August, a Palm Jumeirah apartment at eight in the morning, humidity already sitting on everything. The lobby was finished, the unit smelled of fresh paint, and when I opened the distribution board there was nothing. No supply, no meter reading, nothing to switch on. The owner had flown in for two days specifically for this….
A February morning in District One, cool enough to work without sweating. One of our engineers had a phone propped against the kitchen island on a video call, and the owner was watching from a desk seven hours behind us. He asked us to hold the camera steady on a hairline crack above a bedroom…
A high floor two bedroom in a waterfront tower in Dubai Creek Harbour, August. Three weeks after handover, the owner had started noticing a fine grey line of dust along the sliding track every single morning, and a faint whistle when the wind came off the water at night. This is one of the calls…
A July morning in a Dubai Creek Harbour tower, already past 40 C by nine. The buyer had the handover notice open on his phone, and one line on it had stopped him cold: the snag list must be submitted within seven days of key collection. He read it out to me twice, then asked…
A September handover appointment in a Dubai Hills Estate community. A 45 minute slot, three other families waiting in the sales lounge, and a coordinator explaining politely that the inspector can come in after the acceptance form is signed, not before. The buyer messaged us at 9:41 that morning with one question. Is that allowed?…
A July call from the owner of a one bedroom on Bluewaters Island. A brown ring on the bedroom ceiling that grew overnight and shrank by the afternoon, then grew again the next night. The neighbour above had checked and insisted their floor was dry. The building technician had been up twice, looked at the…
A February morning in Dubai Creek Harbour, the day after an overnight storm. Two bedroom apartment, mid floor, and when the owner slid the balcony door open there was a sheet of water sitting across roughly two thirds of the balcony. This is one of the calls we get most often at Prime Inspections. The…
A July handover in a new tower. The unit had been sealed and empty since completion, and the owner opened the guest bathroom door, took half a step in, and came straight back out. This is one of the calls we get most often at Prime Inspections. The handover representative did what everyone does. He…
A five bedroom villa handover in a Dubai Hills Estate community. The owner had walked the whole ground floor without saying much, then stopped in a bedroom doorway and ran a fingernail along a hairline crack above the door head. Thin, dry, maybe a hand span long. “That is normal,” the handover representative said. “Every…
Last August we were standing in a Business Bay tower at about half past two in the afternoon. Outside, the ambient was sitting in the mid forties. Inside, the owner had walked every room and pushed every thermostat down to 16. The ceiling diffusers were moving air. The air was warm. The developer representative said…