Adaptive reuse lives or dies on early structural information. The most expensive mistake is deciding a building can’t carry a new program before anyone has actually investigated what it can do. Existing structures routinely hold more reserve capacity than their original drawings credit: the original engineers were conservative, codes change, and materials often exceed their rated values. A rapid structural assessment before you close can answer the key question in days. Not whether the building has problems, but which ones matter and what they actually cost.