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Judgment & ambiguity · When to escalate

A property manager reports that a mid-rise's structural engineer, doing a routine reserve inspection, noted cracking in a parking-deck slab and used the word "monitor" but wouldn't commit to whether it's cosmetic or serious. Residents are asking. When does this become an escalation rather than a work order?

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"Monitor" from an engineer who won't rule out serious is not a work order — it's ambiguity about life safety, and in a concrete structure that's the one uncertainty I never sit on.

The full answer: structure, worked example, likely follow-up.

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