Waking up to necessity

"Not long ago I was approached by a couple interested in purchasing a ground-floor duplex in a nice, two-story building on a hillside in Jerusalem's Pisgat Zeev suburb," recalls building engineer Yigal Bergman. "I did a preliminary inspection of the building and found various cosmetic cover-ups that hid the settling of the structure and cracks. A closer look revealed that the whole building suffered from the sinking of a corner foundation post, and was listing to one side. Repairing such damage is almost impossible, and the couple purchased an alternative property."