BRE 407: Property

Maintenance
BQS 407: Construction
Maintenance

Lecturer
Mwanzui Evans Mutinda
Bachelor of Real Estate, UoN
M.A. (Valuation and Property Management) UoN
 COURSE OBJECTIVE

To offer an investigation of approaches of building maintenance

management and develop appropriate skills in undertaking
maintenance works.
 Course Outline

1. INTRODUCTION TO MAINTENANCE
•Introduction to maintenance
•Reasons for maintenance
•Problems of maintenance in Kenya
•Forms/ types of maintenance

2. INTRODUCTION TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

•at is management and functions of management?
•What is maintenance management?
 Course Outline

3. MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

•Planning and budgeting for maintenance work
•Maintenance organization
•Maintenance policies, Maintenance manuals, Maintenance standards
•Maintenance procurement and service contracts
•Maintenance data management/ Maintenance information system

4. APPROACHES TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

•Audit approach
•Total Quality Approach
•Life cycle cost (LCC) approach to maintenance management
 Course Outline

5. BUILDING/SERVICES DEFECTS AND FAILURES

•Causes of defects
•Types of defects
•Defect identification and treatment

6. BUILDING & SERVICES INSPECTIONS AND INVESTIGATION

•Inspections and report writing- condition/ structural/dilapidation
survey reports, occupational safety survey reports
 Course Outline

7. STATUTORY PROVISIONS RELATING TO REPAIRS AND

MAINTENANCE

8. CONSERVATION, PRESERVATION AND REHABILITATION OF

BUILDINGS

9. HISTORICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS

10. GROUNDS MAINTENANCE

 INTRODUCTION TO
MAINTENANCE

DEFINITIONS:
British Standards (BS) 3811 by the British Standards Institute 1984
defines maintenance as ‘a combination of any actions carried out to
retain/Keep an item in, or restore it to, an acceptable standard.
The Chartered Institute of Building (British) offers the following
definition of maintenance ‘work undertaken in order to keep, restore
or improve every facility, i.e. every part of a building, its services and
surrounds, to an agreed standard.
Thus, from the above two definitions, we can derive a general
definition of maintenance as ‘Work undertaken in order to
keep/retain, restore, or improve every facility, i.e. every part of a
building, its services and surrounds, to currently acceptable or agreed
standard and to sustain the utility and value of the building/ facility.
 INTRODUCTION TO
MAINTENANCE

• ‘Retaining/Keeping’- implies work undertaken in anticipation of

failure i.e. planned/preventive work- this is usually referred to as
preventive maintenance
• ‘Restoration’- implies work undertaken/carried out after failure has
occurred. Also called refurbishment or corrective maintenance.
• ‘Improvement’- work undertaken to increase a property’s
performance, to make it better to do its intended function and to
meet the needs and expectations of building users/ occupants
whoever they might be e.g. tenants, employees, students, visitors
etc.
• Facility- A facility means a place, space, amenity or piece of
equipment provided for a particular purpose. A facility can also be
viewed as a permanent, semi- permanent or temporary property
such as a building, plant or structure, built, established or installed
for the performance of one or more specific activities or functions
 INTRODUCTION TO
MAINTENANCE

• ‘Acceptable Standard’
‘Standard’ denotes a measure, a level of quality or
achievement/attainment that is thought to be acceptable.
‘Standard’ is established, either, by authority, custom or agreed
through consensus. Standard sets the benchmark or threshold that
should be attained with regard to quality of goods produced or
services provided. Anything below that established ‘standard’ is
generally regarded as ‘unacceptable’.
The concept of ‘Acceptable Standard’ in the definition of maintenance
is an abstract concept i.e. there is no benchmark or measure that
defines the accepted maintenance standard.
What is an acceptable maintenance standard:
‘May be construed as acceptability to the person paying for the
maintenance works i.e. the landlord, head of the
institution/organization
 INTRODUCTION TO
MAINTENANCE
‘It may also be construed as acceptability to the person receiving the
benefits of maintenance i.e. the occupiers, users of buildings/facilities,
tenants, students, staff etc.
‘acceptability to some outside body with the responsibility for
enforcing minimum standards e.g. county government, national
government or any other local or international agency

‘It can also be construed more widely as acceptability to the general

public or some sections of the public

Clearly, there are no absolute standards which would equally be

acceptable to everybody or which would remain acceptable to the
same group of people over a period of time- standards are dynamic;
what is acceptable this year may not be the standard next year.
 INTRODUCTION TO
MAINTENANCE

An acceptable standard is contrasted from Agreed standard in that an

agreed standard is determined by the balance between the
maintenance needs of buildings and users and available resources. i.e.
the use of the concept agreed standard in the definition of
maintenance emphasizes the fact that the standard to be achieved for
maintenance is to be determined by the amount of resources –
financial resources, labor, technical skills etc. that is available and
allocated rather than the maintenance needs and expectations of
owners, occupants etc.
 INTRODUCTION TO
MAINTENANCE
Maintenance activities/works
Activities/works constituting maintenance works includes;
Inspections of buildings- routine work to identify defects and possible failure
Testing of building’s fabric- to determine the structural strength/stability of
building’s fabric- normally done by professional structural engineers
Servicing- scheduled work at regular defined intervals to prolong life and
prevent breakdowns
Restoration/ refurbishment/ re- habilitation- Massive works undertaken
after failure has occurred to restore the building/facility into its original
condition to better perform its intended function and to continue being in use.
Rectification/repairs and replacements- Planned works based on observed
condition, to repair or replace components immediately prior to anticipated
failure
Decoration- Works done to improve a building’s physical appearance,
aesthetic appeal e.g. painting works, tiling of floors, walls, ceilings, works of
art on building’s surface etc.
Cleaning-
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance

• A building is an assembly of various components, put

together by machine and man, using a certain
technology
• The works undertaken and the costs expended is a
compromise between current resources and future
expectations of the benefits of the expended resources
• By design and nature, buildings are bound to fall short
of expectations and hence the need to occasionally
commit additional resources to achieve the aspirations
of society
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• The continuous use of buildings and facilities
and their exposure to the elements of weather
inevitably leads to deterioration
• The delay or complete neglect of intervening
may culminate in reduced performance and to
some extent, structural failure
• There is, therefore, the continuous need to
check deterioration in order to allow the building
and facility to achieve its objective
• The intervention to check deterioration is
generally referred to as building maintenance
• Maintenance practices ultimately allow the
building and facility to achieve its objectives
efficiently and effectively
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• Maintenance is a concept that has a wide range
of definitions and conceptualization:
The Committee on Building Maintenance (1972) defined
maintenance as “….work carried out in order to keep,
restore or improve every facility, i.e. every part of the
building, its services and surrounds to a currently
acceptable standard and to sustain the utility and value
of the facility”

BS 3811 (1984) defines maintenance as “ a combination

of any actions carried out to retain an item in, or
restore it to acceptable condition”

BS 8210 (1986) defines maintenance as “work, other

than daily and routine cleaning, necessary to maintain
the performance of building fabrics and its services”
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• Maintenance is a concept that has a wide range of
definitions and conceptualization:

Seeley (1987) adopted the definition proposed by the

Committee on Building Maintenance

Chartered Institute of Building (1990) defines building

maintenance as “..works undertaken in order to keep, restore
or improve every facility i.e., every part of a building, its
services and surrounds, to an agreed standard, determined
by the balance between need and available resources”

The revised BS 3811 (1993) defined building maintenance as

“the combination of all technical and administrative actions,
including supervision actions, intended to retain an item in,
or restore it to, a state in which it can perform a required
function”
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• Maintenance is a concept that has a wide range of
definitions and conceptualization:

Adegoke (2003) defines maintenance as “keeping

machines and building assets in such a condition to
facilitate minimal interruption of services and maximize
their potential”

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (2006)

defined building maintenance as “—the totality of all
actions that keep a building functioning effectively”
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• Building maintenance can, therefore, be explicitly
defined as the combination of all technical and
administrative actions, including supervision intended
to retain an item in, restore it to a state in which it can
perform a required function
• It thus encompasses both the technical aspects (the
doing of things) and the managerial aspects (planning
and matching resources with the required work)
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• Maintenance seems to aim at maintaining value and
appeal of a property and facility
• The basic reasons properties are maintained are:
a. To meet statutory requirements of health and safety
b. To protect the physical asset
c. To maintain a public image
d. To assure retention of tenants/residents
e. To maintain rents and rental value
f. To assure on site marketability of the property/estate
 The Concept of Property
Maintenance
• In sum, the essence of building and facilities
maintenance is to increase service life of a building by
delaying deterioration, decay and failure and thereby
extending usage
• This will cumulatively create, sustain and increase the
value of the property and thus achieve the investment
objectives.
 Repairs and Maintenance

• The word ‘maintenance’ is often used to describe works,

such as external painting, which are necessary to prevent
deterioration, but which might not arise from any defect or
breakage in part of the property
• However, works that increase efficiency of the building are
not maintenance but improvement
• The word ‘repair’, on the other hand, is used to cover
remedial actions such as the replacement of some defective
parts
• In this respect, maintenance is what is referred to as
planned/preventive maintenance while
corrective/unplanned maintenance is in essence repairs
• For example, a scheduled servicing of a water pump and
standby generator or replacement of water proofing
membrane on a flat roof after the expiry of service years
provided by the supplier is maintenance
• A replacement of a broken window pane, underpinning of a
cracked foundation or a replacement of a washer in a water
tap is repairs
 Acceptable Standards
• The ultimate goal of building maintenance is to attain acceptable
standards
• The R & D Bulletin on Building Maintenance defines an acceptable
standard as “one which sustains the utility and value of the facility”
• Maintenance standards are derived from legislation and practice
- these standards are not static but change with changes in society
and the changing functions of the facility
• This affinity to change, at times unpredictably, renders the precise
conceptualization of standards impossible-hence, it is possible to
consider local standards, regional standards and international
standards
• Standards seem to be geared towards setting the limits of
acceptability
• It is, therefore, common to look at standards from the point of view
that people, things, actions that meet or better the current
standards or understanding of a concept as an acceptable standard
and those that do not improve as substandard standards
• It is at time easy to look at standards in terms of ‘agreed
standards’, generally dictated by available resources
 Acceptable Standards

• Maintenance standards as a result of legislation can be

viewed in terms of legislation, statutory obligations, judicial
precedence and the common law dictate of the duty of care
• Legal maintenance standards in Kenya are scattered in
various Acts of Parliament and anchored in The Constitution
of Kenya (2010):

Article 43 (c) sets the maintenance standard by declaring that

“every person has a right to accessible and adequate
housing, and to reasonable standards of sanitation.”

• This broad standard has been restated in The Land Act No. 6
of 2012, which provides, inter alia:

• “..to keep in a proper state of repairs…fit for human

habitation..”
 Acceptable Standards

• In practice, there are two main types of standards for maintenance,

namely quality standards and service standards
• Quality standards are concerned with achieving quality of
workmanship that is acceptable to a reasonable or prudent man
• Unfortunately, it is practically impossible to accurately define
quality standards as the same vary from on jurisdiction to another,
from one culture to another and from socio-economic class to
another
• However, adherence to building standards such as those provided
for under the Building Codes of 1968, the proposed Planning and
Building Regulations, 2009 and National Building Regulations 2014
and design standards such as BS standards is considered enough
quality standards
• In other cases, quality standards can be set by supervisory or
technical staff in the maintenance departments in conjunction with
tenants and occupants-----such actions as such as completing a job,
removing all rubbish and old materials and making good any
surface damaged or disturbed ensures attainment of quality
standards
 Acceptable Standards

• Service standards emanate from management systems

and are aimed at ensuring the highest level of tenant
satisfaction
• In general management parlance, service standards are
akin to customer relationship management (CRM)
• Service standards are generally viewed as specifications
• Wood (2009) categorizes service standards in two broad
categories, namely prescriptive specifications and
performance specifications
• Prescriptive standards set out precisely what is to be done,
to what defined standards and who is supposed to be done
• Performance standards, on the other hand, set out what is
to be achieved, without defining the way that it is to be
attained
 Acceptable Standards

• In practice, service standards are stated in terms of

time periods within which an activity should be carried
out, the system of feedback and measure of
tenant/occupants satisfaction
• In a typical arrangement, service standards are
reduced in a service charter, a service level agreement
or a standard operational manual (SoPs)
 Acceptable Standards

• For example:
• that a reported repair (if non structural) should be attended to
within 1 hour of reporting
• that a planned maintenance expense should result in a
shorter payback period compared to a new construction
• that the rights and obligations of both the tenant and landlord
are clearly explained
• that tenants/occupants report 100% level of satisfaction
• that the manager regularly meets with tenants to explore
ways of improving maintenance service standards
 Acceptable Standards

• The measure of acceptable standards is the satisfaction level of

the clients and ability to forestall any public action and sanction
• It is generally considered good management to set standards, be
they quality standards, prescriptive or performance standards in
consultation with the client, keeping in mind statutory standards
• They may require simple actions such as asking the client what
he/she wants or complex programs to study behaviours of clients
• Unfortunately, many clients do not apprehend the envisaged
situation before hand and hence there is a tendency to set
standards in an incremental approach
• In addition, the key clients in a property, owners and
tenants/occupants, may have different understanding of
standards and this might require two separate standards and a
hybrid standard
 Acceptable Standards

• The level of satisfaction will inevitably change over

time or due to exposure, but principally the same can
be measured in terms of:
i. Average time spent to respond to maintenance requests
ii. Average time to return a defective item to required
functionality
iii. Proportion of maintenance requests satisfied within
target time
iv. Maintenance expenditure against budget, or compared
with similar facilities elsewhere
v. Courteousness/cleanliness/avoidance of disruption to
satisfaction of occupants
vi. Reuse of existing components in quest of increased
sustainability
vii. Percentage reduction in complaints compared with
previous years
 Acceptable Standards

• Standards are viewed in terms of a hierarchy, with

different levels requiring different standards
• In a nutshell, maintenance standards change over time
• It has been argued that the change in standards, both
expected and realistic, give rise to the need for
maintenance
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
• These are found in scattered legislations and
regulations
• They do not stem from a single body or central
authority and hence requires building owners to
make numerous references
• These are found at national and county governments
level
• These legislations and regulations deal with matters
affecting health, safety and building standards
• Some of them apply to the design and physical
requirements of new constructions, additions,
alterations and works necessitated by a material
change of use of a particular occupancy
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Title
Kenya
of Details
Legislation/regulat
ion
The Land Act No. 6 Section 65 (c) and (d) obliges the lessor of
of 2012 multiple occupied to keep the roof, all
external and main walls and the main
drains and the common parts and common
installations and facilities, including
common passages and walkways in a
proper state of repairs;
Section 66 (c), (d) and (e) imposes an
obligation on the lessee to keep the
building in reasonable state of repairs and
maintenance, save for reasonable wear
and tear;
Section 88 (c) obliges the chargor to repair
and keep in repair all buildings and other
improvements upon the charged land.
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Title of Details
Kenya
Legislation/regulation
Public Health Act Sections 93, 94, 95 and 126 requires that buildings,
Cap 242 houses and sanitary facilities including associated
infrastructure are properly maintained in order to
avoid nuisance, health hazards and rodents
Section 118 defines what is nuisance in respect of
dwellings to be such state or so situated or so dirty
or so verminous as to be, in the opinion of the
medical officer of health, or which is or liable to
favour the spread of any infectious disease; any
noxious matter, or waste water, flowing or
discharged from any premises; any dwelling or
premises which is so overcrowded as to be injurious
or dangerous to the health of inmates; an occupied
building for which such a proper, sufficient and
wholesome water supply is not available within a
reasonable distance
Section 119 and Section 120 permits the authorities
to serve notice to abate the nuisance and initiate
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Details
Legislation/regulatio
n
The Rent Restriction Under Section 29, in the absence of any
Act Cap 296 provision to the contrary in the contract
of a tenancy, it will be the obligation of
the landlord of any premises to maintain
and keep the premises in a state of good
structural repair and conditions suitable
for human habitation.
It shall also be the obligation of the
tenant of any premises to maintain the
premises in the same state as that in
which the premises were at the
commencement of the tenancy
The Landlord and Section 7 makes repairs and
Tenants (Shops, maintenance a condition upon which
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Details
Legislation/regulatio
n
Sectional Properties Section 27 empowers the established
Act No. 21 of 1987 corporation within any communally owned
premises to enter the premises for the
purposes of maintenance, repairing,
replacement of pipes, electrical wires and
installation of ducts or maintaining,
repairing or replacing some common
property. The section also obliges the
owners of the units to maintain them in
good state of repair
Housing Act Cap 117 Section 7 (1)(e) implies that the housing
fund so established under the Act can be
used by the co-operative from time to time
to maintain any land or estate or interest
therein for any purposes of this Act
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Details
Legislation/regulation

Factories Act Cap 514 Sections 25, 34 and 38 obliges proprietors and
contractors to maintain in serviceable order all
structural members of construction and ensure
that they are in working order so as to comply
with health and safety standards
Factory Inspectors are empowered by the Act to
prosecute those failing to observe health and
safety standards
Occupiers Liability Act It keeps the burden of property maintenance
Cap 34 and repairs on the occupiers of any premises
and also protects lawful visitors from injuries
arising from using defective premises and
components
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Details
Legislation/regulation
Occupational Safety and Section 6 (1) obliges occupiers to ensure safety,
Health Act, 2007 health and welfare at work of all persons working in
his workplace
The Act further requires that each workplace shall
be kept in a clean state
The Urban Areas and Section 20 (1)(d) empowers the Board to control
Cities Act No. 13 of 2011 land development while subsection (1))(q)
empowers the Board to promote a safe and healthy
environment
Section 21 (1)(e) and (t) provides the basis for
enforcement of the set maintenance standards
Traffic Act Cap 403 Section 51 prohibits pollution of the environment by
motor vehicles and prescribes penalties for default
Penal Code Cap 63 The Chapter on “Offences against Health and
Conveniences” strictly prohibits release of foul air
into the environment, which affects the health of
other persons
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Details
Legislation/regulation
The Environmental Section 58 requires project promoters
Management and to submit an EIA study to NEMA and
Coordination Act No. NEMA is required to review the same
8 of 1999 and approve the project if it is satisfied
that the project will not have negative
impacts on the environment
Section 68 and Section 69 authorizes
NEMA to monitor environmental
compliance in respect of any land and
premises
The Standards and Enforcement Review
Committee set up by virtue of Section
70 gives NEMA broad mandate to set
maintenance standards in respect to
any matter affecting the physical
environment
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Legislation/regulation Details
Environmental Management and Specifically deals with waste disposal
Coordination (Waste Management)
Regulations, 2006 Legal Notice
No.121
Environmental Management and Sets the standards for noise and vibration
Coordination (Noise and Excessive
Vibration Pollution Control)
Regulations, 2008
Environmental Management and Sets standards for discharge of waste in
Coordination (Water Quality) aquatic environment
Regulations 2006 Legal Notice No.
120
The Energy (Solar Water Heating) Regulation 10 (2) obliges the building
Regulations, 2012 Legal Notice No. owner to maintain the solar water
43 heating system as required by the
building code and applicable legislations
 Statutory Sources of
Maintenance Standards in
Kenya
Title of Legislation/regulation Details
The Provisions of the Building Section 58 (i) and Section 184 obliges contractors and
Code proprietors to effectively construct and maintain drains,
grounds and clear all the outlying vegetable matter
Code of Regulation for Civil Section L (B) obliges occupiers of government houses,
Servants whether owned or leased by government, to maintain
them in a thorough clean and satisfactory condition
together with fittings, fixtures, grounds, gates and
fences
 The Significance of Maintenance
on the Economy
• Building maintenance is a chain of activities that utilizes
resources and generates output throughout the
economy
• The importance of building and facilities maintenance in
any economy emanates from its complex nature,
involving the interaction between the technical, legal
and financial aspects that govern the use of buildings
• The emphasis on meeting standards that are relative to
the users/occupants and are, at times, in conflict with
the building owner continuously makes building
maintenance a complex undertaking requiring diverse
skills and management
• The combination of these activities and resources spent
has a multiplier effect in an economy
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building and
facilities maintenance in an economy include:
1. Buildings such as factories, offices, institutional
buildings and residential developments have to be put
in place before corresponding sectors of the economy
can fulfill their contribution to local development
process. Apart from being physical indicators of
national development progress, buildings and
infrastructure account for an extremely large proportion
of national investment and wealth. It is estimated that
60% to 70% of the national wealth and about 20% of
annual investments are in buildings, infrastructure and
related facilities. These buildings require to be
maintained in order to save this important national
wealth and allow them to continue offering support to
the various sectors of the economy.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building
and facilities maintenance in an economy
include:
2. The buildings and infrastructure needs to be
maintained as maintenance is economical
compared to new construction. The cost of new
construction per unit area and the time taken
for new construction is high and long compared
to repairs and maintenance. Maintenance
expenditure could be relatively small,
sometimes requiring an annual expenditure of
less than 5% of the replacement cost of the
facility. Consequently, investment in
maintenance of buildings and infrastructure
results in higher comparative returns.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building
and facilities maintenance in an economy
include:
3. If effectively planned, maintenance of buildings and
infrastructure generates employment. On average, infrastructure
and building maintenance requires an annual labour input
equivalent to 20% of the total used in the initial construction.
Maintenance works are generally considered low level and hence
awarded to small to medium sized construction firms. These firms
employ unskilled and semi-skilled labour and hence offer
employment to the category of the labour that would otherwise
remain unemployed. There are many tasks of building and
infrastructure maintenance within the competence of small local
contractors and can use the experience to allow for expansion to
large-scale operations. Thus, maintenance of buildings and
infrastructure provides the basis of promoting local contracting
skills and for generating employment opportunities
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building
and facilities maintenance in an economy
include:
4. Maintenance of buildings and infrastructure presents several
untapped opportunities to mobilize financial resources for
maintenance and, in some instances, to recover such
investment through cost recovery. Many of the maintenance
works are undertaken by small and medium-sized contractors
who do not have financial resources. These firms rely on the
financial sector to raise finances to fund maintenance works.
This process enhances the financial sector and allows it
innovate financial products for these SMEs. The funds invested
in maintenance of buildings and infrastructure must be
recouped through a process of cost recovery. This is done
through user charges, increased rents and other levies. The
recovered funds are reinvested and hence deepens the financial
sector.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building
and facilities maintenance in an economy
include:
5. There are instances where maintenance represents the sole
technical option in meeting development cost for buildings or
infrastructure. Many of the building components in older buildings
and infrastructure are no longer being produced. In addition, the
construction industry operates with many deficiencies resulting in
structures and facilities that are predetermined to fail due to
pervasive, incorrect design and construction/installation practices.
Building and infrastructure maintenance in these cases is
significant as a corrective measure to faulty designs and
construction practices. The mere use of the buildings, even in
cases where acceptable standards of construction are adhered to,
are still subject to one form of deterioration or another and
requires maintenance to simply keep them in working order. This
leads to technical innovation.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building
and facilities maintenance in an economy
include:
6. Most infrastructure facilities interact with
one another in such a way that failure to
maintain one facility could generate problems
beyond that particular facility by adversely
affecting others e.g., water shortage and
blocked sewer system. The repair and
maintenance of integrated system allow for
sustenance of habitable environment and
hence sue value.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of
building and facilities maintenance in an
economy include:
7. Buildings are substantial users of energy.
Most of the older buildings were designed and
build without regard to the issues of energy and
resultant negative impacts of high energy use
on the environment. Every time a maintenance
intervention is made, there is scope for
attending to matters of energy efficiency to
allow for use of sustainable sources of power.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• Some of the manifest importance of building
and facilities maintenance in an economy
include:
8. Wordsworth (2000) argues that the standard of
maintenance in an area reflects its level of prosperity,
social values and behavior. In many cases, it defines
the character of the community and its level of pride
and prestige. It has been observed that dilapidated
and unhealthy buildings in decaying environment
depress the quality of life and contribute to some
measure to anti-social behavior, low standards of
health and eventually low labour productivity. This, in
turn, depresses economic growth and the general
welfare of the entire economy.
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
• The significance of maintenance to the national
economy cannot be overemphasized
• Unfortunately, building maintenance has
remained undervalued in many societies because
of its diffuse nature, the many agencies involved
in setting and enforcing standards and the
incremental nature
• In a broader sense, the constrains of building
maintenance in any economy can be categorized
in terms of institutional; managerial; design,
construction and user generated problems;
general personnel and equipment problems; and
financial problems
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
Institutional constraints and possible
intervention measures

the legislative framework is enact one legislation dealing

scattered in very many Acts of with matters of building and
Parliament and subsidiary infrastructure maintenance
legislation ensure that departments
the legislative framework sets charged with maintenance of
maintenance standards that are public buildings and
not affordable and achievable infrastructure as well as pooled
within the local framework private properties have adequate
the organs mandated to mandate to undertake
maintain public properties are maintenance works
many and are without adequate constitute a body to be charged
legislative and administrative with the responsibility of setting
ability to undertake maintenance maintenance standards,
works reviewing the set standards and
there is no single body charged supervise and enforce compliance
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
Management problems and possible
solutions

shared responsibility institutionalize

between landlord and management processes in
tenant without undertaking the maintenance
due consideration on the management through
desire and ability of the annual maintenance plan
assigned party and budgets
low ranking of accord maintenance
maintenance departments department the same level
in the organizational as new construction in the
structure organization
lack of maintenance institutionalize
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
Design, construction and use generated problems and the
possible solutions

many design processes are involve end users/property

undertaken and completed managers in the design process
without involving the end users educate end users on the
faulty designs are common significance of maintenance
lack of training of the end users institute a clear process of user
on the optimal use of the facility feedback
and maintenance
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
General personnel and equipment problems and
possible solutions

inadequate number of staff invest in training and

and/or staff without relevant retraining of staff involved in
technical skills maintenance works
lack of training and innovate local equipment
continuous re-training of with reasonable
staff involved in maintenance costs
maintenance
inadequate and/or
unsatisfactorily maintained
maintenance equipment
 The Significance of
Maintenance on the Economy
Financial problems and possible solutions

inadequate budgetary set realistic budgets

allocation towards improve cost recovery
maintenance programs
poor cost recovery strategy institutionalize cost-in use
bad financial management analysis
systems
lack of financial planning
underdeveloped financial
sector
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Many people have argued that the expenditure on

building maintenance is too high-these views are
expressed without the understanding of the concept
of life-cycle of a building
• The starting point in the analysis of the economics of
maintenance is to appreciate the fact that
construction resources are limited-without doubt,
there will always be financial constraints at any
decision time
• It is necessary that attempts are made to achieve
optimum allocation of manpower, materials and
capital between maintenance and improvement of
existing buildings and the construction of new
buildings
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Building owners tend to go in for new

construction because they are unaware of the
cost of maintenance and do not have the means
of predicting how much they ought to spend in
order to keep the building to an acceptable
standard
• It is important that a current balance is struck
between expenditure on new buildings and that
on maintenance
• The key issues of concern are:
Capital or development cost
Running costs-maintenance expenditure
 The Economics of Maintenance

100%
%

C
o 90%
m
m Development USE
i
t
t
e
d 30%
C
o
s
t
s 2% 8% 50% 100%
Feasibility Design Construction
Study Phase

Percentage of decisions made

The Economics of Maintenance
• The life of a building or infrastructure can be divided into
two stages:
 development phase
 user phase
• Decisions made at each phase have a direct and indirect
impact on the life and functionality of the building
• It has been observed that issues requiring decisions are
equally split between the development phase and the
user phase-that implies that 50% of decisions will be
made at the feasibility, design and construction phase
while the user phase accounts for the remaining 50%
• On the other hand, 90% of the verifiable costs are
incurred during the development phase and 10% during
the user phase
 The Economics of Maintenance

• The design of the building requires that decisions are

made in regard to the adaptability of the design,
building life, maintenance costs and new construction
costs
• Basing on economic considerations, strategic
decisions ought to be made by the design team and
the developer concerning the level of future
maintenance in terms of quality and expenditure
• During design stage, due consideration must be
accorded to the relationship between capital and
running costs
• Building should be appraised at the design stage or at
the time of purchase so as to determine both the
initial and long-term running and maintenance costs
 The Economics of Maintenance

• It is often suggested that the inverse

relationship exists between initial costs
and costs to the user
• In principal, a reduction in future running
costs may be gained by acceptance of
increased level of maintenance costs
• A typical building is much more likely to
be a compromise between a reasonable
standard of design and construction and
a modest level of maintenance
expenditure
The Economics of Maintenance

Higher Initial Costs

Lower User Costs

 The Economics of Maintenance

• The expenditure on the post-construction phase

will largely comprise of:
 Maintenance and repairs
 Alterations-works involved in providing improved
facilities to make more suitable for existing use
 Conversions-work involved in rearranging internal
spaces and/or providing new facilities to make a
building suitable for a new functional use
• The amount of funds expended on maintenance
works and related activities and the timing of the
expenditure determines the ultimate outcome,
measured in terms improved market value of the
entire property and value of the site and utility to the
occupant
 The Economics of Maintenance

• The extent to which maintenance is considered at

the design stage is likely to depend upon whether
or not the owner will be subsequent user
 Where the owner is a developer who intends
selling or leasing the building on completion, it is
probable that maintenance will be considered in
so far as it is likely to affect the sale price or rent
 It is possible that even where the owner and
user are the same, the initial costs of the building
and the subsequent maintenance costs will be
drawn from different sources and not related
 The Economics of Maintenance

• The balance of initial costs and maintenance costs

requires an understanding of the life cycle costing
• Life cycle is the period of time over which an asset
exists from the time it is conceived up to the time of
disposal/cessation
• The life of a building and infrastructure can be broken
down into physical life, functional life and economical
life
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Physical life is considered the period of which the

property and its elements will remain physically possible
for habilitation
• This is closely related to the speed of wear and tear from
regular use and the impact of the elements
• It is also conditioned with the spatial quality of the
location and the design of the building and infrastructure
• It is common to find that the various elements of a
property will have different physical life cycle and hence
the need to differentiate/ isolate these different life spans
• The physical life of the entire building/facility and various
components can be extended indefinitely until it no
longer fulfils its functional purposes for which it was
originally designed
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Functional life is defined as the period

during which a satisfied tenant would be
prepared to occupy the premises which
would not require appreciably more
maintenance than newer but otherwise
similar buildings
• It is simply the life that the building and
infrastructure offers comparable utility
and value as new and similar buildings
• The functional life can however be
extended by adaptation to another use
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Economic life is the period over which

improvements contribute to property value
• The economic life of a building is said to be
that period of effective life before
replacement where replacement takes
place when it will increase income
• It is also considered as the period of which
a satisfied tenant would be prepared to
occupy the premises which would not
require appreciably more maintenance
than newer but otherwise similar buildings
The Economics of Maintenance

• The economic life depends on the earnings,

value of the structure vis-à-vis the value of the
site on which it is constructed
• Over time, the economic life of the property will
have to be ascertained and that is considered as
the estimated period over which existing
improvements are expected to continue to
contribute to property value
• As a rule of thumb, the end of economic life of a
building is reached when the value of the site
exceeds the capital value of the structure or
rental value of the property
 The Economics of Maintenance

• At the end of the economic life, there are several options

available to the property owner:
i. Renovation
ii. Rehabilitation
iii. Remodeling
iv. Demolition and replacement with a suitable new structure
• This may dictate the replacement of the building with one
which will exploit the potential of the site to a greater
advantage
• The determining factor will be extent to which the value of
the replacement building exceeds the cost of building it and
the value of the existing building
• Other considerations will be social acceptance, the effects of
new technology, legislation and the spatial condition of the
neighbourhood
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Life cycle cost is the total cost of an item

over its total life
• It embraces all costs associated with the
ownership of the asset including
acquisition, maintenance and disposal costs
• Consideration of the future stream of
maintenance expenditure and the total life
cycle costs of existing dwellings can form
the basis for decisions on whether to
continue ownership, rehabilitation or sell
the dwelling
The Economics of Maintenance
Initial capital costs

Site User need for a Site capital design team Design Construct
building

Physical Throughout use= Routine maintenance

Demolition
Servicing
Functional Cleaning

Economic
Upgrading & Alteration/
Obsolescence
improvement extension

Rejuvenation=Continuance of use or change

Major
Secondary refurbishment
Capital costs

Cost in use
 The Economics of Maintenance

• A life cycle model will incorporate the following:

 The aggregated costs of acquisition or development
 The various components that make up the building and the required
maintenance activity or physical replacement
 Defining the timing and cost of maintenance for each item, the
service life before replacement is needed and the cost of
replacement
 Ascertaining, based on past experience, the probability that the
maintenance activity will arise
• In practical terms, life cycle costing has three distinct functions
as a tool for planning and decision-making.:
 Analysis of the characteristics of current stock of
housing/infrastructure
 Forecasting of maintenance and rehabilitation needs for short and
long-term
 Estimation of life cycle costs over such period
 Decision on what to do with the building/facility
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Life cycle costing is a concept introduced to assist in

decision-making for investment based on projected
total cost of system over its useful life
• It helps make the following important decisions:
 Whether to proceed with the project or abandon it- whether
the project is the best way of utilizing available resources?
 Choice between the alternative building solutions;
 The choice between alternative designs-finishes or in terms of
various components;
 The identification of the optimal level of provision of a material
or facility- current costs and future maintenance costs;
 The identification of the option that will give the fastest return
on capital;
 The identification of the option that will give the best overall
long-term returns on capital.
The Economics of Maintenance

• The costs of acquisition/capital cost

represent the amount of which must be
expended in order to achieve the
construction of the building:
 the cost of land
 the actual cost of construction
 professional fees
 professional fees
 cost of sale/purchase
 transfer costs
 Remedial works undertaken during defect
liability period
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Maintenance expenditure represents the

amount (considered on annual basis) that
the owner and/or occupants are prepared
to allocate to the building, irrespective of
whether the amount is adequate to
properly maintain the fabrics of the
building or not
• The quality of design, the materials used
and the standard of work done all
combine to affect maintenance costs
during the life of the building
 The Economics of Maintenance

• In ascertaining maintenance costs, consideration should be

given to the following items:
 Components/parts on which differing types of maintenance takes
place;
 The initial capital costs attributable to each component
 The durability of each component (replacement period)
 The extent of maintenance work required on average over the
whole life of that type of building , expressed as a percentage of
initial cost
 The cost of such maintenance activity
• The following works are excluded when considering life cycle:
 Complete replacement of the item
 Rehabilitation of buildings to a new standard or use
 Building cleaning
 The Economics of Maintenance

• Life cycle costing looks at the balance between initial

and future expenditures
• Life cycle costing is essentially an appraisal process,
with the critical decision being to dispose of building or
facility that has low values
• The appraisal can be based on deterministic model
(historical data approach/probabilistic approach) or
simulation incorporating various degrees of risk
• The data/information required include current value of
the building/facility, rental income of the building;
maintenance costs (preferably on annual basis),
remaining physical life of the property, inflation rate,
discount rate and market rate of return (opportunity
cost)
 HOUSING SURVEYS,
DEFECTS IDENTIFICATION
AND DIAGNOSIS
 House Condition Survey

• This is necessary to ascertain the state of

repairs and maintenance
• It specifically aims at detecting the
symptoms and possible causes so that
rectification/modification can follow
• House survey is a detailed inspection and
examination of the property in order to
meet the various purposes/objectives
 House Condition Survey

• The objectives of a housing conditional survey can be

many and a few of these include:
 To determine the need for repair in relation to the
maintenance standards
 To find out which part of the house needs repair and to
locate the deficiency in its quality
 To determine the types of operations necessary to
correct the deficiencies in the quality of the buildings
 To determine whether the maintenance approach
adopted in the past has been adequate
 To determine whether certain measures yield the
desired results and what the effect of alternative
measures is for policy making decision
 House Condition Survey

• Ordinarily, housing survey is required under the

following circumstances:
 Before purchase
 Before and after completion of building related works
 Before issue certificate of practical completion
 Before issue of a final certificate of occupation
 Periodically (especially after the rains season)
 For insurance policy
 For prospective mortgage
 For an owner who is worried of signs of structural
distress
 Legal requirement especially of public health and safety
 House Condition Survey

• House surveys require a combination of

manpower, skills and equipment/tools
• In the Commonwealth, the professional
associated with house condition survey is
a Building Surveyor
• In other jurisdictions, it is the duty of the
Building Maintenance Manager
• A critical skill in all cases is adequate
knowledge in building components and
their performance
 House Condition Survey

• The recommended tools and equipment are:

 Writing materials
 Folding or sectional surveyor’s ladder
 Linear measuring devices
 Mains powered light/rechargeable torch
 Moisture meter
 Binoculars
 Spirit level and plumb line
 Manhole keys, claw hammer and bolster
 House Condition Survey

• The recommended tools and equipment are:

 Mirrors
 Meter box keys, screwdrivers and wood
probes
 Digital camera
 Magnetic compass
 Endoscope
 Drain plugs and drains testing equipment
 Metal detectors
 House Condition Survey

• Inspection should follow a definite

procedure preferably beginning with the
inside of the building at the top and finish
outside at the bottom
• The focus should, however, be areas that
tend to give rise to problems such as:
 Where building elements come together
 Unusual design details or materials used
 Exposed areas
 Voids of various kinds
 Buildings on sloping sites
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• Preliminaries:
a. The surveyor undertakes an initial survey to determine
the tools and equipment required for the task
b. The surveyor notes the general character and
description of the property i.e. whether detached,
semi-detached, terraced, flat, bungalow, two-storey
house, three storey or other
c. The surveyor must note the general use of the land
and the gradient on which the building stands - If the
gradient is abnormal he will then be placed on big
guard over the possibility of ground movement and the
consequent need for a structural check on the
foundation design
d. An important feature of any survey is to ascertain the
age of the structure to be inspected.
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• Roof voids:
a. The type of roof covering and its condition
should be fully described-it may help to
draw a sketch plan of the roof and make a
note of the size and span of major
timber/roof members
b. Also inspect the ceiling, any ceiling
insulation, party walls and glade walls
which may be recent and electrical or
plumbing services in the roof space-the
details around and behind any chimney
stacks which may be seen from within the
roof should be carefully examined
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• Room-by- room inspection:
a.Take the dimensions in each room
b.Make note of the conditions of the ceilings,
walls and floors-
o doors and windows should be tested by opening and
closing and any distorted openings
o door architraves noted with sloping floors and
ceilings
o walls which are out of plumb
c.Fixtures, fittings, fixed appliances, electrical
points and other matters of interest should be
described
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• Basements, cellars and sub-floor areas:
It is recommended that sometime be spent examining
conditions in cellar areas and basement
Remember that many of the faults in a building originate,
more often than not, at roof or below-ground levels
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures

• The roofs:
a. The numbers of chimney flues to each stack should
be noted and checks made to trace these through to
their fire place to confirm if any flues are disused
b. The general condition of chimney, stack foundation,
pointing, buck work and rendering should be noted
c. The roof covering must be examined, paying
particular attention to chipped, cracked or laminated
tiles and slates and other signs of deterioration
d. A careful inspection of flat roofs, including the feel of
such roofs underfoot, is essential-soft areas of
decking, blistering dust trapped vapour, surface
cracking to asphalt and built-up felt and other
indication of trouble to come should be recorded
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• The elevations:
a. A sketch of each elevation may be drawn,
indicating any specific points of interest-one
should stand back and look for any works on
the walls caused by leaking overflows,
gutters and downpipes and then work these
points on the sketch
b. Inspection of the elevations should include
probing of pointing, rendering, brickwork and
any cracks or fractures
c. In addition, an examination and probing of
exterior woodwork especially lower window
and door frames and fascia are necessary
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• The site and surroundings:
a. The surveyor’s studies the general condition of the
boundaries and any outbidding
b. As for the surroundings, it is suggest that the
surveyor checks for any indications of possible
neighboring future development or redevelopment
including road schemes
• Drains-The surveyor should begin by lifting all
accessible manhole covers to check the drain
flow and inspect between manholes using a
mirror
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• Walls:
a. Check the thickness, lengths and locations of the walls
around and within the building, including any abutting or
connection walls which are part of adjoining premises or
boundaries
b. Their resistance to dampness rising up, penetrating
through or percolating down the walls
c. Their thermal efficiency
d. In the case of separating walls (or party walls), their sound
proofing properties
e. Exterior walls such as retaining walls or parapet walls
which form adjuncts to or extensions of the main structure-
examined to see whether or not they are plumb and level
f. The overall construction should be considered in relation to
the importance of the walls and the requirements of their
construction
 House Condition Survey,
detailed procedures
• Floors:
a. During the survey, the nature of the floor construction
in each part of the building should be confirmed
b. In older timber houses, the surveyor may encounter
uneven and sloping floors, some with considerable
gradients when floor joists are over-spanned, either
being so originally or having had intermediate support
removed from below-an overall gradient in one
direction will, of course, not due to deflection but will
indicate some fundamental movement in the bearings
to the floor joists
c. An examination around the perimeter of a floor is
always recommended since this could reveal any gaps
which may have opened up below skirting boards
d. Floors should be checked for level using a spirit level
where a visual inspection suggests a slope
Defects Identification and
Remedial Actions
 General Causes of Building
Defects and Decay
• Decay is perceived to be deterioration from an initial
condition or standard of performance to that condition
which is no longer adequate
 It is contrasted from wear and tear which is deterioration in a
component due to its use
 Decay is generally a natural process which may be
unavoidable
 General Causes of Building
Defects and Decay
• Defects are a condition that renders an item unsafe or
incapable of meeting functional or other customer
expectations
 Norwegian Building Research Institute define defects
are “unexpected expenditure incurred by the client following
taking possession of a property”
 Defects occur during the construction stage as well as while
the building is in occupation and are generally considered to
arise due to error or omission
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• The known general causes include:
a. Climatic/weather conditions
b. Biological agencies
c. Design deficiency
d. Construction/production
e. Use
f. Normal wear and tear
g. Maintenance management deficiency
 General Causes of Building
Defects and Decay
• Climatic/weather conditions- Buildings and
building components interact with climatic conditions
and this interaction affects the performance of the
buildings and their components and the climatic
conditions
 The impacts of climatic conditions vary in severity
according to the location and orientation of the
building
• Principal components of the weather include:
 Radiation- building parts have varying radiation
absorption qualities. The absorption of radiation
materials can lead to degradation, especially to
organic materials such as plastics, paints and
bituminous-based materials
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Climatic/weather conditions-
Temperatures- the varying temperature
levels exposes the building parts to
performances not designed for, hence causing
deterioration and failure
 High temperature accelerates corrosion in reinforced
concrete members, highest at temperatures above
22ºC
 Temperature changes cause dimensional changes in
materials
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
Climatic/weather conditions-
Moisture contents- associated with corrosion, condensation,
erosion and general failure
Emanates from:
 Water entering during construction
 Ground water
 Rain and snow
 Moisture from human activities
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
 Moisture contents can also viewed in terms of:
 Precipitation as a result of rain and snow affects
roof, walls and foundations and is most noticed
at points of joining-roof valleys, flashings of
chimneys among others
 Damp is manifested in peeling wallpaper,
cracked paintwork, cracked plaster, mould
(grey, green, blue) and rusting metals. Rising
dampness is found at the bottom of walls in
contact with the ground
 Condensation occurs when air cools below its
dew point and is easily manifested on the inner
face of the glass pane of a window
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
Moisture contents:
 High moisture contents accelerate corrosion in reinforced concrete
members. For example, it has been found that corrosion will start to
occur at 50% humidity and increase rapidly at 75%-90%
 Changes in humidity can lead to dimensional change in materials,
causing deformation, crazing and cracking
 Moisture also stimulates biological activity and acts as a medium or
catalyst in which reactions occur
•
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Climatic/weather conditions-
Gaseous constituents and polluted air- gases
such as carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide have been
known to react adversely with building components by
causing corrosion
Sun/ultraviolet light:
 the sun can heat surfaces and spaces intensely
resulting in materials expanding, melting, moving,
blistering and cracking
 Metals will also expand and contract as
temperatures rise and fall. The UV rays radiated by
the sun can damage paintwork and plastics may
become brittle
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Biological agencies- this acts principally on timber
and other organic materials
 The main agent are fungi and insects and their impact
depends on the moisture content and temperatures
 The most destructive levels are moisture contents of over
20% and temperatures above 20ºC
 Dark, damp and stagnant conditions are also favoured by
various moulds
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Design deficiency-Recent studies ranks design
deficiency as either the number one or second major
cause of defects
• The main cause is mistakes or wrong choices
regarding various building technologies
• It is possible that the designer is not
adequately briefed
• The designers are often blamed for over
indulgence in conceptual aesthetics to a
degree that excludes practical reality
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Design typical mistakes of
deficiency:
commission and omission made by the
design include:
 Wrong choice of materials or components
 Inadequate provision for movement
 Inadequate incorporation of environmental influences
 Inadequate attention to water
 Complex details that have a low probability of successful
execution on an open building site
 Inadequate site supervision and the checking of
materials and workmanship for compliance with
specifications of the building code
 Reluctance to share information and incorporate user
feedback in the design process
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Design deficiency:
 Studies have indicated that 58% of all building and
component failures are associated with failure to follow
established design criteria
 Design and maintenance are traditionally regarded as two
separate activities divided by time and undertaken by
professionals having minimal knowledge or respect for each
other’s problems
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Construction/production-
 Cases of batches of defective products are placed on
the market with defects that cannot be immediately
detected
 Builders are known for lack of care and skilling and any
apparent motivation to produce a good quality product
 The poor supervision of the construction process
exacerbates the occurrence of defects caused by
construction and production failures
 Materials can also be damaged in transit, loading and
unloading, unsuitable conditions of storage on site and
hoisting and placing in position
Studies suggest that 35% of the failures are directly
associated with
faulty construction procedures
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Use- defects may be caused by unintentional
misuse through a lack of information on the
correct mode of use, or by deliberate acts of
vandalism
 Certain defects may be related to the social attitudes
and financial circumstances of the user
 Often improper use is the cause of damage which
emphasizes the weakness of both floors and floorings,
giving rise to irreversible reaction or degenerating
phenomenon with immediate consequences
 Defects may also occur as a result of wrong or
inadequate or overzealous cleaning or other
maintenance regimes
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• User related generators of maintenance works relates
to changing standards and tastes
 These factors do not worsen the existing conditions but may
create a demand for works to be carried out more frequently
than functionally required
 Over a period of time, the gap between the standards
demanded by the user and those provided by the building is
likely to worsen
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
Standards

User requirements Improvements

(modernization)
Original
Standards

Deterioration Maintenance

Time
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• User:
• The chance that changes in users’ tastes
will be considered as a defect depends on
the following:
 The adequacy of the design and the suitability
of the materials specified/used
 The standard of workmanship in the initial
construction and subsequent maintenance
 The extent to which the designer had
anticipated future needs
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Normal wear and tear-This is depicted in
depreciation
 Depreciation is conceived to be the difference
between the market value of an improvement and
its reproduction or replacement costs
 The causes of depreciation include:
 Physical deterioration
 Functional obsolescence
 ‘Built-in obsolescence’ relates to the general perception
that a product has, built into it, something that means it
will become dated and will need to be replaced at some
stage in future, perhaps quite soon
 External obsolescence-is an impairment of the utility of an
improvement or property due to negative influence
outside the property
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Normal wear and tear:
• Depreciation can occur in form:
(a) Linear depreciation results in constantly decreasing annual
capital costs
(b) Degressive (decelerated)- greatest loss occurs in the early years
when all services supplied are demanded and highly valued by
the market
(c) Progressive (accelerated)- depreciation cost is relatively low in
the first years with the slow loss of value of each separate part of
the building
 General Causes of
Building Defects and
Decay
• Maintenance management deficiency-
poor maintenance management is one of
the greatest cause of building defects or
escalation of the impacts of the defects
 If maintenance is carried out superficially or
without expertise through intervention not
supported by examination of the causes
creating the problem in question, the end
result is building defects
 Deficient maintenance management is also
depicted in negligence and high levels of
building components vandalism
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Avoidance of defects- this is considered the
cheapest approach of dealing with defects
 This can be exercised at the inception/pre-design
stage, at the design stage, at construction stage
and at user stage
 Defects can be avoided at the design stage
through:
 Deep knowledge on the part of members of the
design team
 Experience, both good and bad
 Understanding of the context and what is required
 Commitment and care on the part of all participants
 Clear criteria of assessment of the design
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Avoidance of defects:
 Defects can be avoided at the design stage through:
 Sound application of the principles of good design
 Effective communication
 Simplicity
 Contractor taking time as early as possible to
scrutinize the drawings, specifications, contracts,
standards and suppliers and their
recommendations to identify potential issues as
far as possible
 Sampling and testing for compliance against
appropriate criteria
 Avoid accepting a building as practically complete
when it has defects, however minor they might be
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Total quality control
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Repairs through:
 Application of protective coatings
 Cleaning
Repairs are recommended where:
 Funding is short and not adequate for effective and efficient
replacement
 The building has a short or uncertain life ahead
 If the damaged item is injurious to the use of the building
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Replacement- this can be considered
when:
 It is functionally or aesthetically
unsatisfactory, or
 The repair and running costs are excessive or
 Aesthetically unacceptable
The choice is whether to replace with an
identical component or with one of a different
type which has a better performance-this can
be resolved by considering the costs and lives
of the alternative courses of action
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Alterations- this can be considered when:
 Increasing the value of the asset
 More convenient or effective use of the building
 Reduction in overall costs
 Better appearance
 Compliance with statutory requirements
 General Responses to
Building Defects
• Conversion- process of making old buildings fit for new
uses
 Key issues to consider include:
• Physical condition of the building and its probable life expectancy
• Planning regulations
• Size of the space within the building and the ease with which they can
be changed
Building Maintenance
Management
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Maintenance management is a rational discipline
that has well set ways of going about it
• Lee (1987) opined that a systematic approach to
asset management involves the following steps:
 Setting maintenance objectives,
 Compilation of detailed data base,
 Determination of the condition of the building,
 Analysis of the usage and performance of the building
space,
 Application of life cycle costing techniques to optimize all
resources,
 Formulation of an investment program itemizing the
expenditure requirements of the various activities and
stating how the money is going to be raised, and
 Preparation of an integrated action plan.
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Maintenance management involves
planning, organizing, controlling and
directing maintenance resources in a
short term
• In this regard, maintenance management
is a process that involves the following
steps:
Planning Organizing Mobilization Controlling
Monitor activities
Select objectives Delegate tasks Motivating
Develop way to Procure resources workforce Monitor workforce
achieve objectives Coordinate tasks Communicate vision Monitor output
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Planning for maintenance works involves consideration
of the likely performance of a building over its entire
life under the prevailing environmental conditions
 Maintenance planning is an exercise in deciding in advance
the jobs, the methods, tools, machines, labour and time
required and the timing of the maintenance actions
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Organizing of maintenance works requires an
understanding and appreciation of maintenance
scope of work
 For example, the scope of work for a typical office
block by their relative weighting with regard to cost
includes:
a. Utilities 28%
b. Overhead 21.5%
c. Administration 17%
d. Cleaning 16.5%
e. Fabric 6.5%
f. Services 6%
g. Decoration 4.5%
 The proportion assigned to various building components or
elements will, however, fluctuate depending on complexity
of a building or design solutions
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Mobilization is a management function of
staffing and leading
 The key objective is to attract and retain the
correct type of the technical and support skills,
considering the scope of maintenance works
 Leadership is about inspiring people to intensify
their desire and willingness to execute their
duties effectively and to cooperate for the
accomplishment of common objectives
 The process of motivation is highly upon the
understanding of human need and psychology
and satisfying the same
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Controlling of maintenance activities is
concerned with measuring performance against
objectives, determining the causes of deviations,
and taking corrective action where necessary
 Controlling is a three-stage procedure that involves:
• setting of standards,
• measuring performance against the set standards,
and
• taking corrective action
 The most common types of standards are qualitative
standards and quantitative standards
 Some of the tools for control are budgets, productivity,
return on investment, profitability, market share and
other revenue standards
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• A budget is a statement of costs, revenues and
resources designed to support an activity or program
over a specified period reflecting a reading of future
financial conditions and goals
 Budgeting can also be viewed as the establishment of a
planned level of expenditure usually at a fairly detailed level
covering specific time frame
 The Concept of Building
Maintenance Management
• Maintenance management should be designed
to achieve the following principles:
An organization wide commitment to quality;
Creating an appropriate climate through institutionalizing
work process and activity based management;
Focus on occupancy satisfaction;
Effective communication channels;
Precision;
Optimal allocation of resources;
Effective performance monitoring systems; and
Staff training, development and empowerment
• The observance of the above principle increases the
productivity of workers, reduces incidents, eliminates
incidences of network and wastages and improves quality
 Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• The maintenance works required can be
reactive, preventive and proactive
maintenance
 Reactive maintenance can also be referred to as corrective
while proactive maintenance implies planned maintenance
 A broader classification of maintenance categorizes
maintenance as either routine or periodic, depending on the
timing of its execution
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• The conventional maintenance approach uses
procedures that are corrective and condition
based
 This is a reactive rather than proactive and is executed
just on the condition of the building as revealed by
inspection
 This version of maintenance is not planned but only
undertaken during breakdowns or when defects have
arisen
 It is, however, a common practice that most
maintenance management practices are failure driven,
time based, and reliability centered and are, therefore,
both predictive and condition based. This approach
involves planning, organizing, directing and controlling
maintenance resources in a short term
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• Preventive maintenance is maintenance carried out at
pre-determined intervals according to prescribed
criteria and intended to reduce the probability of failure
or degradation of the functioning of an item
 Preventive maintenance aims at preventing unexpected
equipment breakdown or building component failure, which in
the long run reduces total maintenance costs
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• Planned maintenance is a schedule based maintenance
necessary to prolong the life of plant/equipment and
building fabric and can be preventive, routine and/or
cyclic
 The principle of planned maintenance is derived from
compliance to statutory requirements and systematic repair,
renewal or replacement of building components including
electrical/mechanical equipment which encompasses
preventive and cyclic maintenance strategies
 Cyclic maintenance usually involves replacement of building
components whose life span has expired
 In sum, planned maintenance seek to maintain structural
characteristics of buildings in order to limit interruptions to
functionality through repair or replacement programs of
internal and external decorations, fittings, finishes among
others.
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• Planned maintenances have many advantages:
 Economy of scale as materials can be ordered
in bulk and in advance;
 Tenant satisfaction –tenants can see things
are being done and also they can plan their
lives when major work is to be undertaken on
the property;
 Reduced stress on the maintenance team as it
eliminates crisis management; and
 Provides for emergencies which are eminent
and cannot therefore be avoided.
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• Predictive maintenance management
uses the current deterioration condition
of a facility to predict future maintenance
requirements through the use of
elaborate model designed within its
service life
 This requires the determination of timing of future
maintenance programs including the scope of the same
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• The prediction model includes:
 Estimation based on experience-this is a method
but does not allow for a thorough assessment and
qualification and might lead to inaccurate results

 Deductions from performance of similar

materials-this approach is reliable when sufficient
past data is available but is not reliable when
conditions under which the model was developed
differs from that when it is applied
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• The prediction model includes:
 Accelerated or non-accelerated testing-this is a service life
based prediction process
 The model has two major setbacks:
Requires detailed information on
deteriorating and extensive testing, which
could be expensive and time wasting
Reliability depends on whether the
testing conditions simulate the actual
field conditions where it is applied
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• The prediction model includes:
 Model based on deterioration process-this process was
initially applied to evaluate the performance of paint wall
finishes
 It is effective only for monitoring deterioration but does not take into
account all conditions to which the building element or component is
exposed to.
 Application of stochastic models-relies on collection of
statistical data for the determination of deterioration at any
point in time.
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• The prediction model includes:
 Estimation based on trending from previous cost/budget data-
this model is based on data collected under similar conditions
 It is economical, simple and friendly
Types and Management of
Maintenance Works
• Maintenance management works can also
be categorized as follows:
 Opportunistic maintenance is maintenance of
an item that is deferred or advanced in time
when unplanned opportunity becomes available
 Deferred maintenance is corrective
maintenance which is not immediately initiated
after fault recognition but is delayed in
accordance with given maintenance rules
 Emergence maintenance is maintenance that is
necessary to put in hand immediately to avoid
serious consequences
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Maintenance of properties is an increasingly
challenging tasks and it is bound to become more
problematic and complex
• This determines the level of tenants satisfaction
and hence the performance of the property
investment
• The selection of a maintenance approach is,
therefore, a critical decision for a property
manager
• The property maintenance approach adopted is
dictated by the allocation of maintenance
responsibilities between the landlord and the
tenant as well as the general public
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Full landlord responsibility- this is an
arrangement where the entire maintenance
responsibility is taken up by the landlord
 These are rare occasions and when this
happens, the arrangement is referred to as full
repairing leases
 The most common arrangement is the serviced
apartment where the landlord provides all
services including repairs but at a premium rent
 However, many typical leases apportion
responsibility of external, structural and
common components to the landlord and
internal works to the tenants
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Full tenant responsibility- the allocation of
responsibility to the tenants depends on the
tenant’s intentions and financial abilities
 The allocation of maintenance responsibility to
the tenant comes with two distinct dangers,
namely:
• The tenant is not qualified to identify and diagnose building defects
and component failure/ or may not have operational manuals or design
drawings of the buildings
• There is a likelihood of the tenant concealing defects because of the
financial implications
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Full tenant responsibility
 The practice has developed some safeguards
to mitigate the above challenges
 It is recommended for example:
That the manager prepares a schedule of the
state of repairs and condition prior to the
commencement of the tenancy:
 This serves as historical record and assists in the
resolution of differences in interpretation
 It may also provide a firm basis for a claim for
dilapidations on the expiry of the tenancy
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Full tenant responsibility
 The practice has developed some safeguards
to mitigate the above challenges
 It is recommended for example:
That the manager exercises the right to enter the
premises after giving notice to inspect the state
and condition of the premises
 That the manager further exercises the power to
serve a notice on the lessee to remedy any defects
found as a result of such inspection and for the
works to be carried out by the landlord at the
tenant’s expense where the tenant fails to do so
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Collaboration approach- the management of
repairs and maintenance is, ultimately, collaboration
between the landlord and the tenant
 The partnership between the landlord and the tenant is
challenged by differing interests-there exist slight
differences in perspective between landlords and
tenants as they perceive the repair problem:
 The landlord is primarily concerned with providing a
means by which the property can be maintained while the
tenants are usually more concerned with comfort for
living purposes and more immediate payoffs
 The challenge is to convince the tenant to see how long-
term goals need to be weighed against immediate results
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Collaboration approach
 The success of the collaborative approach to building
maintenance is people and systems
 This requires that the manager recruits, trains and retains suitable
staff and institute a working system that is efficient and effective.
 The system considered should incorporate the following:
Tenant and landlord education to allow
understanding of the shared responsibility,
standards of maintenance and reporting system
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Collaboration approach
 The system considered should incorporate the
following:
 Procedure necessary to record the notification and to set into motion
the appropriate action
 People involved- the person reporting the defect and those within the
organization who act upon the notification received
 Training the person who receives the repair request
 Cutting down the number of stages in the transmission of information
 Property Maintenance
Approaches
• Collaboration approach
 The system considered should incorporate the
following:
 Inspecting to avoid wrong diagnosis
 Post-inspection-tenant indicating satisfaction with the repairs
 Regular meeting with the tenants for joint review
 Analysis over a period of time of repair notifications and work that has
been undertaken
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Policy
 Maintenance policy defines the environment
and ground rules for the delivery of
maintenance management services
 BS 3811 defines maintenance policy as a
strategy within which decisions on
maintenance are taken
 Alternatively, it can be defined as the ground
rules for the allocation of resources (workers,
materials and money) between the alternative
types of maintenance action that are available
to management
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Policy
 Lee and Scott (2009) define maintenance policy as a written
document that provides for a framework within which to
execute maintenance program to met a maintenance
standard, strategy and objectives
 Consequently, maintenance policy should be aligned to the
organization’s overall strategy
 Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Policy
 Contents:
• The Policy statement
i. Maintenance policy in relation to overall management policy
in the organization
ii.Objectives of maintenance policy
iii.Legal considerations and responsibilities
iv.Environmental policy
 Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Policy
 Contents:
• The policy as it relates to building owners
i. Standards of maintenance
ii.Security and access
iii.Work in occupied premises
 Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Policy
 Contents:
• Organization
i. Management staff
ii.Preventive maintenance and the planning cycle
iii.Identifying maintenance needs
iv.Routine servicing requirements and cycles
v.The reaction time required between a defect occurring and a
repair being carried out
 Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Policy
 Contents:
• Procurement
i.Use of contractors and/or direct labour-proportion and
type of work
ii.Contractor listing policy- contractor selection and
vetting
iii.Contract- types, costs, timescales, levels of service
iv.Emergence and disaster routine
• Monitoring and feedback
i.Reporting to the management board
ii.Quality management routines
iii.Benchmarking
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Manual
 Maintenance manual is a reference handbook which guides
the landlord, tenant and building maintenance team on
procedures for executing maintenance works
 It can also be considered as a document that has information
necessary for planning, budgeting and execution of
maintenance works
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Manual
 The information that is generally included in a
building maintenance manual include:
• Sources of information
• Materials incorporated in a building
• Construction techniques used
• Operating instructions
• Operation and maintenance precautions
• Anticipated life of the building, its elements together with
electrical/mechanical installations
• Anticipated operational and maintenance costs throughout
its lifespan
• Servicing contracts
• List of as-built drawings
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Plan
 This is a detailed program of maintenance works to be
undertaken and the execution approaches to be adopted for a
specific period of time, more often on annual basis
 A maintenance plan makes it possible that the works needed
to repair and maintain the building will be identified and
carried out
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Plan
• Maintenance plans are prepared based on a
methodological approach:
• Inspection/assessment of the building
• Total and percentage repairs and replacements per
element and in total, analysed per year
• Assess inter-relationships
• Identify appropriate package of work
• Smoothen work flow processes
• Make judicious allowances for work identified from
further investigations
• Consult appropriate stakeholders
• Review and revise the plan
• Publish and move to implementation phase
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
 In the context of building maintenance, budget is both
financial and planning tool facilitating short, medium and
long term maintenance operations, whether planned or
unplanned
 A maintenance budget has been described as a means of
equating available financial resources to planned
expenditure
 It is an attempt to ascertain as accurately as one can
be the actual work absolutely necessary to be done in
the period (usually a year) and to attribute to it the
likely costs
 For maintenance, it has been recommended that the
budgetary period should be related to the rate of
deterioration of a significant element of the building
stock
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
 Budgets are formulated on the basis of previous year’s
expenditure/activities
 This is based on tenders received to carry out specified or similar
works in the previous year with a percentage increase to allow for
intervening inflation in costs and contingent sum added to allow for
foreseeable and/or unforeseeable extra works that may be incurred
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
 A budget should contain estimated costs,
detailed activities plan and standards against
which actual performance can be measured
and deviations identified for investigation
 Typically a maintenance budget contains the
following sections:
• Title
• Statement of policy
• Breakdown of proposed expenditure in terms of type of costs, type of
work, location and method of execution
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
 Typically a maintenance budget contains the
following sections:
• Discretionary items- works that are strictly not
maintenance but are desirable to enable the building
to be used more efficiently such as replacements of
major components and alterations/extensions to
existing building
• Cash flow- indicating the timing of the proposed work
and the cash flow pattern over the budget period
• Labour force
• Appendices
 A maintenance budget must also incorporate a section
for the source of revenue
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
• Some of the common sources of revenue for
maintenance are:
Service Charge- this is considered to a ‘charge
for those items the execution of which is, under
the terms of the lease, the initial responsibility of
the owner but the cost of which is met by the
occupier’
• The most common method of apportionment is
the floor area basis where the charge is that
proportion of the total costs which the floor area
of the unit bears to the overall floor area
• The method has potential shortcomings, chief among them being an equal
charge for differential use of services
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
Service Charge-
 The other approach is to calculate the service charge payable on the
basis of the amount of services consumed
 This approach will require frequent inspection and measurement of tenant’s
needs and consumption
 The best option is to seek to meter separately services of individual
consumption (such as electricity) and charge the rest on the common
pool- the matrix approach
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
• Some of the common sources of revenue for
maintenance are:
 Increase in rent- this entails a review of the applicable
rent to allow the landlord recover a substantial
expense that have substantially improved the
standards of the housing unit
 The increase in rent will be depend on the required
payback period for the investment
 Debt/bank loan- the use of this approach will depend
on appraisal of the property on the basis of the 4Cs of
borrowing
 It is always advisable to use this approach where the cash
flow allows for debt servicing without comprising on the
quality of services/standards
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
• Some of the common sources of revenue for
maintenance are:
 Sinking Fund- this is applicable where a certain
amount of rental revenue is set aside and
investment in order to accumulate to a certain
known amount
 Such an approach is used to finance major
works/replacement that have a known time span and
the future costs can be estimated with some degree of
accuracy
 Building maintenance works such as replacement of lifts
and other mechanical conveyors, roofs and sanitary
fittings commonly adopt the sinking fund approach
Maintenance Management
Documents
• Maintenance Budget
• Some of the common sources of revenue for
maintenance are:
Personal savings- common for some works in
residential properties

User charges- common in public projects

where users of the infrastructure/facility pay
some amount for every service consumed in
order to raise funds for maintenance

Government grants- for public bodies

• The grants could be specific or general
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• Maintenance works can be undertaken by:
a. internally employed labour
b. contract/ outsourced labour
c. mixed approach
d. the facilities management approach
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• In deciding the approach to adopt, consider the
following factors:
Skills- the skills or a set of skills required to undertake
an assignment vary
 The organization will be guided on the availability of such skills,
internally or externally, in making the decision to outsource or
undertaken the task internally
Cost- when an activity or service is outsourced,
suppliers charge for the use of the service
 In essence, outsourcing makes the costs more visible while
internal labour is characterized by hidden labour. Externally
executed works enables direct and precise cost allocation and
conversion of fixed costs into variable costs
Focus on core business- the need to focus on core
areas of business expertise is a key decision on
whether to outsource or undertake works from within
 Organizations in highly competitive industries tend to focus more
on core areas of business and outsource non-core functions.
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• In deciding the approach to adopt, consider the
following factors:
Urgency of the situation- in-house labour is best suited
for urgent needs that require to be attended to as soon
as they occur
In this regard, unplanned maintenance is undertaken by in-house
labour while planned works are outsourced.
Flexibility- this refers the ability to adapt to new,
changing or different environment and circumstances
In terms of flexibility, in-house labour easily adopts while external
labour will adopt at an extra cost
Defect diagnosis- familiarity with the system allows for
speedy diagnosis
Consequently, internal labour easily and speedily diagnose defects
compared to externally sourced labour
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• In deciding the approach to adopt, consider the
following factors:
Quality of services- cases of repeat jobs are
common
Repeat jobs for internal labour will be done using
resources of the organization while the additional costs will
be borne by contractors in the case of outsourced labour
External labour will, therefore, tend to produce high
quality services to prevent additional expenses on time
and resources
Technology- in-house labour will be most
suited to attend to technological problems as
they best understand the technology of the
company than outsourced labour.
Execution of Maintenance
Works
• Internal labour refers to situations
where the estate maintenance works are
undertaken by a team directly employed
by the organization
• Internally employed labour for
maintenance works can be organized in
terms of:
 Estate/property based repair using multi-trade teams
 Zoned maintenance with a repair team visiting each estate or
area according to a predetermined cycle
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• In-house labour is favoured under the following
circumstances:
 Where the work requires specialized skills that are not easily
available in the market
 Where there is need to control the quality of the works and
the processes
 Where a personal touch is required
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• Internal labour:
 require an elaborate management structures and established
of a large workforce that might not be fully engaged
throughout
 this is generally wasteful and uneconomical
 there is a general trend of having a smaller workforce to deal
with routine and minor works and outsourced
planned/programmed maintenance works and major
corrective maintenance works
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• External labour or outsourcing occurs when
a service is commissioned from an external
supply organization usually under the terms of
formal contractual agreement
There may be several of these contractual
relationships operating in parallel for a range of
services from a variety of suppliers
• The arguments advanced for outsourcing most
of the estate management works include:
The need to avoid getting involved in the
supervision of workers, to avoid legal and public
liabilities on behalf of the employees among others
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• External labour or outsourcing
• The arguments advanced for outsourcing most of the
estate management works include:
It is believed that externally contracted works, if the
right contractor has been selected, are of superior
quality and in fact cheaper
It was also argued that the manager has more room
to enhance the quality of work by threatening not to
pay or offer contracts in the future
Risk-sharing-outsourcing certain components of
maintenance processes help the organization shift
certain responsibilities to the outsourced contractor;
Outsourcing gives the organization more time to
concentrate on core processes
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• External labour or outsourcing has some inherent
challenges:
Inability to develop institutional capacity
Risk of exposing confidential information
about the organization
Synchronizing the deliverables- stretched
timelines, substandard quality output and
inappropriate categorization of responsibilities
Higher costs
Lack of customer focus
 Execution of Maintenance
Works
• Partnership or strategic alliance is adopted
where the organization and a service provider
enter into a working arrangement based on
sharing responsibilities for the delivery and
performance of the specific service
The arrangement allows for sharing of benefits arising
from any efficiency gains and cost savings
• Total facilities management is where a range
of services are packaged together and
externalized to a single supply organization
which become totally responsible for delivery,
monitoring, control and attainment of
performance objectives
 Tendering and Contracting

• Tendering is the process of hiring a person or a firm to

undertake maintenance works
 This is a necessary step before the works can be executed
• The ability to optimize resource allocated to
maintenance largely depends on how well the
tendering process has been undertaken
 Tendering and Contracting

• There are three systems of tendering,

namely:
 Open system of tendering occurs when the whole
population of potential builders is invited to tender
for the works through an advertisement in local
and international newspapers
 The advert details the kind of work to done, the basic
requirements and submission date
• Selective tendering system is a more common
system for getting the contractor where there is
needs to control the quality of work
 In this system, a number of firms are shortlisted based
on various reasons/criteria and invited to tender for the
work
 Tendering and Contracting

• There are three systems of tendering,

namely:
 Negotiated tendering involves inviting a
particular firm or person to tender for the work
and opening negotiation on the tender sum
and other terms of the contract
 This system eliminates the issue of competition and
is particularly favoured:
 Where a client has put confidence in the performance of the particular
contractor
 Where there is a contractor who is specialized in that particular type of work
 Where the work is required to be started before the tender documents are
ready
 Tendering and Contracting

• The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act

No. 33 of 2015 provides for several forms of
procurement for public bodies:
 Open Tendering (Section 96-98)
 Two-Stage Tendering (Section 99)- proposal
then priced tender
 Design Competition (Section 100 & 101)-
architectural, physical planning and any other
design scheme, engineering, graphics or any
other design scheme
 Restricted Tendering (Section 102)
 Direct Procurement (Section 103 & 104)
 Tendering and Contracting

• The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act

No. 33 of 2015 provides for several forms of
procurement for public bodies:
 Request for Quotation (Section 105 & 106)
 Low-Value Procurement (Section 107 & 108)
 Force Account (Section 109)
 Framework Agreement (Section 114)- limited
to 3 years
 Estimating Methods

• Estimating methods are techniques of arriving at the

cost of maintenance works
 It is important to know how much it costs to achieve the
works even before the designing has been done
 Estimating Methods

• The commonest estimating method before the

work is actually designed:
 Unit method of estimating/functional methods: The
yardstick in this method is cost per unit
 The cost is allocated to each unit of accommodation. For
example, a hospital with a hundred beds or a hotel with a
100 bed suites
 This method is used in very early stages of design even
before the architect has drawn sketches
 It is not very reliable and only gives the range of costs. As
the design progress, more reliable data/method can be
used
 It is quick and simple to use and is very useful for budget
preparation
 It is not precise and there are too many adjustments that
have to be made
 Estimating Methods

• The commonest estimating method before the

work is actually designed:
• Cube method of estimating: The cost per cubic contents is
the yardstick
 It allocates costs to the volume to get the cost per cubic meter
 It seeks to allocate costs to units of volume
 The method is only used in early stages of design and is used buildings
where volume is important such as churches, theatres and halls
 It is easy and quick and is commonly used when the estimates are
required at a short notice
 However, this method has been found to be unreliable estimating method
because of the following:
 The cost of foundations is not accounted for
 The cost is expressed in a unit not commensurate with the clients’
requirements-,most clients are not interested in volumes but only in
floor areas
 The cost of external works is not taken into account
 It does not take into account differences in specifications, plan shape
and storey heights
 Estimating Methods

• Cube method of estimating: However,

this method has been found to be unreliable
estimating method because of the following:
 The cost of foundations is not accounted for
 The cost is expressed in a unit not commensurate with the clients’
requirements-most clients are not interested in volumes but only in
floor areas
 The cost of external works is not taken into account
 It does not take into account differences in specifications, plan shape
and storey heights
 Estimating Methods

• Superficial methods/elemental estimating:

The basis is that the cost is allocated to units of
floor area
 The yardstick is cost per square meter or square foot
 The procedure is to measure the total floor area on
all floors between the external faces of the walls
 Adjustments have to be done to account for differing
specification and design
 This method is favoured because constructions costs
per square metre are easily and readily available and
hence the approach is considered more accurate
 However, the major shortcoming of this approach is
its inability to take into account the shape and total
height of the building
 Estimating Methods

• Storey enclosure method: In calculating the cost

of the building, it takes account of the plan shape,
total floor areas, the vertical positions of floors,
storey height, and extra cost of sinking basements- it
give some weighing to different components of the
buildings depending on their positioning
• Approximate quantities method: the cost is
assumed to be proportional to the lettable floor area
of a building of appropriate type, use and quality
 Used at a fairly advanced stage of the design process
 The QS can then measure from the drawings
 It is a more reliable and accurate
 It gives both the total costs and the allocation of the
costs for various components
 Estimating Methods

• Bills of Quantities: is a document prepared by

the QS from the drawings or any other design
information which fully describes and accurately
represents in the form of quantities the works
carried out from the project inception to
completion
 This is done with the ultimate objective to
enable contractors to place their tenders in
the most objective way by pricing their works
 It becomes a cost model of the project and is
used for financial management of the project
to the completion
 Estimating Methods

• BQs form a basis for:

 To provide a uniform basis of tendering
 The costing of any variations
 Preparation of interim valuations
 Planning of the working by the contractor by
estimating the quantity of materials required
and the labour
 The final account preparation at the end of the
contract
 Used for financial planning of the future
projects
 Estimating Methods

• BQ document contain the following sections:

(a) Preliminaries mean some items of cost which
cannot be allocated to any specific part or element of
the building which nevertheless have to be priced by
the contractor
 This includes insurance, temporary services like water,
power, roads, temporary buildings (store and offices),
scaffolding, lighting and security, plant tools and equipment
(b) Measure works is the actual quantities of works
which are broken down into further components of
work e.g., walls, roofing, plumbing and drainages
and electrical works
 It is governed by the standard method of measurements
which is a convention that is agreed upon by all the QS to
achieve uniformity
 Estimating Methods

• BQ document contain the following sections:

(c) Prime cost and provisional sums section
sums items of work which are of specialist nature
e.g., electrical installations and lifts and are provided
to be done by specialists by this section
 They are provided to cover the cost of information work
(provision sums) which could not be tendered for at the
time of preparation of the bills of quantities
 Provisional sums shall mean the sums that could not be
foreseen, defined or detailed by the time the tendering
document is issued
(d) The form of tender is where the tenderers
fill in their total quotation
 It indicates the price and the period of the works
 Estimating Methods

• BQ document contain the following sections:

(e) Specifications: A document containing
statements setting out requirements and
standards expected in the building works and
required standard of the finished products
 It contains information which cannot be read form
the drawing
 The statements will dwell on the quality of
materials and components, ways of handling and
storage of materials during transportation and on
site-it is aimed at controlling the final quality of the
executed work
 Construction Contracts

• These are categorized by the way the

contract sum is arrived at i.e.:
 the amount paid to the contractors as consideration
(price-based contracts)
 how the contractor is reimbursed for the works done
(cost-based contracts)
• The choice of the type of contract to be adopted
is influenced by the ability to introduce changes,
the allocation of risks and the start and
completion date of the project
 Construction Contracts

• Lump sum contracts: A specific sum of money is

stated in the contact as payment to the contractor for
the works
 The figure is arrived at before the contract is entered into
• Three variants of lump sum contracts exist:
• Based on bills of firm quantities - The bills of quantities are prepared
from complete working drawings
 The tender is awarded and, therefore, the price and bills form part of
the contract. The design must be complete prior to the assignment of
the contract
 It is favored due to the following merits:
• The commitment of both parties is known at the time of signing of
the contract and it is unlikely to change in the course of the contact
• The rates in the BQ form basis or valuation of variations
• Detailed breakdown of the tender is available making project
financial administration easy
 Construction Contracts

• Based on bills of approximate quantities- the design is not

complete and all the quantities are provisional
 The entire works will have to be re-measured at the
completion to determine the final figures
 This approach allows for construction works to start fairly
early before completion of the design
 The main drawbacks of this approach are:
• The commitment of the client and contractor is not
complete
• The works are to be re-measure which is always
expensive
• Protracted negotiations or even disputes are likely to
arise before the final figures are agreed upon
• Design decisions are likely to remain unknown and design
information is likely to remain unissued until it is too late
 Construction Contracts

• Based on drawings and specifications- The

tenderer is issued with a complete set of
drawings and specifications documents
 They then work from the drawing, do their own
quantities, price and then submit
 This will be a preferred approach due to its merits
which include:
 Tender documentation time is reduced drastically and
work can start on site earlier
 The parties have a clear picture of their commitment and
benefits
 There is no breakdown of the tender unless the client
requires there to be broken down
 Construction Contracts

• Schedule of Rates- The total sum of money to be paid for

the contracts is not clear at the time of entering into the
contract, instead the contractor submits rates for a list of
item prepared by the client
 The completed works are measured and paid according
to the agreed rates
 It is an acceptable approach as the work can commence
well before the design is complete
 The approach has some inherent challenges, notably:
• It is difficult to arrive at the best tender award in the
objective manner
• The commitment of the parties is not known at the time of
signing the contract
• The schedule rates are essentially averages and do not
reflect the particular conditions under which individual items
of work will be executed
 Construction Contracts

• Prime Cost/Cost reimbursement contracts:

The total cost to the contactor of buying
materials, goods and components of using or
hiring plant, of hiring and using of labour in the
construction works is documented
 The contractor provides invoices, time sheets and
is then paid accordingly, adding a percentage
mark up
 Working can start very early as the documentation
time is eliminated
 Construction Contracts

• Prime Cost/Cost reimbursement contracts:

 Many clients do not favour this form of contract due to the
following:
• The cost of the project is not known at the time of tendering
• Parties do not have a clear picture of the commitments at
the time of signing
• The absence of any financial incentive to encourage the
contractor to carry out the work as economically as possible
• Cost control by the client reduced
• It is uneconomical type of contract
• High cost of supervision
• The project is more likely to cost more
• The verification of price cost documents is very long and
tedious and the likelihood of disputes is likely to be very
high
 Construction Contracts

• Service level agreements: the system

involves agreeing a lump sum with a
contractor undertaking a range of
recurring works of a similar kind to a
specified group of buildings over an
agreed period
 This a common form of contract for servicing
of building components such as lifts, boilers
and pumps
 Under this arrangement, the contract specifies
the number of regular servicing and the terms
and costs of call-outs and breakdowns
 Construction Contracts

 The advantages of Service Level Agreements form of contract

include:
• There is considerable savings in administrative
time
• Payment to contractors is made on the agreed
time intervals without the need for detailed
measurement or checking of accounts
• It is thought that there is improvement in the
quality of the work since the contractor aims to
reduce reworks
• It improves tenant satisfaction in that the works
are carried out at known intervals and eliminates
emergencies
 Construction Contracts

• Term contracts: the contractor is given

the opportunity to carry out all works of a
certain type or falling within certain limits
of cost for an agreed period
 The main advantages claimed for term
contracts are:
• Lower prices quoted by contractors in consideration
of the benefits of an assured program of work
• Savings in time and overheads compared with that
entailed in arranging single-job contracts
• The long-term relationship results in the contractor
becoming increasingly familiar with the building and
the needs of the occupants
 Construction Contracts

• Contract for maintenance works in Kenya can

be styled along the above defined types
• In practice, maintenance works contracts
come in the form of an order (such as LPO,
SLO etc) and are devoid of complex provisions
• However, major repairs and maintenance
works can be undertaken through:
 the Joint Building Council (JBC) (Agreement and
Conditions of Contracts for Building Works)
 the International Federation of Consulting Engineers
(FIDIC) standard form of construction contracts