Managing Building Adaptation

A Sustainable Approach

Maintenance and Repair

A. Straub, Delft University of
Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

International Encyclopedia of Housing and Home, 2012,

Vol. 4, 186-194.

DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-047163-1.00523-3

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
Glossary • Service life - Period of time after installation
• Corrective maintenance - Any maintenance during which a building or its parts meets or
activity which is required to correct a failure exceeds the performance requirements.
that has occurred or is in the process of • Void repairs (void work) - Maintenance carried
occurring. out during tenancy turnover.
• Degradation - Changes over time in the
composition, microstructure, and properties of Introduction
a component of material which reduces its Houses are complex man-made artefacts and can only
performance. survive by means of regular reinvestments in
• Life cycle costs - The present value of the total maintenance and adaptation. Maintenance is required to
costs of a building over its operating life, maintain a building’s initial performance capacity.
including initial capital costs, occupation costs, Without maintenance, performance will not meet the
operating costs, and the cost or benefit deriving demand and eventually will drop below the limit of
from disposal of the building at the end of its acceptance of residents. In practice, both the demand
life. and the limit of acceptance will gradually rise over time
• Maintenance - Combination of all technical and as a result of improved technology, rising standards, and
associated administrative actions during the growing prosperity. Improvement and renewal are
service life to retain a building or its parts in a required to answer the accordingly rising expectations.
state in which it can perform its required As a result, the total life cycle costs will generally be a
functions. multiple of the initial building costs.
• Performance Qualitative - level of a critical Maintenance is a combination of all technical
property at any point of time. and associated administrative actions during the service
• Performance criterion - Minimum acceptable life to retain a building or its parts in a state in which it
level of a critical property. can perform its required functions. All building
• Planned maintenance - Maintenance components have during their service lives to contend
organised and carried out with forethought, with degradation and performance loss through ageing,
control, and the use of records to a use, and external causes. The quality of housing is
predetermined plan. guaranteed by executing the right maintenance
• Preventive maintenance - Maintenance carried activities at the right time, preferably ‘just-in time’. This
out at predetermined intervals or to other assumes professional skill and a forward planning of
prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the maintenance and repair.
likelihood of an item not meeting an acceptable Tenure is decisive for maintenance
condition. management of dwellings. There are essential
• Reactive maintenance - Maintenance differences between rented and owned property, as well
as between profit and nonprofit, and between single and
organised and carried out following tenants’
common ownership. Social and institutional landlords
complaints.
are (as a rule) organisations with skilled professionals
• Refurbishment - Modification and
and a systematic approach to maintenance but have
improvements to an existing building or its
limited control on usage and care of the dwellings by the
parts to bring it up to an acceptable condition.
inhabitants. Single owner-occupiers generally lack any
• Repair - Return of a building or its parts to an
proficiency, but have (in principal) full control on usage
acceptable condition by the renewal,
and care. Small landlords in the private rented sector
replacement, or mending of worn, damaged, or
and condominium owners take a middle position, with
degraded parts.
limited control on usage and care and often lacking
professional maintenance support.

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
Social and institutional landlords maintain and ageing existing stock draws growing attention. The
improve their stock in a regularly planned way. The construction market is facing the shift from new built to
outcome of maintaining the quality of dwellings might improvement and the delivering of maintenance services
be a ‘combination’ of residential (customer) satisfaction, during the service lives of houses.
liveability of the neighbourhood, ecological
sustainability, and preservation of the value of the built Maintenance and Improvement
assets. For homeowners, housing is an investment and Maintenance means the neutralisation of the
consumption good. From a maintenance and repair loss of performance of a building, to the extent that this
perspective, housing as a consumption good seems loss of performance is acceptable. Whether this loss of
much more important than as an investment good. performance is ‘acceptable’ or not depends, in turn, on
Owners are in general aware of the main disrepair the demands set by the owner and/or the user. Over a
problems; however, maintenance and repair is often period of time, the gap between the standards
neglected. A forward planning of maintenance and demanded by the owner and/or user and those provided
repair is almost nonexistent. There is lack of awareness by the building is likely to widen, as shown in Figure 1.
about the importance of maintenance and repair and However, the representation is a very simplified one as,
financial and organisational constraints to work away in reality, the relationship between the growth of
maintenance backlogs. Improving the functioning and residents’ requirements and the deterioration of the
comfort of a dwelling rather than needed technical performances of a building (dwelling) is usually
maintenance to maintain the initial performance nonlinear. Moreover, cleaning activities may slow down
capacity is a far greater motivation to carry out the deterioration in performance.
improvements. Acceptable performance loss and the
implementation of appropriate maintenance activities
Construction Activities depend on legal requirements, technical and functional
Construction activities for new buildings involve motives, environmental motives, and financial means.
replacementand additional building. On the contrary, Housing management organisations may apply different
technical (property) management relates to construction performance levels to different target groups (such as
activities for the existing building stock, that is, the the elderly or students) identified in the asset
distinctive activities of maintenance and improvement. management, assuming that the maintenance policy is
New construction in most Western countries related to their strategic asset management.
has faded down below an annual production of 1% of the
existing stock, and often well below. Parallel to this, the

User requirements
Standard

Improvement
Original Standard

Maintenance

Deterioration

Time
Figure 1: The distinction between maintenance and improvement. Adapted from Wordsworth P (2001) Lee’s Building Maintenance
Management, 4th edn. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Science.

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
Maintenance Regulations and Legal [Small repairs decree, 2003], derived from the Dutch
Civil Code (7: 240). In general, tenants are responsible for
Standards small repairs. Tenants’ obligations regarding
Technical construction legislation sets the lower limits maintenance are conditional on the accessibility of the
for the housing quality level. In any case, dwellings have building component to be repaired, and restricted costs
to satisfy the minimal requirement of national legal relating to the repair. All other repairs fall under the
standards for the existing housing stock. Legal standards responsibility of the landlord, with the exception of
comprise responsibilities for the owners to provide adaptations and additions made by tenants and defects
healthy conditions, construction and fire safety, energy that are resolved by tenants. The tenant may ask the
performance, and proper working of installations for the landlord to perform small repairs that fall under the
supply of water, gas, and electricity, sanitation, space tenant’s. In that case, the landlord is allowed to charge
heating, and heating water. Building regulations are the tenant for the costs of making these repairs. In order
enforced by local authorities building control officers. to stimulate Dutch landlords to perform maintenance,
Obviously, owner-occupiers are responsible for the ‘gebrekenregeling’ [arrangements relating to
the quality of their home. In the case of housing defects] was set up in 1999. This arrangement enables a
providers and tenants, the tenants often have some rent committee – that is, an independent arbitration
responsibilities, addressed in the national private law or board that is in charge of settling disputes between
the rent contract. tenants and landlords – to decide on rent decreases in
the case of a certain defect. These decreases may
Decent Homes Standard amount to 20% of the statutory maximum rent. The
Each of the devolved administrations in the United actual size of the rent decrease is dependent on the
Kingdom has a national housing quality standard: The severity of the defects.
Decent Homes Standard in England and Northern
Ireland, the Welsh Housing Quality Standard in Wales, Market Regulations
and the Scottish Housing Quality Standard in Scotland. European public tendering rules for (maintenance)
The Decent Homes Standard is a technical standard for services and works apply to public and private social
public housing introduced by the UK government in housing organisations that use public funds. moreover,
2000, which aimed to provide a minimum standard of national public procurement rules apply under the
housing conditions for all those who are housed in the European threshold for public entities in, for example,
public sector – that is, council housing and housing Belgium and France. The fundamental principle of public
associations. The criteria for the standard are as follows: procurement rules is that the contracts with a budget
higher than a defined threshold must be opened to a
• It must meet the current statutory minimum
nation-wide or EU-wide tender. Key questions are then
standard for housing
the extent to which maintenance jobs reach the
• It must be in a reasonable state of repair
thresholds and whether the maintenance constitutes
• It must have reasonably modern facilities and
works or services. While the methods of tendering for
services
these categories are largely the same, different
• It must provide a reasonable degree of thermal thresholds are involved, meaning that a shift in the
comfort. application of procedures and regulations may occur.
Regular planned maintenance, void repairs, and
The standard was updated in 2006 to take account of the
response maintenance in the dwelling may all be
Housing Act, 2004, including the implementation of the
considered to be ‘services’, unlike major maintenance
Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).

Maintenance in the Dutch Civil Code

The responsibilities of landlords and tenants in the
Netherlands set out in the ‘Besluit kleine herstellingen’

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
Maintenance

Preventive maintenance
Corrective maintenance

Predetermined maintenance Condition-based

maintenance

Scheduled or continuous Scheduled Deferred Immediate

Figure 2: Maintenance overview. Adapted from CEN (2001) EN 13306 Maintenance Terminology. Brussels: CEN

and refurbishment, which may be considered to be (also called responsive maintenance or daily
‘works’. maintenance); and
3. Void repairs: maintenance realised in between
Maintenance Processes tenancy periods.
Generally, maintenance can be divided into preventive
By far, the majority of planned maintenance work is
and corrective maintenance. Preventive maintenance is
conducted to the exterior of houses. Concurrently, by far
carried out at predetermined intervals (e.g., time-based
or use-based) or to other prescribed criteria (e.g., defects
and condition) and intended to reduce the likelihood of Inventory
an item not meeting an acceptable condition. Corrective
maintenance is any maintenance activity which is
required to correct a failure that has occurred or is in the Condition Inspection report
process of occurring (see Figure 2). Assessment
Homeowners and housing providers are free in
choosing the appropriate instruments for the asset
Planning and Long-term maintenance
management and maintenance management being used planning
calculation
in maintaining their house(s). Owner-occupiers reinvest
less regularly in their homes than large property owners.
Maintenance is mainly reactive and corrective. In several Short-term maintenance
Prioritising
planning
countries condominium owners are forced to make a
preventive maintenance planning.
Housing management organisations have to decide
Maintenance projects
to emphasise preventive or corrective maintenance in its Procurement
maintenance policy and maintenance services.
Normally, the maintenance services are divided into
three managerial processes as follows: Execution of
work
1. Planned (preventive) maintenance: activities
scheduled at regular intervals;
2. Reactive maintenance: realised on residents’ Final acceptance
initiatives (complaints), often after breakdowns inspection

Figure 3: Maintenance planning and execution process.

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
the majority of reactive maintenance is conducted by procurement of the maintenance work are key processes
housing management organisations inside dwellings. in condition-based maintenance. Not all (sub)processes
Residents are being confronted by the execution of are shown in Figure 3. For instance, budgeting and
planned (preventive) maintenance at their own dwelling, budget control are left out.
and in case of multifamily dwellings, the common parts Data collected during a condition survey on-site
of the building. Moreover, residents are directly involved are needed for strategic policy-making to underpin the
in reactive maintenance (emergency and reactive day- long-term maintenance cost expectations and for
to-day repairs) in the request of repairs and the set of maintenance planning by the maintenance staff.
appointments. The short-term maintenance planning leads to
Often separate departments of housing maintenance projects that have to be executed in the
management organisations are responsible for following year(s). The goals of the housing management
construction and maintenance. In addition, most organization and the characteristics of maintenance
organisations have separate departments for planned services determine the used procurement methods.
maintenance and for response maintenance and void Generally, a distinction can be made between a
work. prescriptive and a nonprescriptive method. Traditionally,
The strategic asset management and housing providers tendering maintenance services use a
maintenance policy of a housing management prescriptive, detailed specification of the work to be
organisation should be based on objective, reliable performed. Performance-based specification is an
information about the performance of housing estates, alternative to traditional prescriptive specifications for
dwellings, and building components. Data are required maintenance.
on the technical state of building components, the After the procurement process, the work is
housing quality (e.g., services, kitchen), the carried out by an external maintenance contractor or by
environmental quality (e.g., use of materials, energy direct labour, followed by a final acceptation inspection.
use, water use, kind of heating system), adaptability for The process will start all over again with an inventory of
changes in housing and environmental quality, and the the building components or with a condition
realised costs for maintenance and improvements. assessment.
Property managers may use a selection of relevant
maintenance data for policy-making. Performance and Defects
All building components have to contend with
Planned Condition-Based performance loss through ageing, use, and external
Maintenance causes. Performance and performance loss can be seen
as the opposite of degradation and defects. However,
A condition-dependent approach to maintenance leads
this observation is too simple, because the initial
to a decoupling of condition assessment from the
performance requirements of building components are
determination of maintenance activities and
so many and because the knowledge about performance
maintenance planning. It also provides possibilities for
loss and service life, and performance loss, degradation,
differing performances of building components and
and visual defects is limited or unknown for many
formulating performance levels, to control performance
building components. The relationship between
and to work with maintenance contractors in a new
degradation and performance loss could take place
manner.
according to three patterns as follows:
The design of the maintenance planning and
execution process Is of crucial importance to secure the 1. Performance loss manifests itself as
performance of the building components. Generally, the continuously decreasing while degradation
process of maintenance planning and execution takes continuously increases
place as shown in Figure 3. Condition assessment,
planning and calculation of maintenance activities
leading to the long-term maintenance planning, and

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
2. The performance remains constant while consultants, and contractors in the Netherlands. The six-
degradation declines continuously; point scale is the basis of the standardised method.
performance loss is manifest abruptly The condition categories are of a chronological
3. Performance loss and degradation act order that describes possibly occurring defects without
independently. references to remedial work. Table 1 gives the general
descriptions of the condition marks. The condition
This distinction is essential to know the turning points in assessment process follows the pattern in Figure 4. The
performance loss and degradation and to determine assessing of defects occurs first. Without this
optimal points of time for maintenance actions. Under information one could not formulate maintenance
ideal circumstances, it would be possible to have the activities and estimate costs. Subsequently, the
maintenance of a building completely planned into a inspector passes through the following condition
series of cleaning and replacement cycles (preventive parameters: importance of defects, intensity of defects,
and ‘just-intime’). If failures have occurred, one has to and extent of defects. The extent and the intensity of a
carry out repairs (corrective maintenance). defect combined with the importance of the defect lead
to a condition mark, probably with a defect score as an
Condition Assessment intermediary product.
Data collected during a condition survey on-site can be The importance of the defect indicates to what
used for the maintenance planning of each building. extent it influences the functioning of building
Supplementary technical information, like the size and components. The Dutch Standard for Condition
location of defects, is needed for the detailed planning Assessment classifies the importance of defects of
and executing of maintenance work. Although the actual distinct building components into minor, serious, and
performance of most building components can be critical. Critical defects significantly threaten the
measured directly, using destructive and nondestructive
instruments, in practice the performance of building Condition mark General condition description
components is measured indirectly by assessing visual 1 Excellent
2 Good
defects. This is done by performing a defect assessment. 3 Fair
The defect assessment is called condition assessment if 4 Poor
a rating scale is being used. The use of condition marks 5 Bad
of building components makes the technical status 6 Very Bad
transferable between building inspectors and property Table 1: Six-point scale (Dutch Standard for Condition
managers. Property managers can exercise control over Assessment
maintenance performance levels and maintenance
costs. It also makes the technical status transferable Building component
between the maintenance department and the
department and employees involved in setting up the
asset management.
Defect (classification of Extent/intensity
Dutch Standard for Condition importance)

Assessment
Defect score
As a result of several research projects and the use of the
method by the Dutch Government Buildings Agency and
in the Dutch Housing Quality Survey, the process of
condition assessment using a six-point condition scale Condition mark
has become popular with property managers,
Figure 4: Condition assessment process: Dutch Standard for Condition
Assessment

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
function of the building component. Serious desirable quality. In general terms, housing management
defects are gradually damaging the performance of organisations use three quality levels: a basic level, a
building components, for example, defects in the lower level if a technical intervention of the housing
material surface. Defects to the finishing, for example, estate (e.g., refurbishment) in the near future is
coatings, are classified as minor defects. We give an foreseen, and a higher level that is based on the position
example of the defect list for window frames, door of the housing estate on the housing market.
frames, windows, and doors (see Table 2). important to The maintenance planning can be adjusted to
notice is the fact that for finishing coats a separate one of these levels through setting requirements for the
defect list exists. type of maintenance activities, the use of materials and
the maintenance activity cycles, and by setting
Planning and Calculation of priorities. Insufficient budget means priority setting of
maintenance activities. Maintenance activities can be
Maintenance
distinguished according to the type (cleaning, repair, and
Formulating maintenance performance levels in planned
replacement), the part of the building component to
maintenance means deliberating about the maximum
which an activity applies, the specification of materials,
performance loss, the appropriating maintenance
the quantity of the work, the frequency of short cyclical
activities, and the needed financial means. Input for the
preventive maintenance actions, and the character of an
planning and calculation phase and also the prioritizing
activity (preventive or corrective).
phase of condition-based maintenance are the available
budget for maintenance (per building estate) and the

Importance Type Defects

Critical Basic functioning Sealants defect
Be ajar
Leakages
Basic constructional Cramps defect
Material intrinsic Wood rot
Moisture retention
Capillary moisture absorption
Cracks
Cold bridges
Condensation
Basic quality Wrong use of materials
Failing drainage constructive parts
Sharp edges jambs and sills
Serious Minor constructional Distortion
Missing parts
Connections undone
Failing stiffness and stability
Material surface Mechanical damages
Basic quality and ageing of secondary components Ironmongery defects
Failing width windows
Failing outline
Failing putty and sealants glazing and panels
Nonprofessional repairs
Minor Finishing Algal growth, moss
Pollution, surface deposit
Discolouration
Basic quality and ageing of tertiary components Failures secondary fastening
Failures element parts
Defects connections frames and wall
Table 2: Defect list: window frames, door frames, windows and doors (Dutch Standard for Condition Assessment)

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
The planning and calculation of maintenance procure the majority of planned maintenance projects
activities can occur on the basis of standardised traditionally through a process of soliciting three to five
performance levels: the (minimum) condition of building competitive bids and choosing the lowest one.
components after executing maintenance work, for Performance-based specification is an
example, by setting a lower limit in a condition rating alternative to traditional prescriptive specifications for
scale and thereby setting norms for the maximum maintenance. The performance-based approach means
performance loss. Maintenance managers are able to do that maintenance contractors no longer act as suppliers
so by forecasting the condition status of building of maintenance work capacity but as active participants
components after executing maintenance activities, in the overall maintenance process. They give advice on
dealing with more and less acceptable remaining defects. maintenance strategies, maintenance scenarios,
To perform efficiently and effectively, the performance specifications, and activities. First the
performance of a building component after executing housing management organisation has to specify
maintenance work should be clear. However, general performance requirements for its housing estates. Then
knowledge about maintenance activities and the requirements are specified at the operational level
performance recovery is scarce. After an integral based on functional statements of the building
replacement of the component, the condition status will components, for example, construction safety, aesthetic
be as new. In case of partial replacements and repairs, performance, and energy saving. The performance
the condition gap and the performance recovery before requirements and the maintenance budget and
and after execution of the maintenance activity are exploitation period that apply to each housing estate are
indistinct. The new condition depends on the solved input for the maintenance contractor. The contractor
defects at that particular moment of time. Cleaning and develops maintenance strategies within the constraints
repainting of surfaces does not influence the technical of performance criteria, maintenance budget, and
performance of substrates. The degradation will just exploitation period. Initially, contractors need to assess
process more gradually. Nevertheless, the aesthetic the condition status of the building components to
performance of a surface improves. Through a functional diagnose the causes of deterioration and the climate
material modification of the building component conditions to make recommendations on the likely
performance alterations take place: the characteristics of success and performance of remedial measures. The
the building component change and the original remedial measures are set down in maintenance
performance capacity increases. scenarios and activity plans, presenting net present
The short-term maintenance planning leads to values of life cycle costs and performance criteria.
maintenance projects that have to be executed in the The result of maintenance is indicated as the
following year(s). Condition assessments are not meant performance of building components. A performance-
for short-term maintenance planning and drawing up based maintenance partnership can be based on the
technical specifications. Supplementary information, for minimum performance of building components. To
example, the precise location of the defects and causes verify the results, a minimum percentage of
of defects to take adequate maintenance actions, is measurements, taken at random, should meet the
needed in the phase of preparing procurement and performance criteria. Criteria are expressed in the
execution of remedial work. properties of defects, such as size, percentage, and
intensity. Long-term agreements should include
Maintenance Procurement performance criteria at the start (completion of work)
Maintenance work is being executed based upon a and at the end of the contract period. In a performance-
prescriptive technical specification or a performance- based partnership, the contractors themselves measure
based specification. A technical prescriptive specification the achieved performance after completion of the work
means that the throughput of the maintenance and report to the housing management organisation.
contractor is being described, not the result of the The housing management organisation assesses the
maintenance work. Housing management organisations completion of the work and the performance

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
measurements undertaken by the contractors. The business start-up. The fact that labour takes a high
contractor is made responsible for the performance of proportion of the costs makes it difficult to achieve
the building components during a certain period. This economies of scale. The substantial amount of labour in
implies that the contractor periodically monitors the the process and the relative simplicity of the
degradation processes of building components using implementation processes almost preclude
performance measurements and reports on the agreed improvements in productivity. Furthermore, each
performance criteria to the housing management customer has different maintenance requirements,
organisation. which means that adjustments have to be made with
every new contract. Certainly, in the case of planned
Maintenance Supply maintenance, almost every contract is unique, which
The supply market for homeowners’ maintenance differs hampers development and the repetition of methods
a lot from the supply marker for professional housing and techniques. Neither may improvements in
providers. In the first place a lot of maintenance work is productivity be allowed to detract from service quality,
done by the homeowners themselves, served by the do- which cannot be taken for granted in view of the front
it-yourself market. The illegal ‘black’ market is also quite office’s major role in service provision (many workers are
important. Next, homeowners face problems in in contact with the residents). Transport costs are
selecting reputable builders. Often, the professional another relatively important factor in the maintenance
market working for homeowners is far from process, binding services to a particular area, and further
professional, lacking the needed skills and competences. hampering economies of scale. Some sectors are also
Housing management organisations will carry affected by cyclical and seasonal fluctuations, which is
out the maintenance work by direct labour organisations another obstacle to long-term investment. This means
(in-house) or contract it out to maintenance suppliers. that there is no guarantee of continuity, forcing
Debates about the benefits of employing tradesmen companies to keep fixed costs low. Finally, many
directly concern financial, managerial, and technical maintenance companies are one-person or family
performance as well as ideological arguments. In the businesses, meaning that there are emotional exit
Netherlands, housing associations’ own maintenance barriers in addition to purely commercial ones. Many
departments are responsible for a small portion of total factors thus explain the fragmentation of the sector.
maintenance expenses, being less than 10%. However, in Attempts are sometimes made to erect barriers to entry,
the United Kingdom, for example, the market share of particularly in specialised market sectors. This takes the
direct labour organisations is much greater. form of process certification. Certification acts both as a
The maintenance market is traditionally divided barrier to new entrants and a quality guarantee for
into multiple sectors like (small) construction work, housing management organisations and homeowners.
roofing, painting and decorating (including plastering,
tiling and glazing), heating and ventilation, plumbing
and drainage, and electrical. Many small and medium- Residential Satisfaction with
sized suppliers operate in the maintenance market. Maintenance
Some are specialised,whereas others combine multiple An important measurable outcome of maintaining the
disciplines. The high degree of fragmentation and lack of quality of dwellings for social and institutional landlords
transparency in the market hinder the creation of long- is residential satisfaction. A way of examining residential
term competitive advantage. Competition is mainly on satisfaction with maintenance is by measuring the
costs and on personal contacts with clients, the latter lumber and severity of complaints and to examine the
being a condition for involvement in tenders or being
scores given by individual residents on attributes of the
awarded private contracts.
quality of service supply. Another way of securing high-
The considerable fragmentation is connected
quality service supply is to measure occurrences. For the
with the low entry barriers to the sectors, which, in turn,
result of maintenance, this is usually done by supervising
are linked to low levels of investment needed for a
activities carried out, particularly in the case of planned

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Managing Building Adaptation
A Sustainable Approach
maintenance and void repairs. For reactive maintenance
it is possible to track crucial moments in the handling of Further Reading
complaints, such as the information supply to the CEN (2001) EN 13306 Maintenance Terminology.
resident about the maintenance process. Brussels: CEN.
The determinants of service quality by maintenance
contractors are directly related to the general Chanter B and Swallow P (2007) Building Maintenance
determinants of service quality, being reliability, Management, 2nd edn. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles
ISO 15686 (2000) Buildings and Constructed Assets –
(appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel,
Service Life Planning. Geneva: ISO.
and written materials). The determinants of service
quality by maintenance contractors are as follows: Straub A (2002) Strategic technical management of
housing stock: Lessons from Dutch housing associations.
• Sticking to execution planning agreements Building Research and Information 30(5): 372–381.
• Flexibility in making appointments
• Provision of information before the start of Straub A (2007) Performance-based maintenance
maintenance activities partnering: A promising concept. Journal of Facilities
• Resident participation in maintenance through Management 5(2): 129–142.
options
Straub A (2009) Dutch Standard for Condition
• Evaluation and service recovery
Assessment of Buildings. Structural Survey 27(1): 23–35.
• The quality of the result of maintenance
• The competence of maintenance workers Van Mossel JH (2008) The Purchasing of Maintenance
• Limiting the time taken for the work Service Delivery in the Dutch Social Housing Sector.
• Completing maintenance activities in a single Delft, the Netherlands: IOS Press.
visit
• Having maintenance workers wear smart Van Mossel JH and Straub A (2007) Procurement of
uniform overalls Dutch housing associations’ technical management
services: A decision framework. Property Management
• The politeness of maintenance workers
25(5): 487–501.
• Being addressed in the language of the resident
• Being available to answer questions and receive Wordsworth P (2001) Lee’s Building Maintenance
complaints Management, 4th edn. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Science.
• Avoiding damage to personal property
• Limiting nuisance caused by noise and vibration
• Limiting and tidying up litter and dust around
the work site.

The most important aspect from the perception of

residents is ‘the quality of the result of maintenance’,
followed by ‘the competence of maintenance workers’
and ‘completing maintenance activities in a single visit’.
The latter implicates that maintenance workers perform
their maintenance job without unnecessary rework or
extra site visits.

See also: Housing Pathology; Private Sector Housing

Management: Europe.

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