Bobert. I find 1/4" per month works well, as a rule of thumb. Of course, each job is different, so, safety is the rule. Did you locate all the plumbing and electrical that might be affected by jacking?

As for the original post, like Giok says, there are many things which could cause a collapse, singualarly or in concert. Most often, it is human error, whether that be lack of knowledge, simple error, maintenance neglect, or other. I've seen people do some pretty stupid things in original construction and during renovation.

Giok mentioned subsidence. I just investigated a structural failure in a building that was caused by the exact opposite. We had a tremendous amount of rain this spring. A huge apartment building was built last year on the lot adjacent to the building which suffered the failure. The apartment building was downslope on about a 4:1 grade. The drainage of the heavier than normal rainfall was impeded by the apartment building. This caused a clay lense under approximately 1/4 of the failed building at one upslope corner to swell, providing the strain which caused the failure. I analysed boreholes adjacent to the failure and beyond the zone of influence of the apartment building... oops... sorry.... I'll just sum it up...

Without getting too detailed, here it is in a nutshell. The owner of the apartment building does not like me. Neither does his lawyer, or so he bullshits, er, says.

Ah, water. Life itself. If it wasn't for water, geotechnical engineers would die of thirst.