This is a multi-school, leveled skill.
Levels
The skill is used when a compound has decayed to 0% and the buildings within it have deteriorated, possibly to the point of being unusable. An explosive mishap may damage buildings as well - anything from just the chemistry lab on up to every building in 50 coords. You may "Attempt to repair this X" (on the building's utility menu) every 60 seconds. If you succeed, the building's condition will improve and you may try again immediately.
A couple of things I've noticed and a question:
1) Upon success, the repair isn't always enough to raise it by a full level.
2) Upon success, it's infrequent, but I sometimes get the timer before being able to try again. I always seem to get the timer upon failing.
Q: Can anyone confirm that an avatar can repair a building after seeing the fail message without purchasing more levels of the skill? I would like to know if seeing the fail message means that the avatar will never be able to repair it with that level of Structure Repair.
~Calixes
Yes a avatar can repair the same building after failing confirmed ( i did repair another building before it succeeded on the failed one) on my avatar while repairing Primoz things with no extra skill lvl paid for
And i have not seen no timer as of yet when i succeed only when i fail
~Zaniac
Speculation is that this skill is like Tale1's Mechanics skill - every skill level allows you to fix one 'bit' on a building (specific to a character, so you might be trying to fix the same bit as someone else if it doesn't work).
Buildings list a descriptive condition that tells how badly it has decayed. Conditions so far found from worst to best are: