Mechanical, electrical and public-health services can account for a large share of a modern building's cost — yet defects in them are often the last to surface and the hardest to value.
Unlike a cracked finish, an MEP defect rarely announces itself. Undersized plant, poor commissioning, incomplete records, or systems that were never properly balanced can sit unnoticed until performance falls short or running costs climb. By then the question is not only "what is wrong?" but "what will it genuinely cost to put right, and who carries that cost under the contract?" Answering it well means separating defective work from design shortcomings, from wear and tear, and from a client's changed expectations — each of which points to a very different outcome.
A disciplined quantum assessment looks past the headline repair figure to the commissioning evidence, the specification, and the contemporaneous records. In building services, the real cost is usually the one you cannot see from the floor.
