclosure.
How it works
Tell us your deadline, which bays you are taking and what the draft lease says about HVAC repair and replacement. We arrange roof access with the landlord or property manager and confirm the price in writing.
Each unit is run in both modes where the weather allows, with electrical, combustion and temperature readings taken. Anything that could not be tested is listed as untested in plain words, with the reason, so nobody reads silence as a pass.
Per unit: age, refrigerant, readings, photos and deficiencies ranked as unsafe, likely to fail during the term, or routine maintenance. It closes with a remaining-life estimate and a budget range for repair and for replacement, which is the number a cap or a landlord replacement clause gets built around.
Common questions
Can you inspect the air conditioning in winter?
Partly. A compressor should not be run for testing in cold weather, so in winter we check the cooling side electrically and visually: windings, contactor, capacitor, coil condition, signs of oil at the joints that point to a leak. The report says cooling was not run. Tenants signing in winter often ask for a clause making the landlord responsible if the cooling fails its first spring start-up.
How old is too old for a rooftop unit when I am signing a five-year lease?
Add the unit's age to your term. Packaged rooftop units that are maintained commonly last 15 to 20 years, so a 14-year-old unit on a five-year lease will probably need replacing while it is your responsibility. If age plus term passes 20, or the unit runs on R-22 at any age, negotiate replacement before you sign.
What is an HVAC cap, and how does the report help me get one?
A cap limits what the tenant pays for HVAC repairs in a year, or carves replacement out of the tenant's obligations altogether. Your lawyer drafts it. The report supplies what makes the request hard to refuse: the unit's age from the serial number, its measured condition, and a budget range for the work it is likely to need during your term.
Will the landlord let you on the roof?
Almost always, with notice. Property managers usually want a certificate of insurance and a sign-in, both of which we provide; ZK Mechanical is fully insured. The inspection is non-invasive: panels come off and go back on, nothing is cut, and the roof membrane is not touched. A landlord who refuses roof access before a lease is signed has told you something useful.
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