ORLANDO, Fla. — As investigators work to uncover exactly what led up to the condominium building collapse in Surfside, many engineers are looking forward to how it could impact buildings across Florida.

Even though the foundation of Joel Figueroa-Vallines' work is as president of the SEP engineering firm in Orlando, he builds his expertise by traveling to communities affected by structural disaster. Right now, that is Surfside.

 “Experts in the field that not only have structural expertise but also forensic expertise are limited, so I wanted to come down here and try to assist as much as possible," Figueroa-Vallines said.

He said he is finding insight among the debris, and he will take that back to try to help prevent a similar catastrophe from happening closer to home, in Central Florida.

“I would presume there would be discussions about the timeline of these inspections and how often they should occur, especially in regions that may be more severe in the state than others," he said.

The structures that should be looked at are ones like Champlain Towers South in Surfside, coastal condominiums, Figueroa-Vallines said.

The problem is, once the units are sold, the condition of the building is financially up to the owners.

 “The point here is that if you have many unit owners financially responsible for the maintenance of such a building, not all of them may agree that maintenance is required," Figueroa-Vallines said.

That is why, he said, he hopes the investigation in Surfside can open up a conversation about the post-construction inspection process.

“Buildings are no different from human beings," he said. "If we don’t take care of ourselves, we don’t age very well.”

Officials in Surfside say there has been a lot of support over the past several days, and that cash donations are the best way to continue to provide support. One website set up for that, supportsurfside.org,  already has raised almost $2 million.​