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Buildings Maintenance Cost
BY
JALAL A. AL-KHATAM
( 934307 )
Master of Engineering Report
( CEM-600 )
College of Environmental Design
CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT
KING FAHD UNIVERSITY
OF PETROLEUM & MINERALS
Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Supervisor: DR. ALI SHASH
(June 2003)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................2
LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................5
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................6
1.1 BACKGROUND...................................................................................................6
1.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE OVERVIEW.......................................................7
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH................................................................10
1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................10
1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................10
CHAPTER TWO: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST CONCEPT..................14
2.1 CLASSIFYING MAINTENANCE COST ........................................................14
2.2 CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE COST.......................................................18
2.3 DECISION INCURRING MAINTENANCE EXPENDITURE........................21
21
2.4 INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE COST..........................................................24
2.5 FORMS OF MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS..................................................25
2.6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN AND BUILDING MAINTENANCE 28
2.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING
MAINTENANCE.....................................................................................................30
CHAPTER THREE: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST’S FACTORS..........31
3.1 ENGINEERING SERVICES..............................................................................31
3.1.1 Design Complexity......................................................................................31
3.1.2 Faulty Design...............................................................................................32
3.1.3 Low Concern to Future Maintenance...........................................................32
3.1.4 Life Cycle Cost Techniques (LCC).............................................................33
3.1.5 Poor Quality Control....................................................................................34
3.1.6 Unfamiliarity with Maintenance Methods...................................................34
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3.1.7 Unfamiliarity with Local Conditions...........................................................35
3.1.8 Unfamiliarity with Site Conditions..............................................................35
3.1.9 Failure to Identify the True Cause of Defect...............................................35
3.2 LABORS.............................................................................................................36
3.2.1 Unavailability of Skilled Labors..................................................................36
3.2.2 Defects and faulty workmanship in the initial construction........................36
3.2.3 Unfamiliarity of the Foreign Labors to Culture...........................................37
3.2.4 Uneducated Labors......................................................................................37
3.3 BUILDING MATERIALS..................................................................................38
3.3.1 Materials Selection Does Not Comply with Client’s Activities..................38
3.3.2 Ignorance about the Basic Physical and Chemical Properties of Materials.39
3.3.3 Usage of Cheaper/ Sub- Standard Materials................................................39
3.3.4 Usage of New Materials with little behavior’s information........................39
3.3.5 Fluctuation of Materials Prices....................................................................40
3.4 ENVIRONMENTS.............................................................................................40
3.4.1 Hard Climate Condition..............................................................................40
3.4.2 Unqualified Maintenance Contractors.........................................................40
3.4.3 Unavailability of Maintenance Contractors.................................................41
3.4.4 Lack of Local Productivity Standard and Specification..............................41
3.4.5 Aging of the Building..................................................................................42
3.5 MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION...................................................42
3.5.1 Poor Management of Maintenance Group...................................................42
3.5.2 Lack of Building Maintenance Manuals......................................................43
3.5.3 Lack of Communications between Maintenance Contractors and Clients. .43
3.5.4 Not Using Building after Completion..........................................................44
3.6 BUDGET AND FINANCE.................................................................................44
3.6.1 Poor Financial Support for Maintenance Work...........................................44
3.6.2 Poor Financial Control on Site.....................................................................44
3.7 BUILDING USERS BEHAVIORS....................................................................45
3.7.1 User Does Not Understand Importance of Maintenance Work...................45
3.7.2 Misuse of Building after Completion of the Construction...........................46
3.7.3 Not Using Preventive Maintenance.............................................................46
3.7.4 Wrong Behaviors of Occupants...................................................................46
3
3.7.5 The Tendency to Execute Work Only When It Becomes As Matter of
Urgency.................................................................................................................47
CHAPTER FOUR: BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT ................47
4.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................47
4.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT.............................................48
4.2.1 Corrective maintenance................................................................................49
4.2.2 Preventive maintenance...............................................................................50
4.2.3 Condition-based maintenance......................................................................51
4.3 A NEW APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT.......................52
4.4 THE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT DECISION DIAGRAM.................54
4.4.1 Significant items..........................................................................................55
4.4.2 Utility significant item ................................................................................55
4.4.3 Non-significant items...................................................................................56
4.5 SELECTION OF BUILDING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY........................56
4.5.1 Corrective maintenance................................................................................57
4.5.2 Preventive maintenance...............................................................................57
4.5.3 Condition-based maintenance......................................................................58
4.6 SUMMARY........................................................................................................60
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION...........................................61
REFERENCES 64
4
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure
1 BUILDING MAINTENANCE DECISION DIAGRAM ……..…………. 59
5
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
Building maintenance is a major activity in most countries. Any reduction
in resources applied to building maintenance will have a visible effect on
the economy.
Few years ago, a rapid growth of housing construction clearly appears as a
part of the country development. The number of modern houses increases
and more houses are being constructed. As a result, more maintenance
work is required in order to cope with this type of construction.
Due to the growth of housing with the lack of building Standards, more
maintenance, rehabilitation, and renovation work have become necessary
to ensure the serviceability and safety of the constructed houses. In
addition, the existing houses need to be sustained as long as possible.
Therefore, ways must be found to reduce the maintenance cost works due
to ageing of the buildings while keeping the same quality.
Building maintenance is seriously neglected area of research and study.
Few schools of architecture or building include it in their curriculum and
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only recently has work commenced on the research and development in
this subject.
Few building owners regard planned maintenance as a matter for serious
concern, and yet cannot afford to allow buildings, old or new, to decay
through neglect. As it is clearly impractical and even undesirable to
replace building, whether as owners, designers, constructors, or users
should take a serious interest in this vast problem of building
maintenance.
1.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE OVERVIEW
Maintenance assists retaining economic life of buildings. Moreover, it is a
productive activity both at the private and the national levels. At the
private level, proper maintenance leads to lower depreciation costs (due to
longer economic life) and consequently leads to higher profitability.
While at the national level, proper maintenance leads to lower
expenditures on replacement. Thus, allowing more expenditure on
expansion into new productive investment (Ikhwan, 1996).
The Committee on Building Maintenance in British defined maintenance
as: “Building Maintenance is the work undertaken in order to keep,
7
restore or improve every facility, i.e. every part of a building, its services
and surrounds to a currently acceptable standard, and to sustain the utility
and value of the building”(Mills, 1980).
In addition, maintenance is defined in the British Standards (BS
3811:1974) as “A combination of any action carried out to retain an item
in, or restore it to an acceptable condition” (Mills, 1980).
A more functional definition is that “Maintenance is synonymous with
controlling the condition of a building so that its pattern lies within
specified regions”. (Shear, 1983)
Moreover, building maintenance cost can be defined as the cost of any
actions carried out to retain an item in, or restore it to an acceptable
condition but excluding any improvements other than those necessitated
by inability to replace obsolete materials or components (Seeley, 1976).
The objectives of building maintenance are therefore (Alner and Fellows,
1990):
• To ensure that buildings and their associated services are in a safe
condition.
8
• To ensure that the buildings are fit for use.
• To ensure that the condition of the building meets all statutory
requirements.
• To carry out the maintenance work necessary to maintain the value
of the physical assets of the building stock.
• To carry out the work necessary to maintain the quality of the
building.
Maintenance can be done in different stages. Each stage will have
different characteristics. Liska defined those stages as follows:
• Planning and Design Stage: the planning and designing of the
facility should be based on the identified function and be as
maintenance free as possible. In this stage a lot of money can be
saved with the proper plan and design. For this reason, the building
manager and maintenance personnel should be consulted during the
early stages of the building design.
• Construction Stage: in order to achieve minimum level of
maintenance during the building life, work performed during the
construction phase must be done with the highest quality in term of
workmanship. As a result, expert contractor should be selected to
perform the project.
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• Maintenance Stage: in this stage, maintenance is performed after
the building has been constructed and occupied.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
The main objectives of this research are as follows:
• To study and analyze the concept of building maintenance.
• To study the main factors affecting the building maintenance cost.
• To study some ways that help in managing building maintenance.
1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research commenced by reviewing and analyzing the relevant
literature. Then, it gives an overview of the building maintenance cost
concepts. Also, the factors affecting the building maintenance cost are
explained. In addition, some maintenance management approaches that
aim to reduce the maintenance costs of existing building are highlighted.
1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW
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The British Former Minister of Public Building and Works recognized the
importance of research in various aspects of building maintenance when
he established the committee on building maintenance in 1965. In the
three decades after World War II, research in the field was mainly
directed at properties of materials and few of the results were actually
implemented. Therefore, the relationship between design, maintenance,
execution of maintenance, economic significance of maintenance, and the
actual performance of the materials and components under varying
condition should be considered (Al-Shiha, 1993).
In the early nineties, Neely developed data bases of takes that cover all
maintenance work required over the building. The data bases include the
entire component that could be found in buildings constructed by private
industry and government agencies. The results of Neely identification
include:
• All tasks that had to be performed to maintain the components in
the standard operating order.
• All possible components that could exist in any building.
• Task resource information was developed for each task to record
labor and materials resources.
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• The labor hours required to perform each task was determined by
dividing the task into sub task.
In the early nineties, researcher notes the heavy need to conduct such
types of studies. Moreover, many researchers did specific studies related
to their countries.
In 1993, Al-Shiha conducted a research discussing the effect of faulty
design and construction factors on building maintenance. As a result, the
most severe factors which affect the maintenance works and causes the
high maintenance cost are determined as: inadequate structural design
such as foundation, hiring unqualified designers, not complying with
specification, not relating exterior materials selection to climate
conditions, inadequate waterproofing and drainage, unqualified
workplace, inability to read the dawning’s.
The criteria affecting the priority rating of public building maintenance
works were studied by Al-Majed in the late nineties. Twenty three criteria
were identified (i.e. Function of the building, location, initial cost… etc.).
These criteria were classified into two major groups as follows:
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• Building performance group: Twelve criteria which emphasis on
the building.
• Managerial group: Eleven criteria which deal with decision-making
process and behavior of decision maker.
Iqhwan in the early nineties proposed some concrete measures that can
lead to the improvement of maintenance status in Saudi Arabia along the
following dimension:
• Developing and enforcing sound of maintenance practices.
• Supporting researches in maintenance management systems
appropriate to Saudi Arabia.
These measures are
• Study and assessment of maintenance status along with the two
dimensions.
• Development of adequate maintenance management information
education program.
In conclusion, many researchers highlighted the importance of
maintenance.
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CHAPTER TWO: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST
CONCEPT
Building maintenance can contribute to reducing building cost through a
continuous effort of cost reduction in maintenance operations. Moreover,
the reduction of building maintenance cost can be done through deep
understanding of the building maintenance cost concepts.
2.1 CLASSIFYING MAINTENANCE COST
Maintenance cost should be classified in alternative ways to indicate the
nature of the work done, the reason for carrying out the work, the
frequency at which the work becomes necessary, the method of execution
and any other appropriate locational reference. Therefore, the following
main classes of cost will be considered (Lee, 1987).
Location: the appropriate locational reference to distribute the total
maintenance cost into departments is the room. Also, it is the proper way
to collect information about sizes, finishes, windows, etc. during the
design stage and eventually incorporated in the maintenance manuals.
However, the use of floor area as a basis of cost allocation in not
meaningful because the comparison with the maintenance costs of similar
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buildings can not be performed without recording the physical parameters
(age, form of construction, materials specification, etc.) (Lee, 1987).
Building elements: it is the major component common to most
buildings, which usually fulfills the same functions irrespective of its
construction or specification (Lee, 1987). Building elemental analysis can
be used for:
• To determine the high maintenance cost area in order to assist the
decision-maker as to whether renew the component or continue to
repair it.
• To determine the level of expenditures on maintaining of each part
of building.
• To control and predict future expenditure.
• To compare the cost of maintaining of similar location and element
both without the organization.
So, the element chosen should meet the following requirements:
• They should represent major cost area.
• They should provide an accurate identification so that the costs can
be accurately allocated.
15
• They should be related to measurable parameters of the building so
that costs can be adjusted for quality, quantity, environment and
maintenance policy (Lee, 1987).
Functional system: maintenance cost can be related to functional system.
This will make the purpose of the work more feasible to assess the effect
on user activities of different levels of maintenance expenditures. A
possible classification on these lines would (Lee, 1987).
• Safety: this includes structural stability, fire precautions, and
hazards of all types.
• Weather: this would include the external envelope (i.e. roof
covering, wall cladding, etc.).
• Environmental: this would be divided to visual, thermal and
acoustic sub systems.
• Spatial: the internal subdivision of the building and the provision
for movement between spaces both horizontally and vertically. It
provides useful information on the value of flexible design methods
and of provisions such as movable partitions.
• Hygiene: all washing and lavatory facilities are included.
• Communication: it includes all the audio and visual means of
transmitting information inside the building.
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Purpose: the purposes of maintenance work should be known because it
will assist in better interpretation of cost data. Some of the purposes are
(Lee, 1987).
• Repair: to maintain the building to the required standard.
• Renewals: the decision to renew a component before the end of its
life cycle instate of continue in repairing is influenced by the
economic circumstances or aesthetic consideration.
• Modification: it allows a more effective use of the building.
• Protection: it would cover all items that necessary to protect the
base materials (i.e. external painting and thin coating).
• Decoration: to enhance the appearance of the internal surfaces of
the building (i.e. painting, decorative treatment etc)
• Cleaning: the main purpose of cleaning is to maintain the internal
appearance of the building.
Causes: the causes of failure are many and varied. It can fall into on of
the following categories (Lee, 1987):
• Normal wear and tear.
• Abnormal wear and tear and may be due to design fault,
exceptional weather condition, improper use, inappropriate
17
maintenance or delay in carrying out maintenance at the proper
time.
2.2 CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE COST
Upper management always concerns with the total amount of money to be
spent over a period of time rather than with the detailed cost of individual
items. The maintenance cost controller is always under various pressures
and his decision on authorize a certain level of expenditure on
maintenance will be affected by the strength of the demand for other
quarters and their interest in and knowledge of maintenance. Upper level
management often views maintenance costs as an uncontrollable cost.
Contrary to this view, maintenance costs are highly controllable when an
accurate strategy for estimating maintenance cost is established. The
maintenance cost estimation accuracy depends upon the amount of
information available on the nature and extent of the work, condition
under which will be executed, the mode of execution, and the costs of
employing labors and prices of materials (Lee, 1987).
The strategy of estimating can be either long-term or medium and short-
term estimate. The long-term estimate may extend over a number of years
and required for a verity of purposes. Also, it must be based on the
18
average cost of maintenance related to some parameter of the buildings.
Methods of long-term estimating include the following:
Financial Criteria
In this method, maintenance costs can be expressed as a percentage of
(Lee, 1987):
Construction cost: maintenance costs as a percentage of construction
costs will vary based on the building age, type of the construction and the
amount of increment in the maintenance and construction cost.
Production cost: the greater use of mechanization in the maintenance
work in attempting to reduce the production cost may cause the
maintenance costs to be raised.
Occupation cost: the reduction in the occupation costs may increase the
maintenance costs. For example, the improvement in the thermal
efficiency of the building will reduce the energy consumption cost and
may increase the cost of maintaining and monitoring the system to ensure
its effectiveness.
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Profitability: buildings maintenance policies have long-term effects on
the condition of buildings and indirectly determine the profit.
Costs per Unit of Accommodation
It measures the maintenance cost per the number of people that occupied
the building. This method doesn’t obtain the accurate level of expenditure
on the maintenance work. However, it can be used for a rough forecast of
the maintenance cost for buildings of the same use categories (Lee, 1987).
Cost per Unit of Volume
To use this method, some other factors (i.e. number of buildings) should
be considered at the time of assessment the maintenance costs (Lee,
1987).
Costs per Building Elements
The assessment of maintenance cost based on building elements will
provide a rational amount to be spent on maintenance of each element.
The total costs are either to be related to the total floor area or the area of
that particular element (Lee, 1987).
20
Costs per Functional System
The level of maintenance expenditure is related to the need of the end
users (Lee, 1987).
2.3 DECISION INCURRING MAINTENANCE EXPENDITURE
The factors, which influence decisions to incur maintenance expenditure
include:
Satisfaction of user requirements: the basic requirements of the user can
be defined as the following:
• A stable shelter from the weather: new buildings are complex and
the freedom of collapse remains an absolute requirement for all
buildings. Some movement can't be avoided and it is necessary to
determine whether their amount and rate were indicative of
imminent failure of a structural member.
• Suitable internal environment conditions: External envelope of any
building can be considered as a filter which can be adjusted to
allow varying amount of light and air into the building and prevent
the undesirable feature such as noise and excessive heat. However,
21
artificial light and air should be used if the natural types are
inadequate (Lee, 1987).
Value consideration: the value of any building to be maintained is
determined by the need for it services. If there is no need for its services
then there is non-value to maintain it. Therefore, if the need exists, the
question is how the condition of a building would affect its value?
Determining the relationship between building condition and user
activities would assist in answering the arising question. Maintenance
interacts with other costs and also revenues. The optimum level of
expenditure on maintenance work is that which gives the maximum return
in value. However, any additional increment, which is not necessary, in
maintenance expenditure produces smaller increase in value.
Loss in building value (decrease in user efficiency) could be as a
consequence of delaying maintenance and it is immediate in some cases
and some may not occur until deterioration is far advance.
The total cost should be optimized as illustrated. The direct costs
represent the estimated expenditure on maintenance and the indirect costs
represent the additional costs incurred through lack of maintenance.
22
Inefficient work will not alter the optimum standard but it will raise the
total cost of achieving that standard.
Statutory constraints: it is limited for the most part in the buildings,
which affect health and safety. The main building regulations which are
important to the maintenance manger may be classified as:
• Those which apply to the design and physical requirements of new
construction.
• Those, which are of a continuing nature and apply during the
occupation of the building (Lee, 1987).
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2.4 INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE COST
There are many sources of ineffective maintenance cost. These sources
include (Lee, 1987):
Unnecessary Work: It includes the following
• Work above the required standards.
• Improper maintenance work.
• Misuse of the building.
• Design defects and faulty workmanship in the initial construction
stage.
Uneconomic Work: This is resulting form:
• Non-productive time caused by excessive traveling from job to job,
waiting for instruction and materials
• Improper work methods.
• Lack of motivation on the part of the operatives.
• Lack of appropriate maintenance contracts.
24
• Changes to the nature and scope of the work after commencement.
• Lack of an efficient system of recording and controlling costs.
Inadequate Work: This is also resulting from:
• Failure to identify the true causes of defects and specifies the
correct remedial work.
• Improper execution of the work.
• Lack of adequate rules in the correct documents to ensure that the
work will be performed in accordance with specification.
2.5 FORMS OF MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS
Maintenance contract is a contract under which one party promise to
furnish services, manpower, material and money to maintain or to
improve real property for another party who promises to pay for the work
performed (Al-Hazmi, 1995).
There are various types of maintenance contracts, which used to explain
the type agreement between two parties to carry out the maintenance
work. They are namely: Unit Price Contract, Lump-Sum Contract, Cost
25
Plus a Fixed Fee Contract, Cost Plus Percentage Fee Contract, Cost Plus a
Fixed Fee with a Guaranteed Maximum, Term Contract, Purchased Labor
Contract, and Schedule Contract.
The Unit Price Contracts: A fixed price contract where the contractor
agrees to furnish services at specific amount of money per unit work and
the final price is dependent on the quantities needed to be carried out. This
type of contract is used when the actual amount of work is unknown.
Lump-Sum Contracts: A contract where the contractor receives a set
amount as payment for delivering works to the owner. The contract price
includes the contractor reimbursement for work and profit.
Cost Plus a Fixed Fee Contracts: A contract where the contractor of
works is reimbursed for actual allowable costs, and receives a fixed
percentage of the contract value as the contractor's fee or profit.
Cost Plus Percentage Fee Contracts: Provides reimbursement of
allowable cost of works performed plus an agreed upon percentage of the
estimated cost as profit. The owner assumes the full risk for cost and
schedule.
26
Cost Plus a Fixed Fee with a Guaranteed Maximum: it is similar to the
fixed price contract except that the contractor agrees with the owner on a
cost plus a fixed fee and agrees with him that the total cost of the work
will not excess the specified amount of money.
Term Contracts: under this type of contract, the contractor is given the
opportunity to carry out certain types of work within certain limits of cost
for an agreed period. The work done is usually priced on either a
measured term or day-work term (Sceley, 1987).
Purchased Labor Contract: it is an open call type, whereby, the
contractor provides labor to the owner at specified hourly rates.
Schedule Contracts: in this type of contract, the final cost will be
measured on the quantity and rate for each item comprised the work
executed.
Predetermining the type of contract is an important factor in
implementation of work activities. It defines the outline and limits of
scope of works, defines, terms of payment and minimizes the anticipated
27
conflict between parties. However, not having uniform maintenance
contracts will cause confusion in understanding the terms and conditions
of works to be executed and will affect the performance of the
maintenance teams.
Having a defined uniform maintenance contract will make maintenance
contractors more familiar with the terms and conditions and eventually
will make the execution of maintenance work easier, faster and more
effective (Higgins, 1988).
2.6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN AND BUILDING
MAINTENANCE
Building efficiency can be affected by decision taken and actions
performed at any time in the history of a building from its initial stage to
its final stage. The designer should be involved in all these decisions
because the design influence on the maintenance of all building is greater
than ever before. Today, buildings are designed to meet more complicated
needs than those of previous times do. Designer should know the building
owner's requirements such as amount of space that he needs, the amount
of money he can afforded to spend and the length of life he requires for
his building. At this time in the preparation of the design, brief decisions
28
can be taken which will have a vital effect on the amount of maintenance
the completed building will need. The lowest initial cost in not necessary
the most economical at the end, for cheaper materials often require more
frequent maintenance and may have a shorter working life than the more
expensive.
Physical decay and deterioration of buildings due to weathering and even
normal use, which are resulting in the need for an abnormal amount of
repair and renewal, can be avoided by the exercise of greater care in
detailed design at critical points of the structure and a better understanding
of the nature and behavior of materials. The important factors, which
contribute to the deterioration of a building, are:
• Moisture.
• Natural weathering.
• Corrosion and chemical action.
• Structural and thermal movement.
• User wear and tear.
Therefore, at the design stage of a project, the building must be visualized
in use, and materials and finishes chosen, capable of withstanding
29
everyday wear and tear. The designer must choose materials and building
that meets his client's functional needs and meets the budget constraints
laid down and can be maintained in good working order for a reasonable
time at a reasonable cost. Maintenance planning should be started at the
design stage and continue throughout the life of that building (Mills,
1980).
2.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND
BUILDING MAINTENANCE
The efficiency, appearance, life span and economic viability of any
building can be affected by decision taken and action performed during
construction stage. A construction defect as a consequence of wrong
decision is one of the most common causes of early deterioration.
Construction contractors should be aware about materials selection,
construction techniques used and skilled labor hiring. The carelessness is
one of those would affect the efficiency and durability of any building.
The defects on any building during construction stage that causes more
maintenance expenditure can be predicted to inaccuracies during
construction. The fixings and bearing can not tolerate the differential
movements leading to structural defects. Foundation movements due to
30
the drying out of the bearing strata or unequal settlement due to a
variation in the load bearing capacity of the strata results in serous defects.
CHAPTER THREE: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST’S
FACTORS
Building maintenance costs increase and decrease according to the
designers and construction contractor’s education, experience and comply
with the specifications and standard. In this research section, effort will be
done to identify factors affecting building maintenance cost.
3.1 ENGINEERING SERVICES
3.1.1 Design Complexity
Building should be designed in such a way to be simple in maintenance.
Design complexity will prevent maintenance work to be carried out easily,
quickly and economically. Major replacement can often be avoided if
regular cleaning and minor repair can be carried out without difficulty.
For example, maintenance requires some tools to be performed. If the
designer does not allow enough clearance to get the tools in and out, this
minor problem will get bigger and become major problem. In addition,
31
designer should always avoid permanent fixing of elements, which need
continuous maintenance, e.g. such as lamp, carpets (Mills, 1980).
3.1.2 Faulty Design
It includes all defects that were caused during the early stage of design
and particularly in the structural design such as: when designer ignores the
spacing for contraction and expansion movement. Such movement causes
cracking of the structure, which will result in fractures in pipes or joint
failure (Al-Shiha, 1993).
3.1.3 Low Concern to Future Maintenance
Maintainability is the effort that provides customers with products that
can be maintained by satisfactory balance of a short time, low cost and
minimum expenditure of support resources, without adversely affecting
the product’s performance or safety characteristics. Maintainability is one
important aspect of design, along with Reliability, Human Engineering,
Components Engineering and others. It must be involved in the total
design process. In the planning stage, maintainability requirements are
defined and translated into design criteria. Next, these criteria are applied
to the design to establish the desired functional and physical
32
characteristics of the system. These design characteristics are measured to
verify quantitative goals and then translated into improvement of design
of the system. By not considering maintenance analysis during design
stage of building, grievous problems can be caused regarding function,
performance, and safety of the system. This can cause a total replacement
of the system or an item might necessitate (Patton, 1988).
3.1.4 Life Cycle Cost Techniques (LCC)
Life cycle cost (LCC) is the total relevant costs over the life of a system
including cost of acquisition, operation, maintenance, modification, and
disposal for the purpose of making decision (Shear, 1993). LCC takes into
account initial and other running costs (total cost of operation and
maintenance of a system) over a life of the buildings. It can help in
determining how the owner’s money is distributed during the life period
of the facility. It is used to determine the most economic way of meeting a
need of space. Also, it is used to assist in developing the most economic
plan shape, structural form and internal layout. The earlier LCC is
applied, the greater the possibility of saving and lowering the committed
cost. LCC is used to identify the design feature, components and finishing
that have lowest total cost. Also, it provides a means of identifying high
cost areas and evaluating changes that will reduce these costs (Lee, 1987).
33
3.1.5 Poor Quality Control
Quality Control is the process used to control, inspect, test and record
procurement, fabrication and installation in conformance with contract
document.
During the construction and maintenance stages, quality control program
should be set out. It is used to control, inspect and test record of activities
in accordance with the contract requirement and construction procedures.
A facility with the presence of an effective QC program has fewer defects
and therefore requires less maintenance than a facility where no QC
program has been considered. Also, during the maintenance stage the
presence of QC is vital to assure that the components are required or
maintained as per the contract documents (Mohamoud, 1994).
3.1.6 Unfamiliarity with Maintenance Methods
34
The effect of adoption of inappropriate method is not limited to increase
the cost of the particular work, but may also have an adverse effect on the
long-term durability of the building and the cost of subsequent
maintenance (Al-Khudair, 1988).
3.1.7 Unfamiliarity with Local Conditions
The designer should have an idea about the building location and type of
plants and insects existing in the area. He should specify the treatment
method if existing in the design drawings. It is because such these
biological factors can harm the building and lead to continuous
maintenance (Liska, 1988).
3.1.8 Unfamiliarity with Site Conditions
Designer should be familiar with buildings site condition such as soil
condition. Ignoring variation in soil condition will cause setting, which
will cause cracking of structural elements (Al-Khudair, 1988).
3.1.9 Failure to Identify the True Cause of Defect
35
This will not only do nothing to rectify the original defect but may
substantially worsen the condition of the building. Therefore, worker
should examine carefully all symptoms, consider all the probable causes,
by a process of elimination identify the true causes and its source, and
then decide on appropriate remedial action (Lee, 1987).
3.2 LABORS
3.2.1 Unavailability of Skilled Labors
Skilled labors are important for maintenance work and they should be
available to perform job and utilize equipment. It is because they perform
work according to their past experience and their skills. Employing labor
with the requisite skills will assist to improve the quality of work,
minimizing cost and reduce work time span. Therefore, just having the
right tools does not mean the job will be performed properly (Al-Khudair,
1988).
3.2.2 Defects and faulty workmanship in the initial construction
36
Some building defects have their origin in the building process itself. Due
to inaccuracies during construction, the fixing and bearings cannot
tolerate the differential movements leading to structural defects (Mills,
1980).
3.2.3 Unfamiliarity of the Foreign Labors to Culture
Foreign labors are not exposed to culture and frequently they lack the
knowledge that is necessary to adopt themselves to the ways and customs
of local people. These social and cultural barriers affect their productivity
(Al-Juwairah, 1997).
3.2.4 Uneducated Labors
Education is hardly the same as intelligence, although in many cases there
is a relationship between the two. The education for labors ranges from
none to advanced degrees. Training, which of course is a form of
education, also ranges from zero (many labors have been put on the job
with no preparation whatsoever) to very extensive courses involving
orientation, classroom training, and on-the-job training. Educated labors
can easily perceive the transmitted information or instruction and easily
build a relationship with others (Shear, 1983).
37
3.3 BUILDING MATERIALS
3.3.1 Materials Selection Does Not Comply with Client’s Activities
Materials selection should meet the performance requirements expected.
Using bad quality of materials will cause failure of the materials, which
will require replacement, correction or more maintenance works in the
future. Selection of inferior materials during the construction stage will
cause more problems during the maintenance stage (Merritt, 1975).
Therefore, selection of materials should be in compliance with the
performance specification requirements in order to minimize future
expenses during maintenance stage.
38
3.3.2 Ignorance about the Basic Physical and Chemical Properties of
Materials
One of the major causes of building deterioration and other unsatisfactory
features of many buildings is the bad understanding of the nature and
behavior of materials. The failing to make allowance for the differing
thermal and moisture movements of materials in combination will
adversely affects building functional performance or appearance (Lee,
1987).
3.3.3 Usage of Cheaper/ Sub- Standard Materials
The lowest initial is not necessarily the most economical in the end. For
cheaper and sub-standard materials often require maintenance that is
more frequent and may have a short working life than the more expensive
alternative.
3.3.4 Usage of New Materials with little behavior’s information
Today the building designer is faced with new materials with little
information about their behavior and characteristics. Also, sometimes
relatively untested and after without adequate guarantees. The use of such
materials can mean a never-ending cause of maintenance problems
(Mahmoud, 1994).
39
3.3.5 Fluctuation of Materials Prices
Recently, there have been obvious fluctuations in construction and
finishing materials. Example of this materials price fluctuation is cement.
3.4 ENVIRONMENTS
3.4.1 Hard Climate Condition
Weather condition is often responsible for chemical action on building
materials. Atmospheric pollution associated with rain, causes rapid
deterioration of some materials (Patton, 1982).
3.4.2 Unqualified Maintenance Contractors
The specialized and well-experienced maintenance contractors are
important to perform maintenance work effectively. A good maintenance
contractor is a solid performer who knows the costs and knows what he
40
can or cannot do, and realizes that his regulations are built upon his past
performance (Al-Hazmi, 1995).
3.4.3 Unavailability of Maintenance Contractors
Most small and medium-sized maintenance contractors in the local
market carry out new construction in addition to maintenance and usually
prefer new work because it is more straightforward and offers potentially
higher profit. In addition, the number of well-experienced maintenance
contractors is countable; thereby it will limit the competition in the field
with a likelihood of higher price.
3.4.4 Lack of Local Productivity Standard and Specification
The specification and standards are document that clearly and accurately
describe the essential technical requirement for materials, which it will be
determined that the performance requirements have been met. Such
documents may include performance, support, preservation, packing, and
making requirements (Patton, 1988).
Standard and specification documents are extremely important to building
maintenance, as it constitutes a schedule of instructions to the contractor
41
and prescribes the materials and workmanship requirement. Projects and
facilities are to be constructed as per standard and specifications. Having a
uniform specification and standards will ease the construction process as
well as maintenance work (Sceley, 1987).
It is very important to have on uniform standard and specification to be
followed throughout to avoid confusion and loss of skills in trying to
understand the procedures called standard.
3.4.5 Aging of the Building
Building components have expected life, at the end of which, demolition
or replacement would be imperative.
3.5 MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
3.5.1 Poor Management of Maintenance Group
Maintenance management is an effective tool for achieving a high
standard of maintenance work. In absence of such management, it will
lead to a cumbersome, time consuming, and most likely fail maintenance
42
work. Maintenance management's responsibility needs to formulate long
term strategic plans to meet those needs are required (Mahmoud, 1994).
3.5.2 Lack of Building Maintenance Manuals
The objective of the manual is to provide all building users with a
common system of maintenance information recording and retrieval for
the proper guidance of maintenance operatives, building owners,
maintenance involving operatives, costing, and general maintenance. This
would act as a common part of the building process and not as a series of
isolated events that takes place after the completion of the building (Mills,
1980).
3.5.3 Lack of Communications between Maintenance Contractors
and Clients
The proper communication channel between the maintenance contracts
and clients ensures that the contractors are going to perform the work
according to the stated condition and specification in the contract
documents. Also, it ensures that the maintenance contractors will respond
to client's repairs and maintenance in a reasonable period of time.
43
3.5.4 Not Using Building after Completion
The non-use of building after completion would make the owner not give
enough attention to the maintenance work. Facilities which have not been
used for a long time could be needed urgently. However, if no
maintenance has been performed on idle components and items, they may
require emergency maintenance which will cost more and require more
manpower.
Hence, if facilities are not in use, they should be maintained in order to
avoid future unplanned costly maintenance (Mahmoud, 1994).
3.6 BUDGET AND FINANCE
3.6.1 Poor Financial Support for Maintenance Work
It is very important that building owners, when they prepare the annual
budgets, include enough financial allocation for maintenance work, as it is
a critical and needed function. In the absence of financial support for
maintenance work required, the building will not be maintained properly
(Al-Sultan, 1996).
3.6.2 Poor Financial Control on Site
44
Labor productivity, material availability, materials waste, good and
effective maintenance methods, using effective tools and equipment, and
good maintenance planning should be financially controlled on site.
Maintenance management should be aware of these factors in order to
achieve better financial control on site (Al-Juwairah, 1997).
3.7 BUILDING USERS BEHAVIORS
3.7.1 User Does Not Understand Importance of Maintenance Work
Building users often pay little attention to keeping their building in good
working order and are surprised when they fail to give the service they
expected. It has already emphasized that buildings start to deteriorate from
the day they are completed. The length of time this process of decay takes
depends on the care taken in: firstly, the design, secondly the construction,
and thirdly the upkeep or maintenance.
45
3.7.2 Misuse of Building after Completion of the Construction
When building construction is completed, owners must be using their
buildings and its components in proper way. The misuse of components
will result in their damage and need for repair, which would be costly
(Mahmoud, 1994).
3.7.3 Not Using Preventive Maintenance
Neglect of preventive maintenance such as checking the efficacy of
rainwater gutters and servicing mechanical and electrical installation
causes more extensive periodical maintenance and, in the long run, major
repair or restoration which could have been avoided or postponed (Fattani,
1998).
3.7.4 Wrong Behaviors of Occupants
Building occupants often pay little attention to keeping building in good
working order and are surprised when they fail to give the service they
expected. The misuse of building services will result in their damage and
the need for repair, which will be costly. Also, the abnormal occupier
activities can cause the rapid deterioration.
46
3.7.5 The Tendency to Execute Work Only When It Becomes As
Matter of Urgency
Gradual deterioration is inevitable, but the speed at which it proceeds can
be regulated and the ultimate failure of the building, in whole or in part,
can be avoided or accelerated according to the way in which the building
is maintained. Therefore, leaving a minor problem, which requires
maintenance action until it becomes worse, is wrong practice of
maintenance. It causes maintenance cost to accumulate or grow until the
owner cannot tolerate it.
CHAPTER FOUR: BUILDING MAINTENANCE
MANAGEMENT
4.1 INTRODUCTION
The maintenance is a key factor in retaining longer economic life for
buildings. Longer building life results in forestalling replacement which in
turn results in spacing out replacement times and hence capital
expenditure. Maintenance is really a productive activity both at the private
(leads to lower depreciation cost) and at the national levels (leads to lower
expenditures on replacement). To achieve maintenance goals some issues
need to be developed like, proper guidelines and standard, proper
47
scheduling of activities, and provide necessary resources (financial and
human) (Duffuaa, 1992).
A systematic approach for assessment of desirable level of maintenance
expenditures should be adopted in each organization. It should include the
life cycle costs (LCC) details to achieve the right balance between initial
construction costs and subsequent maintenance and running costs.
Building elements life cycles and future maintenance expenditures should
be outlined in building manuals to assist the owners to set aside the budget
for maintaining their buildings to an acceptable standard (Lee, 1987).
4.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
In maintaining a building, there are usually several strategic options
available to management, and many alternative decisions to be
considered. There is, for example, the possibility of reducing the demand
for maintenance by addressing the actual cause of failure and identifying
its consequences. For instance, it may be necessary to decide whether to
repair or to replace an item, and whether to carry out periodic
maintenance at fixed intervals or simply to respond to the requests of the
users. Thus, building maintenance can be divided into three strategies:
• Corrective.
48
• Preventive.
• Condition-based.
4.2.1 Corrective maintenance
Corrective maintenance is the simplest type of maintenance strategy,
where an element in a building is used until it breaks down or defects. It
covers all activities, including replacement or repair of an element that has
failed to a point at which it cannot perform its required function.
Corrective maintenance is sometimes referred to as failure-based or
unplanned maintenance. Thus, corrective maintenance can be extremely
expensive for two reasons:
• The failure of an item can cause a large amount of consequential
damage to other elements in the building. For example, failure of
the roof could cause damage to the ceiling and the interior of the
building.
• Failure of an item can occur at a time which is inconvenient to both
the user and the maintaining authority. This can make manpower
and spare parts planning extremely difficult.
49
However, corrective maintenance is still an important part of any
maintenance management strategy. It is from such work that we can
gather vital predictive information.
4.2.2 Preventive maintenance
Preventive maintenance was introduced to overcome the disadvantages of
corrective maintenance, by reducing the probability of occurrence of
failure and avoiding sudden failure. This strategy is referred to as time-
based maintenance, planned maintenance or cyclic maintenance.
Preventive maintenance tasks are performed in accordance with a
predetermined plan at regular, fixed intervals, which may be based for
example on operating time. Such a strategy is frequently applied to
external or internal paint work. The following are the advantages of
preventive over corrective maintenance:
• Maintenance can be planned ahead and performed when it is
convenient to the building’s user.
• Maintenance costs can be reduced by avoiding the cost of
consequential damage.
• Downtime, the time that an element of the building or the whole
building is out of service, can be minimized so the habitability of
the building can be increased.
50
• The health and safety of the user can be improved.
Nevertheless, preventive maintenance has some disadvantages which
must be minimized (El-Haram, 1995):
• Planned maintenance is performed irrespective of the condition of
the building elements. Consequently, a large number of
unnecessary tasks will be carried out on elements that could have
remained in a safe and acceptable operating condition for a much
longer time.
• As a result of human error during the execution of the maintenance
task, the condition of an element may end up worse than it was
before.
• Planned maintenance tasks are usually very demanding in terms of
spare parts and labor.
4.2.3 Condition-based maintenance
Condition-based maintenance is defined as: “Maintenance carried out in
response to a significant deterioration in a unit as indicated by a change in
monitored parameter of the unit condition or performance” (Kelly and
Harris, 1978). The condition-based maintenance concept recognizes that a
51
change in condition and/or performance of an item is the principal reason
for carrying out maintenance. Thus, the optimal time to perform
maintenance is determined from a condition survey used to determine the
actual state of each constituent item in a building. In this strategy,
maintenance tasks are determined and planned by efficiently monitoring
the building’s elements such as walls, floors, roof and service equipment
such as boilers, pumps, and heating system, to identify which element or
piece of equipment requires maintenance before a major failure occurs. To
gain the full advantage of applying condition-based maintenance, the
condition of an item must be monitored to identify whether there is any
evidence of change from a normal to an abnormal condition. This can be
done by selecting the parameter which best describes the condition of the
item and monitoring changes using suitable condition monitoring tools.
Condition assessments can vary from simple visual inspections to more
advanced inspections using a variety of condition monitoring tools and
techniques.
4.3 A NEW APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT
Current building maintenance strategies, whether based on planned or
unplanned maintenance, are most likely to be budget driven. This means
that maintenance is not carried out according to actual need, but is
52
dictated by financial priorities decided at the time or during the previous
year. Although theoretically the budget should be built up as a result of
estimated needs, it is almost invariably based on previous year’s figures,
modified for changes in the number of buildings, specially agreed
programs of planned maintenance and inflation forecasts (Spedding,
1987). Three methods are currently used for constructing a budget for
estate-based management organizations; none is entirely satisfactory and
each produces a different budget (Lee, 1987):
• Base this year’s budget on last year’s expenditure with an
allowance for inflation.
• Use the Department of Environment or other formula for
calculating the maintenance element of the estate budget.
• Use a stock condition survey to quantify the size of the
maintenance task.
In contrast to the way that current building maintenance strategies are
selected, the new maintenance management approach is based on the
failure consequences of each item in a building. Thus, the objective of
maintenance management is to prevent, to minimize and to repair building
defects by enhanced planning and implementation using appropriate
materials and tools at the right time and minimum total life-cycle cost.
53
4.4 THE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT DECISION
DIAGRAM
The maintenance management decision diagram is a logical process used
to select an appropriate and cost-effective maintenance strategy for each
item or group of items in a building. Its objective is to determine the best
combination of maintenance strategies for a building by selecting the
optimum maintenance strategy for each individual item in the building,
taking into consideration health, safety and satisfaction of the user and the
costs of maintenance tasks.
The first step in developing the maintenance management decision
diagram is to carry out a comprehensive review of all constituent items in
a building. This can be done by breaking the building down into the
physical elements and items of each functional system and subsystem.
Engineering failure analysis provides insight into the type of failures that
an item in a building is likely to experience. So each item within the
building should be analyzed from the point of view of failure. It is
especially important to identify the consequences of failure. The
engineering tool which is used to perform this task is a failure mode,
effect and consequences analysis (El-Haram, 1996). As a result of this
54
analysis, all the constituent items in the building can be divided into two
groups depending on the significance of the consequences of failure.
4.4.1 Significant items
Significant items are those whose failure affects health, safety,
environment or utility (including cost).
Health, safety and environmentally significant items: to determine health,
safety and environmentally significant items (HSESIs), it is necessary to
find out exactly how the item might affect the environment and the health
and safety of the user when it fails. Niczyporuk (1994) defines a safe
object as one which causes no hazard in relation to life, health or the
environment. It is also defined as freedom from unacceptable risk or
personal harm. Risk is the combined effect of the chances of occurrence
of some undesirable failure and its consequences in a given system. Thus,
HSESIs are those whose failure creates a possibility that the user could be
injured or killed, or that environmental standards could be breached.
4.4.2 Utility significant item
55
An item is utility significant if the cost of maintenance is less than the cost
of failure. In determining the cost of failure, it is necessary to take account
of any loss of availability which may result from the failure. Thus, all
items whose failure is likely to have an effect on the revenue, direct and
indirect maintenance costs, quality, user satisfaction, appearance,
serviceability or availability of the building are potentially utility
significant.
Care should be taken to ensure that all items that have failure
consequences are included in the list of significant items.
4.4.3 Non-significant items
Non-significant items are those items whose failure has no significant
effect. This means that the failure affects neither health, safety,
environment nor utility.
4.5 SELECTION OF BUILDING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY
Once significant and non-significant items are identified, the next step is
to select an appropriate maintenance strategy for each item in the
building. Generally speaking, all three types of maintenance strategies
56
could be applied to every item in the building, but only one will yield
optimal results. The process is illustrated in Figure 1.
4.5.1 Corrective maintenance
Corrective maintenance is most likely to be the appropriate maintenance
strategy for:
• Non-significant items.
• Utility significant items whose condition cannot be monitored and
for which the cost of applying time-based preventive maintenance
is less than the cost of applying corrective maintenance.
4.5.2 Preventive maintenance
Time-based preventive maintenance is most likely to be the appropriate
maintenance strategy for:
• Health, safety and environmentally significant items whose
condition cannot be monitored.
• Health, safety and environmentally significant items whose
condition can be monitored, but for which the online condition
monitoring techniques either are not available or are not cost
effective.
57
• Utility significant items whose condition cannot be monitored and
for which the cost of applying time-based preventive maintenance
is less than the cost of applying corrective maintenance.
4.5.3 Condition-based maintenance
Condition-based maintenance is most likely to be the appropriate
maintenance strategy for:
• Health, safety and environmentally significant items whose
condition can be monitored and for which on-line condition
monitoring techniques are available and cost-effective.
• Utility significant items whose condition can be monitored and for
which condition-based monitoring techniques are available and
cost-effective.
• Utility significant items whose condition can be monitored and for
which the cost of applying condition-based maintenance is less than
the cost of applying corrective maintenance.
58
List of a building’s constituent items
Significant items (SI)
Non-significant
items (NSI)
Time-based
maintenance
(CBM)
HSES items
Time-based
maintenance
(TBM)
Failure-based
maintenance
(FBM)
Time-based
maintenance
(TBM)
Condition-based
maintenance
(CBM)
US items
Condition-based
maintenance (CBM)
Can
the
Condition
of
theU
SIbe
m
onitored?
Isthecostof
applying
CBM
lessthan
thecost
ofapplying
FBM
?
Is the cost of
applying
TBM
less than
the cost
of applying
FBM
?
Istheon-line
condition
m
onitoring
technique
availableand
costeffective?
Can
the
Condition
of
theH
SESI
be
m
onitored?
YN N
Y
Y N
Y N
NY
KEY
HSES = Health, Safety and Environment Significant
US = Utility Significant
Figure 1.
Building Maintenance Decision Diagram
59
4.6 SUMMARY
To determine an optimal maintenance strategy for a building, it is
necessary to integrate the three types of maintenance strategy because:
• Not all items are significant.
• Not all significant items can be condition monitored.
• Condition monitoring techniques are not always available.
• The application of condition monitoring techniques is not always
cost-effective.
This approach will allow maintenance engineers and managers to make
decisions in advance about:
• Selecting the most cost-effective maintenance strategy for each
individual item in the building.
• The optimal allocation of logistics resources such as spare parts,
tools, and personnel which are needed for the execution of
maintenance activities.
60
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
This report is about Building Maintenance Costs. It starts with an
introductory chapter. After that, the concept of building maintenance costs
is explained. The explanation includes the maintenance cost classification,
how to control the maintenance costs and types of factors the influence
decision to incur maintenance expenditure. In addition, the relationship
between design and buildings maintenance and construction is discussed
separately. The third part is about the identification the factors affecting
buildings maintenance costs. There are 34 (thirty-four) factors, and these
are grouped into seven (7) major categories. These categories are
Engineering Services, Labors, Building Materials, Environments,
Management and Administration, Budget and Finance, and Building
Users Behaviors. The different strategies for managing the building
maintenance costs are explained in the forth chapter. At the end, summary
and conclusion is mentioned.
In conclusion, some findings are highlighted:
• Lack of productive local standards and specification used to
classify the materials according to the client's activities, enhance
most of the designers used American, Garman..etc. standards which
61
might not consider the hard condition of the gulf area such as hot
weather, humidity and nature of the society.
• Owners always concern about the initial cost more than the running
cost. Therefore, the financial support for maintenance work after
the building has been constructed is weak. The reason may be that
from the standpoint of the individual firm the amount spent on
maintenance appears small in comparison with other operating
costs. But when viewed on a national scale it is quite clear that
maintenance is an activity of primary importance. Also, it can be
attributed to the existing belief that leaves the minor problem to be
worse before repairing it.
• Good supervision and management of any project requires the
implementation of a special knowledge, skills, tools and technique
to the project activities in order to meet stakeholder needs and
expectations such as scope, time, cost and quality.
• Lack of maintenance date makes the designers uncertain to
determine the high maintenance cost area, which need annual
inspection and then incorporate in the buildings maintenance
manuals.
• Lack of defined uniform maintenance contract which will make
maintenance contractors more familiar with the terms and
62
conditions and eventually will make the execution of maintenance
work easier, faster and more effective.
• The design stage is very important phase of the project. Special care
should be taken since it has a vital effect on the amount of
maintenance woke that will be needed after the building completed.
• A construction defects as a consequence of wrong decision is one
of the most common causes of early deterioration. Construction
contractors should be aware about materials selection, construction
techniques used and skilled labor hiring.
63
REFERENCES
1. Al-Hazmi, T. “Toward Standardization of Public Building Maintenance
Contracts in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, 1995.
2. Al-Juwairah, Y. “Factors Affecting Construction Cost in Saudi
Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1997.
3. Al-Khudair, A. “Factors Affecting the Maintenance Cost of the
Building in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, 1988.
4. Al-Shiha, M. “The Effect of Faulty Design and Construction on
Building Maintenance.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, 1993.
5. Higgins, L. R. Maintenance Engineering Handbook, 4th
Edition,
McGraw-Hill New York, 1988.
6. Ikwan, M. Haq, A. and Burney, F. “Maintenance Management in Saudi
Arabia.” Journal of King Saud University, Eng. Sci., Vol. 4, PP. 67-80,
1996.
7. Kelly, A. and Harris, M. J. Management of Industrial Maintenance,
Butterworths, London, 1978.
64
8. Lee, R. M. Phil, Frics. Building Maintenance Management. 3rd
Edition,
William Collines Sons & Co., 1987.
9. Liska, R. Means Facilities Maintenance Standards. R. S. Means
Company Inc., 1988.
10. Mahmoud, T. “Assessment of the Problem Facing the Maintenance
Industry in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, 1994.
11. Mills, E. D. Building Maintenance and Preservation – A Guide to
Design and Management, Butterworths, 1980.
12. Neely, E. and Neathammar, R. “Life Cycle Maintenance Costs by
Facility Use.” Journal of Construction Engineering & Management,
Vol. 117 no. 2, Jun 1991.
13. Patton, Joseph D. Jr “Maintainability and Maintenance Management.”
Instrument Society of America, North Carolina, U.S.A., 1988.
14. Raymond, C. M. and Joan, C. f., Preventive Maintenance of
Buildings, Chapman and Hall, London, 1991.
15. Sceley, Ivor H. Building Maintenance, 2nd
Edition, McMillan Education
London, 1987.
16. Seeley, H. Building Maintenance. Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1976.
17. Shear, M. Building Maintenance Management. Virginia, Reston
Publishing Co., 1983.
65
18. Spedding, A. Building Maintenance Economics and Management, E. &
F. N. Spon Ltd, London, 1976.
66

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Factors Impacting Buildings Maintenance Costs

  • 1. Buildings Maintenance Cost BY JALAL A. AL-KHATAM ( 934307 ) Master of Engineering Report ( CEM-600 ) College of Environmental Design CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & MINERALS Dhahran, Saudi Arabia Supervisor: DR. ALI SHASH
  • 2. (June 2003) TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS..............................................................................................2 LIST OF FIGURES......................................................................................................5 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.........................................................................6 1.1 BACKGROUND...................................................................................................6 1.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE OVERVIEW.......................................................7 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH................................................................10 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................10 1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW....................................................................................10 CHAPTER TWO: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST CONCEPT..................14 2.1 CLASSIFYING MAINTENANCE COST ........................................................14 2.2 CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE COST.......................................................18 2.3 DECISION INCURRING MAINTENANCE EXPENDITURE........................21 21 2.4 INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE COST..........................................................24 2.5 FORMS OF MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS..................................................25 2.6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN AND BUILDING MAINTENANCE 28 2.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MAINTENANCE.....................................................................................................30 CHAPTER THREE: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST’S FACTORS..........31 3.1 ENGINEERING SERVICES..............................................................................31 3.1.1 Design Complexity......................................................................................31 3.1.2 Faulty Design...............................................................................................32 3.1.3 Low Concern to Future Maintenance...........................................................32 3.1.4 Life Cycle Cost Techniques (LCC).............................................................33 3.1.5 Poor Quality Control....................................................................................34 3.1.6 Unfamiliarity with Maintenance Methods...................................................34 2
  • 3. 3.1.7 Unfamiliarity with Local Conditions...........................................................35 3.1.8 Unfamiliarity with Site Conditions..............................................................35 3.1.9 Failure to Identify the True Cause of Defect...............................................35 3.2 LABORS.............................................................................................................36 3.2.1 Unavailability of Skilled Labors..................................................................36 3.2.2 Defects and faulty workmanship in the initial construction........................36 3.2.3 Unfamiliarity of the Foreign Labors to Culture...........................................37 3.2.4 Uneducated Labors......................................................................................37 3.3 BUILDING MATERIALS..................................................................................38 3.3.1 Materials Selection Does Not Comply with Client’s Activities..................38 3.3.2 Ignorance about the Basic Physical and Chemical Properties of Materials.39 3.3.3 Usage of Cheaper/ Sub- Standard Materials................................................39 3.3.4 Usage of New Materials with little behavior’s information........................39 3.3.5 Fluctuation of Materials Prices....................................................................40 3.4 ENVIRONMENTS.............................................................................................40 3.4.1 Hard Climate Condition..............................................................................40 3.4.2 Unqualified Maintenance Contractors.........................................................40 3.4.3 Unavailability of Maintenance Contractors.................................................41 3.4.4 Lack of Local Productivity Standard and Specification..............................41 3.4.5 Aging of the Building..................................................................................42 3.5 MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION...................................................42 3.5.1 Poor Management of Maintenance Group...................................................42 3.5.2 Lack of Building Maintenance Manuals......................................................43 3.5.3 Lack of Communications between Maintenance Contractors and Clients. .43 3.5.4 Not Using Building after Completion..........................................................44 3.6 BUDGET AND FINANCE.................................................................................44 3.6.1 Poor Financial Support for Maintenance Work...........................................44 3.6.2 Poor Financial Control on Site.....................................................................44 3.7 BUILDING USERS BEHAVIORS....................................................................45 3.7.1 User Does Not Understand Importance of Maintenance Work...................45 3.7.2 Misuse of Building after Completion of the Construction...........................46 3.7.3 Not Using Preventive Maintenance.............................................................46 3.7.4 Wrong Behaviors of Occupants...................................................................46 3
  • 4. 3.7.5 The Tendency to Execute Work Only When It Becomes As Matter of Urgency.................................................................................................................47 CHAPTER FOUR: BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT ................47 4.1 INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................47 4.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT.............................................48 4.2.1 Corrective maintenance................................................................................49 4.2.2 Preventive maintenance...............................................................................50 4.2.3 Condition-based maintenance......................................................................51 4.3 A NEW APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT.......................52 4.4 THE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT DECISION DIAGRAM.................54 4.4.1 Significant items..........................................................................................55 4.4.2 Utility significant item ................................................................................55 4.4.3 Non-significant items...................................................................................56 4.5 SELECTION OF BUILDING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY........................56 4.5.1 Corrective maintenance................................................................................57 4.5.2 Preventive maintenance...............................................................................57 4.5.3 Condition-based maintenance......................................................................58 4.6 SUMMARY........................................................................................................60 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION...........................................61 REFERENCES 64 4
  • 5. LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 BUILDING MAINTENANCE DECISION DIAGRAM ……..…………. 59 5
  • 6. CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 BACKGROUND Building maintenance is a major activity in most countries. Any reduction in resources applied to building maintenance will have a visible effect on the economy. Few years ago, a rapid growth of housing construction clearly appears as a part of the country development. The number of modern houses increases and more houses are being constructed. As a result, more maintenance work is required in order to cope with this type of construction. Due to the growth of housing with the lack of building Standards, more maintenance, rehabilitation, and renovation work have become necessary to ensure the serviceability and safety of the constructed houses. In addition, the existing houses need to be sustained as long as possible. Therefore, ways must be found to reduce the maintenance cost works due to ageing of the buildings while keeping the same quality. Building maintenance is seriously neglected area of research and study. Few schools of architecture or building include it in their curriculum and 6
  • 7. only recently has work commenced on the research and development in this subject. Few building owners regard planned maintenance as a matter for serious concern, and yet cannot afford to allow buildings, old or new, to decay through neglect. As it is clearly impractical and even undesirable to replace building, whether as owners, designers, constructors, or users should take a serious interest in this vast problem of building maintenance. 1.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE OVERVIEW Maintenance assists retaining economic life of buildings. Moreover, it is a productive activity both at the private and the national levels. At the private level, proper maintenance leads to lower depreciation costs (due to longer economic life) and consequently leads to higher profitability. While at the national level, proper maintenance leads to lower expenditures on replacement. Thus, allowing more expenditure on expansion into new productive investment (Ikhwan, 1996). The Committee on Building Maintenance in British defined maintenance as: “Building Maintenance is the work undertaken in order to keep, 7
  • 8. restore or improve every facility, i.e. every part of a building, its services and surrounds to a currently acceptable standard, and to sustain the utility and value of the building”(Mills, 1980). In addition, maintenance is defined in the British Standards (BS 3811:1974) as “A combination of any action carried out to retain an item in, or restore it to an acceptable condition” (Mills, 1980). A more functional definition is that “Maintenance is synonymous with controlling the condition of a building so that its pattern lies within specified regions”. (Shear, 1983) Moreover, building maintenance cost can be defined as the cost of any actions carried out to retain an item in, or restore it to an acceptable condition but excluding any improvements other than those necessitated by inability to replace obsolete materials or components (Seeley, 1976). The objectives of building maintenance are therefore (Alner and Fellows, 1990): • To ensure that buildings and their associated services are in a safe condition. 8
  • 9. • To ensure that the buildings are fit for use. • To ensure that the condition of the building meets all statutory requirements. • To carry out the maintenance work necessary to maintain the value of the physical assets of the building stock. • To carry out the work necessary to maintain the quality of the building. Maintenance can be done in different stages. Each stage will have different characteristics. Liska defined those stages as follows: • Planning and Design Stage: the planning and designing of the facility should be based on the identified function and be as maintenance free as possible. In this stage a lot of money can be saved with the proper plan and design. For this reason, the building manager and maintenance personnel should be consulted during the early stages of the building design. • Construction Stage: in order to achieve minimum level of maintenance during the building life, work performed during the construction phase must be done with the highest quality in term of workmanship. As a result, expert contractor should be selected to perform the project. 9
  • 10. • Maintenance Stage: in this stage, maintenance is performed after the building has been constructed and occupied. 1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The main objectives of this research are as follows: • To study and analyze the concept of building maintenance. • To study the main factors affecting the building maintenance cost. • To study some ways that help in managing building maintenance. 1.4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The research commenced by reviewing and analyzing the relevant literature. Then, it gives an overview of the building maintenance cost concepts. Also, the factors affecting the building maintenance cost are explained. In addition, some maintenance management approaches that aim to reduce the maintenance costs of existing building are highlighted. 1.5 LITERATURE REVIEW 10
  • 11. The British Former Minister of Public Building and Works recognized the importance of research in various aspects of building maintenance when he established the committee on building maintenance in 1965. In the three decades after World War II, research in the field was mainly directed at properties of materials and few of the results were actually implemented. Therefore, the relationship between design, maintenance, execution of maintenance, economic significance of maintenance, and the actual performance of the materials and components under varying condition should be considered (Al-Shiha, 1993). In the early nineties, Neely developed data bases of takes that cover all maintenance work required over the building. The data bases include the entire component that could be found in buildings constructed by private industry and government agencies. The results of Neely identification include: • All tasks that had to be performed to maintain the components in the standard operating order. • All possible components that could exist in any building. • Task resource information was developed for each task to record labor and materials resources. 11
  • 12. • The labor hours required to perform each task was determined by dividing the task into sub task. In the early nineties, researcher notes the heavy need to conduct such types of studies. Moreover, many researchers did specific studies related to their countries. In 1993, Al-Shiha conducted a research discussing the effect of faulty design and construction factors on building maintenance. As a result, the most severe factors which affect the maintenance works and causes the high maintenance cost are determined as: inadequate structural design such as foundation, hiring unqualified designers, not complying with specification, not relating exterior materials selection to climate conditions, inadequate waterproofing and drainage, unqualified workplace, inability to read the dawning’s. The criteria affecting the priority rating of public building maintenance works were studied by Al-Majed in the late nineties. Twenty three criteria were identified (i.e. Function of the building, location, initial cost… etc.). These criteria were classified into two major groups as follows: 12
  • 13. • Building performance group: Twelve criteria which emphasis on the building. • Managerial group: Eleven criteria which deal with decision-making process and behavior of decision maker. Iqhwan in the early nineties proposed some concrete measures that can lead to the improvement of maintenance status in Saudi Arabia along the following dimension: • Developing and enforcing sound of maintenance practices. • Supporting researches in maintenance management systems appropriate to Saudi Arabia. These measures are • Study and assessment of maintenance status along with the two dimensions. • Development of adequate maintenance management information education program. In conclusion, many researchers highlighted the importance of maintenance. 13
  • 14. CHAPTER TWO: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST CONCEPT Building maintenance can contribute to reducing building cost through a continuous effort of cost reduction in maintenance operations. Moreover, the reduction of building maintenance cost can be done through deep understanding of the building maintenance cost concepts. 2.1 CLASSIFYING MAINTENANCE COST Maintenance cost should be classified in alternative ways to indicate the nature of the work done, the reason for carrying out the work, the frequency at which the work becomes necessary, the method of execution and any other appropriate locational reference. Therefore, the following main classes of cost will be considered (Lee, 1987). Location: the appropriate locational reference to distribute the total maintenance cost into departments is the room. Also, it is the proper way to collect information about sizes, finishes, windows, etc. during the design stage and eventually incorporated in the maintenance manuals. However, the use of floor area as a basis of cost allocation in not meaningful because the comparison with the maintenance costs of similar 14
  • 15. buildings can not be performed without recording the physical parameters (age, form of construction, materials specification, etc.) (Lee, 1987). Building elements: it is the major component common to most buildings, which usually fulfills the same functions irrespective of its construction or specification (Lee, 1987). Building elemental analysis can be used for: • To determine the high maintenance cost area in order to assist the decision-maker as to whether renew the component or continue to repair it. • To determine the level of expenditures on maintaining of each part of building. • To control and predict future expenditure. • To compare the cost of maintaining of similar location and element both without the organization. So, the element chosen should meet the following requirements: • They should represent major cost area. • They should provide an accurate identification so that the costs can be accurately allocated. 15
  • 16. • They should be related to measurable parameters of the building so that costs can be adjusted for quality, quantity, environment and maintenance policy (Lee, 1987). Functional system: maintenance cost can be related to functional system. This will make the purpose of the work more feasible to assess the effect on user activities of different levels of maintenance expenditures. A possible classification on these lines would (Lee, 1987). • Safety: this includes structural stability, fire precautions, and hazards of all types. • Weather: this would include the external envelope (i.e. roof covering, wall cladding, etc.). • Environmental: this would be divided to visual, thermal and acoustic sub systems. • Spatial: the internal subdivision of the building and the provision for movement between spaces both horizontally and vertically. It provides useful information on the value of flexible design methods and of provisions such as movable partitions. • Hygiene: all washing and lavatory facilities are included. • Communication: it includes all the audio and visual means of transmitting information inside the building. 16
  • 17. Purpose: the purposes of maintenance work should be known because it will assist in better interpretation of cost data. Some of the purposes are (Lee, 1987). • Repair: to maintain the building to the required standard. • Renewals: the decision to renew a component before the end of its life cycle instate of continue in repairing is influenced by the economic circumstances or aesthetic consideration. • Modification: it allows a more effective use of the building. • Protection: it would cover all items that necessary to protect the base materials (i.e. external painting and thin coating). • Decoration: to enhance the appearance of the internal surfaces of the building (i.e. painting, decorative treatment etc) • Cleaning: the main purpose of cleaning is to maintain the internal appearance of the building. Causes: the causes of failure are many and varied. It can fall into on of the following categories (Lee, 1987): • Normal wear and tear. • Abnormal wear and tear and may be due to design fault, exceptional weather condition, improper use, inappropriate 17
  • 18. maintenance or delay in carrying out maintenance at the proper time. 2.2 CONTROLLING MAINTENANCE COST Upper management always concerns with the total amount of money to be spent over a period of time rather than with the detailed cost of individual items. The maintenance cost controller is always under various pressures and his decision on authorize a certain level of expenditure on maintenance will be affected by the strength of the demand for other quarters and their interest in and knowledge of maintenance. Upper level management often views maintenance costs as an uncontrollable cost. Contrary to this view, maintenance costs are highly controllable when an accurate strategy for estimating maintenance cost is established. The maintenance cost estimation accuracy depends upon the amount of information available on the nature and extent of the work, condition under which will be executed, the mode of execution, and the costs of employing labors and prices of materials (Lee, 1987). The strategy of estimating can be either long-term or medium and short- term estimate. The long-term estimate may extend over a number of years and required for a verity of purposes. Also, it must be based on the 18
  • 19. average cost of maintenance related to some parameter of the buildings. Methods of long-term estimating include the following: Financial Criteria In this method, maintenance costs can be expressed as a percentage of (Lee, 1987): Construction cost: maintenance costs as a percentage of construction costs will vary based on the building age, type of the construction and the amount of increment in the maintenance and construction cost. Production cost: the greater use of mechanization in the maintenance work in attempting to reduce the production cost may cause the maintenance costs to be raised. Occupation cost: the reduction in the occupation costs may increase the maintenance costs. For example, the improvement in the thermal efficiency of the building will reduce the energy consumption cost and may increase the cost of maintaining and monitoring the system to ensure its effectiveness. 19
  • 20. Profitability: buildings maintenance policies have long-term effects on the condition of buildings and indirectly determine the profit. Costs per Unit of Accommodation It measures the maintenance cost per the number of people that occupied the building. This method doesn’t obtain the accurate level of expenditure on the maintenance work. However, it can be used for a rough forecast of the maintenance cost for buildings of the same use categories (Lee, 1987). Cost per Unit of Volume To use this method, some other factors (i.e. number of buildings) should be considered at the time of assessment the maintenance costs (Lee, 1987). Costs per Building Elements The assessment of maintenance cost based on building elements will provide a rational amount to be spent on maintenance of each element. The total costs are either to be related to the total floor area or the area of that particular element (Lee, 1987). 20
  • 21. Costs per Functional System The level of maintenance expenditure is related to the need of the end users (Lee, 1987). 2.3 DECISION INCURRING MAINTENANCE EXPENDITURE The factors, which influence decisions to incur maintenance expenditure include: Satisfaction of user requirements: the basic requirements of the user can be defined as the following: • A stable shelter from the weather: new buildings are complex and the freedom of collapse remains an absolute requirement for all buildings. Some movement can't be avoided and it is necessary to determine whether their amount and rate were indicative of imminent failure of a structural member. • Suitable internal environment conditions: External envelope of any building can be considered as a filter which can be adjusted to allow varying amount of light and air into the building and prevent the undesirable feature such as noise and excessive heat. However, 21
  • 22. artificial light and air should be used if the natural types are inadequate (Lee, 1987). Value consideration: the value of any building to be maintained is determined by the need for it services. If there is no need for its services then there is non-value to maintain it. Therefore, if the need exists, the question is how the condition of a building would affect its value? Determining the relationship between building condition and user activities would assist in answering the arising question. Maintenance interacts with other costs and also revenues. The optimum level of expenditure on maintenance work is that which gives the maximum return in value. However, any additional increment, which is not necessary, in maintenance expenditure produces smaller increase in value. Loss in building value (decrease in user efficiency) could be as a consequence of delaying maintenance and it is immediate in some cases and some may not occur until deterioration is far advance. The total cost should be optimized as illustrated. The direct costs represent the estimated expenditure on maintenance and the indirect costs represent the additional costs incurred through lack of maintenance. 22
  • 23. Inefficient work will not alter the optimum standard but it will raise the total cost of achieving that standard. Statutory constraints: it is limited for the most part in the buildings, which affect health and safety. The main building regulations which are important to the maintenance manger may be classified as: • Those which apply to the design and physical requirements of new construction. • Those, which are of a continuing nature and apply during the occupation of the building (Lee, 1987). 23
  • 24. 2.4 INEFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE COST There are many sources of ineffective maintenance cost. These sources include (Lee, 1987): Unnecessary Work: It includes the following • Work above the required standards. • Improper maintenance work. • Misuse of the building. • Design defects and faulty workmanship in the initial construction stage. Uneconomic Work: This is resulting form: • Non-productive time caused by excessive traveling from job to job, waiting for instruction and materials • Improper work methods. • Lack of motivation on the part of the operatives. • Lack of appropriate maintenance contracts. 24
  • 25. • Changes to the nature and scope of the work after commencement. • Lack of an efficient system of recording and controlling costs. Inadequate Work: This is also resulting from: • Failure to identify the true causes of defects and specifies the correct remedial work. • Improper execution of the work. • Lack of adequate rules in the correct documents to ensure that the work will be performed in accordance with specification. 2.5 FORMS OF MAINTENANCE CONTRACTS Maintenance contract is a contract under which one party promise to furnish services, manpower, material and money to maintain or to improve real property for another party who promises to pay for the work performed (Al-Hazmi, 1995). There are various types of maintenance contracts, which used to explain the type agreement between two parties to carry out the maintenance work. They are namely: Unit Price Contract, Lump-Sum Contract, Cost 25
  • 26. Plus a Fixed Fee Contract, Cost Plus Percentage Fee Contract, Cost Plus a Fixed Fee with a Guaranteed Maximum, Term Contract, Purchased Labor Contract, and Schedule Contract. The Unit Price Contracts: A fixed price contract where the contractor agrees to furnish services at specific amount of money per unit work and the final price is dependent on the quantities needed to be carried out. This type of contract is used when the actual amount of work is unknown. Lump-Sum Contracts: A contract where the contractor receives a set amount as payment for delivering works to the owner. The contract price includes the contractor reimbursement for work and profit. Cost Plus a Fixed Fee Contracts: A contract where the contractor of works is reimbursed for actual allowable costs, and receives a fixed percentage of the contract value as the contractor's fee or profit. Cost Plus Percentage Fee Contracts: Provides reimbursement of allowable cost of works performed plus an agreed upon percentage of the estimated cost as profit. The owner assumes the full risk for cost and schedule. 26
  • 27. Cost Plus a Fixed Fee with a Guaranteed Maximum: it is similar to the fixed price contract except that the contractor agrees with the owner on a cost plus a fixed fee and agrees with him that the total cost of the work will not excess the specified amount of money. Term Contracts: under this type of contract, the contractor is given the opportunity to carry out certain types of work within certain limits of cost for an agreed period. The work done is usually priced on either a measured term or day-work term (Sceley, 1987). Purchased Labor Contract: it is an open call type, whereby, the contractor provides labor to the owner at specified hourly rates. Schedule Contracts: in this type of contract, the final cost will be measured on the quantity and rate for each item comprised the work executed. Predetermining the type of contract is an important factor in implementation of work activities. It defines the outline and limits of scope of works, defines, terms of payment and minimizes the anticipated 27
  • 28. conflict between parties. However, not having uniform maintenance contracts will cause confusion in understanding the terms and conditions of works to be executed and will affect the performance of the maintenance teams. Having a defined uniform maintenance contract will make maintenance contractors more familiar with the terms and conditions and eventually will make the execution of maintenance work easier, faster and more effective (Higgins, 1988). 2.6 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DESIGN AND BUILDING MAINTENANCE Building efficiency can be affected by decision taken and actions performed at any time in the history of a building from its initial stage to its final stage. The designer should be involved in all these decisions because the design influence on the maintenance of all building is greater than ever before. Today, buildings are designed to meet more complicated needs than those of previous times do. Designer should know the building owner's requirements such as amount of space that he needs, the amount of money he can afforded to spend and the length of life he requires for his building. At this time in the preparation of the design, brief decisions 28
  • 29. can be taken which will have a vital effect on the amount of maintenance the completed building will need. The lowest initial cost in not necessary the most economical at the end, for cheaper materials often require more frequent maintenance and may have a shorter working life than the more expensive. Physical decay and deterioration of buildings due to weathering and even normal use, which are resulting in the need for an abnormal amount of repair and renewal, can be avoided by the exercise of greater care in detailed design at critical points of the structure and a better understanding of the nature and behavior of materials. The important factors, which contribute to the deterioration of a building, are: • Moisture. • Natural weathering. • Corrosion and chemical action. • Structural and thermal movement. • User wear and tear. Therefore, at the design stage of a project, the building must be visualized in use, and materials and finishes chosen, capable of withstanding 29
  • 30. everyday wear and tear. The designer must choose materials and building that meets his client's functional needs and meets the budget constraints laid down and can be maintained in good working order for a reasonable time at a reasonable cost. Maintenance planning should be started at the design stage and continue throughout the life of that building (Mills, 1980). 2.7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MAINTENANCE The efficiency, appearance, life span and economic viability of any building can be affected by decision taken and action performed during construction stage. A construction defect as a consequence of wrong decision is one of the most common causes of early deterioration. Construction contractors should be aware about materials selection, construction techniques used and skilled labor hiring. The carelessness is one of those would affect the efficiency and durability of any building. The defects on any building during construction stage that causes more maintenance expenditure can be predicted to inaccuracies during construction. The fixings and bearing can not tolerate the differential movements leading to structural defects. Foundation movements due to 30
  • 31. the drying out of the bearing strata or unequal settlement due to a variation in the load bearing capacity of the strata results in serous defects. CHAPTER THREE: BUILDING MAINTENANCE COST’S FACTORS Building maintenance costs increase and decrease according to the designers and construction contractor’s education, experience and comply with the specifications and standard. In this research section, effort will be done to identify factors affecting building maintenance cost. 3.1 ENGINEERING SERVICES 3.1.1 Design Complexity Building should be designed in such a way to be simple in maintenance. Design complexity will prevent maintenance work to be carried out easily, quickly and economically. Major replacement can often be avoided if regular cleaning and minor repair can be carried out without difficulty. For example, maintenance requires some tools to be performed. If the designer does not allow enough clearance to get the tools in and out, this minor problem will get bigger and become major problem. In addition, 31
  • 32. designer should always avoid permanent fixing of elements, which need continuous maintenance, e.g. such as lamp, carpets (Mills, 1980). 3.1.2 Faulty Design It includes all defects that were caused during the early stage of design and particularly in the structural design such as: when designer ignores the spacing for contraction and expansion movement. Such movement causes cracking of the structure, which will result in fractures in pipes or joint failure (Al-Shiha, 1993). 3.1.3 Low Concern to Future Maintenance Maintainability is the effort that provides customers with products that can be maintained by satisfactory balance of a short time, low cost and minimum expenditure of support resources, without adversely affecting the product’s performance or safety characteristics. Maintainability is one important aspect of design, along with Reliability, Human Engineering, Components Engineering and others. It must be involved in the total design process. In the planning stage, maintainability requirements are defined and translated into design criteria. Next, these criteria are applied to the design to establish the desired functional and physical 32
  • 33. characteristics of the system. These design characteristics are measured to verify quantitative goals and then translated into improvement of design of the system. By not considering maintenance analysis during design stage of building, grievous problems can be caused regarding function, performance, and safety of the system. This can cause a total replacement of the system or an item might necessitate (Patton, 1988). 3.1.4 Life Cycle Cost Techniques (LCC) Life cycle cost (LCC) is the total relevant costs over the life of a system including cost of acquisition, operation, maintenance, modification, and disposal for the purpose of making decision (Shear, 1993). LCC takes into account initial and other running costs (total cost of operation and maintenance of a system) over a life of the buildings. It can help in determining how the owner’s money is distributed during the life period of the facility. It is used to determine the most economic way of meeting a need of space. Also, it is used to assist in developing the most economic plan shape, structural form and internal layout. The earlier LCC is applied, the greater the possibility of saving and lowering the committed cost. LCC is used to identify the design feature, components and finishing that have lowest total cost. Also, it provides a means of identifying high cost areas and evaluating changes that will reduce these costs (Lee, 1987). 33
  • 34. 3.1.5 Poor Quality Control Quality Control is the process used to control, inspect, test and record procurement, fabrication and installation in conformance with contract document. During the construction and maintenance stages, quality control program should be set out. It is used to control, inspect and test record of activities in accordance with the contract requirement and construction procedures. A facility with the presence of an effective QC program has fewer defects and therefore requires less maintenance than a facility where no QC program has been considered. Also, during the maintenance stage the presence of QC is vital to assure that the components are required or maintained as per the contract documents (Mohamoud, 1994). 3.1.6 Unfamiliarity with Maintenance Methods 34
  • 35. The effect of adoption of inappropriate method is not limited to increase the cost of the particular work, but may also have an adverse effect on the long-term durability of the building and the cost of subsequent maintenance (Al-Khudair, 1988). 3.1.7 Unfamiliarity with Local Conditions The designer should have an idea about the building location and type of plants and insects existing in the area. He should specify the treatment method if existing in the design drawings. It is because such these biological factors can harm the building and lead to continuous maintenance (Liska, 1988). 3.1.8 Unfamiliarity with Site Conditions Designer should be familiar with buildings site condition such as soil condition. Ignoring variation in soil condition will cause setting, which will cause cracking of structural elements (Al-Khudair, 1988). 3.1.9 Failure to Identify the True Cause of Defect 35
  • 36. This will not only do nothing to rectify the original defect but may substantially worsen the condition of the building. Therefore, worker should examine carefully all symptoms, consider all the probable causes, by a process of elimination identify the true causes and its source, and then decide on appropriate remedial action (Lee, 1987). 3.2 LABORS 3.2.1 Unavailability of Skilled Labors Skilled labors are important for maintenance work and they should be available to perform job and utilize equipment. It is because they perform work according to their past experience and their skills. Employing labor with the requisite skills will assist to improve the quality of work, minimizing cost and reduce work time span. Therefore, just having the right tools does not mean the job will be performed properly (Al-Khudair, 1988). 3.2.2 Defects and faulty workmanship in the initial construction 36
  • 37. Some building defects have their origin in the building process itself. Due to inaccuracies during construction, the fixing and bearings cannot tolerate the differential movements leading to structural defects (Mills, 1980). 3.2.3 Unfamiliarity of the Foreign Labors to Culture Foreign labors are not exposed to culture and frequently they lack the knowledge that is necessary to adopt themselves to the ways and customs of local people. These social and cultural barriers affect their productivity (Al-Juwairah, 1997). 3.2.4 Uneducated Labors Education is hardly the same as intelligence, although in many cases there is a relationship between the two. The education for labors ranges from none to advanced degrees. Training, which of course is a form of education, also ranges from zero (many labors have been put on the job with no preparation whatsoever) to very extensive courses involving orientation, classroom training, and on-the-job training. Educated labors can easily perceive the transmitted information or instruction and easily build a relationship with others (Shear, 1983). 37
  • 38. 3.3 BUILDING MATERIALS 3.3.1 Materials Selection Does Not Comply with Client’s Activities Materials selection should meet the performance requirements expected. Using bad quality of materials will cause failure of the materials, which will require replacement, correction or more maintenance works in the future. Selection of inferior materials during the construction stage will cause more problems during the maintenance stage (Merritt, 1975). Therefore, selection of materials should be in compliance with the performance specification requirements in order to minimize future expenses during maintenance stage. 38
  • 39. 3.3.2 Ignorance about the Basic Physical and Chemical Properties of Materials One of the major causes of building deterioration and other unsatisfactory features of many buildings is the bad understanding of the nature and behavior of materials. The failing to make allowance for the differing thermal and moisture movements of materials in combination will adversely affects building functional performance or appearance (Lee, 1987). 3.3.3 Usage of Cheaper/ Sub- Standard Materials The lowest initial is not necessarily the most economical in the end. For cheaper and sub-standard materials often require maintenance that is more frequent and may have a short working life than the more expensive alternative. 3.3.4 Usage of New Materials with little behavior’s information Today the building designer is faced with new materials with little information about their behavior and characteristics. Also, sometimes relatively untested and after without adequate guarantees. The use of such materials can mean a never-ending cause of maintenance problems (Mahmoud, 1994). 39
  • 40. 3.3.5 Fluctuation of Materials Prices Recently, there have been obvious fluctuations in construction and finishing materials. Example of this materials price fluctuation is cement. 3.4 ENVIRONMENTS 3.4.1 Hard Climate Condition Weather condition is often responsible for chemical action on building materials. Atmospheric pollution associated with rain, causes rapid deterioration of some materials (Patton, 1982). 3.4.2 Unqualified Maintenance Contractors The specialized and well-experienced maintenance contractors are important to perform maintenance work effectively. A good maintenance contractor is a solid performer who knows the costs and knows what he 40
  • 41. can or cannot do, and realizes that his regulations are built upon his past performance (Al-Hazmi, 1995). 3.4.3 Unavailability of Maintenance Contractors Most small and medium-sized maintenance contractors in the local market carry out new construction in addition to maintenance and usually prefer new work because it is more straightforward and offers potentially higher profit. In addition, the number of well-experienced maintenance contractors is countable; thereby it will limit the competition in the field with a likelihood of higher price. 3.4.4 Lack of Local Productivity Standard and Specification The specification and standards are document that clearly and accurately describe the essential technical requirement for materials, which it will be determined that the performance requirements have been met. Such documents may include performance, support, preservation, packing, and making requirements (Patton, 1988). Standard and specification documents are extremely important to building maintenance, as it constitutes a schedule of instructions to the contractor 41
  • 42. and prescribes the materials and workmanship requirement. Projects and facilities are to be constructed as per standard and specifications. Having a uniform specification and standards will ease the construction process as well as maintenance work (Sceley, 1987). It is very important to have on uniform standard and specification to be followed throughout to avoid confusion and loss of skills in trying to understand the procedures called standard. 3.4.5 Aging of the Building Building components have expected life, at the end of which, demolition or replacement would be imperative. 3.5 MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION 3.5.1 Poor Management of Maintenance Group Maintenance management is an effective tool for achieving a high standard of maintenance work. In absence of such management, it will lead to a cumbersome, time consuming, and most likely fail maintenance 42
  • 43. work. Maintenance management's responsibility needs to formulate long term strategic plans to meet those needs are required (Mahmoud, 1994). 3.5.2 Lack of Building Maintenance Manuals The objective of the manual is to provide all building users with a common system of maintenance information recording and retrieval for the proper guidance of maintenance operatives, building owners, maintenance involving operatives, costing, and general maintenance. This would act as a common part of the building process and not as a series of isolated events that takes place after the completion of the building (Mills, 1980). 3.5.3 Lack of Communications between Maintenance Contractors and Clients The proper communication channel between the maintenance contracts and clients ensures that the contractors are going to perform the work according to the stated condition and specification in the contract documents. Also, it ensures that the maintenance contractors will respond to client's repairs and maintenance in a reasonable period of time. 43
  • 44. 3.5.4 Not Using Building after Completion The non-use of building after completion would make the owner not give enough attention to the maintenance work. Facilities which have not been used for a long time could be needed urgently. However, if no maintenance has been performed on idle components and items, they may require emergency maintenance which will cost more and require more manpower. Hence, if facilities are not in use, they should be maintained in order to avoid future unplanned costly maintenance (Mahmoud, 1994). 3.6 BUDGET AND FINANCE 3.6.1 Poor Financial Support for Maintenance Work It is very important that building owners, when they prepare the annual budgets, include enough financial allocation for maintenance work, as it is a critical and needed function. In the absence of financial support for maintenance work required, the building will not be maintained properly (Al-Sultan, 1996). 3.6.2 Poor Financial Control on Site 44
  • 45. Labor productivity, material availability, materials waste, good and effective maintenance methods, using effective tools and equipment, and good maintenance planning should be financially controlled on site. Maintenance management should be aware of these factors in order to achieve better financial control on site (Al-Juwairah, 1997). 3.7 BUILDING USERS BEHAVIORS 3.7.1 User Does Not Understand Importance of Maintenance Work Building users often pay little attention to keeping their building in good working order and are surprised when they fail to give the service they expected. It has already emphasized that buildings start to deteriorate from the day they are completed. The length of time this process of decay takes depends on the care taken in: firstly, the design, secondly the construction, and thirdly the upkeep or maintenance. 45
  • 46. 3.7.2 Misuse of Building after Completion of the Construction When building construction is completed, owners must be using their buildings and its components in proper way. The misuse of components will result in their damage and need for repair, which would be costly (Mahmoud, 1994). 3.7.3 Not Using Preventive Maintenance Neglect of preventive maintenance such as checking the efficacy of rainwater gutters and servicing mechanical and electrical installation causes more extensive periodical maintenance and, in the long run, major repair or restoration which could have been avoided or postponed (Fattani, 1998). 3.7.4 Wrong Behaviors of Occupants Building occupants often pay little attention to keeping building in good working order and are surprised when they fail to give the service they expected. The misuse of building services will result in their damage and the need for repair, which will be costly. Also, the abnormal occupier activities can cause the rapid deterioration. 46
  • 47. 3.7.5 The Tendency to Execute Work Only When It Becomes As Matter of Urgency Gradual deterioration is inevitable, but the speed at which it proceeds can be regulated and the ultimate failure of the building, in whole or in part, can be avoided or accelerated according to the way in which the building is maintained. Therefore, leaving a minor problem, which requires maintenance action until it becomes worse, is wrong practice of maintenance. It causes maintenance cost to accumulate or grow until the owner cannot tolerate it. CHAPTER FOUR: BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT 4.1 INTRODUCTION The maintenance is a key factor in retaining longer economic life for buildings. Longer building life results in forestalling replacement which in turn results in spacing out replacement times and hence capital expenditure. Maintenance is really a productive activity both at the private (leads to lower depreciation cost) and at the national levels (leads to lower expenditures on replacement). To achieve maintenance goals some issues need to be developed like, proper guidelines and standard, proper 47
  • 48. scheduling of activities, and provide necessary resources (financial and human) (Duffuaa, 1992). A systematic approach for assessment of desirable level of maintenance expenditures should be adopted in each organization. It should include the life cycle costs (LCC) details to achieve the right balance between initial construction costs and subsequent maintenance and running costs. Building elements life cycles and future maintenance expenditures should be outlined in building manuals to assist the owners to set aside the budget for maintaining their buildings to an acceptable standard (Lee, 1987). 4.2 BUILDING MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT In maintaining a building, there are usually several strategic options available to management, and many alternative decisions to be considered. There is, for example, the possibility of reducing the demand for maintenance by addressing the actual cause of failure and identifying its consequences. For instance, it may be necessary to decide whether to repair or to replace an item, and whether to carry out periodic maintenance at fixed intervals or simply to respond to the requests of the users. Thus, building maintenance can be divided into three strategies: • Corrective. 48
  • 49. • Preventive. • Condition-based. 4.2.1 Corrective maintenance Corrective maintenance is the simplest type of maintenance strategy, where an element in a building is used until it breaks down or defects. It covers all activities, including replacement or repair of an element that has failed to a point at which it cannot perform its required function. Corrective maintenance is sometimes referred to as failure-based or unplanned maintenance. Thus, corrective maintenance can be extremely expensive for two reasons: • The failure of an item can cause a large amount of consequential damage to other elements in the building. For example, failure of the roof could cause damage to the ceiling and the interior of the building. • Failure of an item can occur at a time which is inconvenient to both the user and the maintaining authority. This can make manpower and spare parts planning extremely difficult. 49
  • 50. However, corrective maintenance is still an important part of any maintenance management strategy. It is from such work that we can gather vital predictive information. 4.2.2 Preventive maintenance Preventive maintenance was introduced to overcome the disadvantages of corrective maintenance, by reducing the probability of occurrence of failure and avoiding sudden failure. This strategy is referred to as time- based maintenance, planned maintenance or cyclic maintenance. Preventive maintenance tasks are performed in accordance with a predetermined plan at regular, fixed intervals, which may be based for example on operating time. Such a strategy is frequently applied to external or internal paint work. The following are the advantages of preventive over corrective maintenance: • Maintenance can be planned ahead and performed when it is convenient to the building’s user. • Maintenance costs can be reduced by avoiding the cost of consequential damage. • Downtime, the time that an element of the building or the whole building is out of service, can be minimized so the habitability of the building can be increased. 50
  • 51. • The health and safety of the user can be improved. Nevertheless, preventive maintenance has some disadvantages which must be minimized (El-Haram, 1995): • Planned maintenance is performed irrespective of the condition of the building elements. Consequently, a large number of unnecessary tasks will be carried out on elements that could have remained in a safe and acceptable operating condition for a much longer time. • As a result of human error during the execution of the maintenance task, the condition of an element may end up worse than it was before. • Planned maintenance tasks are usually very demanding in terms of spare parts and labor. 4.2.3 Condition-based maintenance Condition-based maintenance is defined as: “Maintenance carried out in response to a significant deterioration in a unit as indicated by a change in monitored parameter of the unit condition or performance” (Kelly and Harris, 1978). The condition-based maintenance concept recognizes that a 51
  • 52. change in condition and/or performance of an item is the principal reason for carrying out maintenance. Thus, the optimal time to perform maintenance is determined from a condition survey used to determine the actual state of each constituent item in a building. In this strategy, maintenance tasks are determined and planned by efficiently monitoring the building’s elements such as walls, floors, roof and service equipment such as boilers, pumps, and heating system, to identify which element or piece of equipment requires maintenance before a major failure occurs. To gain the full advantage of applying condition-based maintenance, the condition of an item must be monitored to identify whether there is any evidence of change from a normal to an abnormal condition. This can be done by selecting the parameter which best describes the condition of the item and monitoring changes using suitable condition monitoring tools. Condition assessments can vary from simple visual inspections to more advanced inspections using a variety of condition monitoring tools and techniques. 4.3 A NEW APPROACH TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT Current building maintenance strategies, whether based on planned or unplanned maintenance, are most likely to be budget driven. This means that maintenance is not carried out according to actual need, but is 52
  • 53. dictated by financial priorities decided at the time or during the previous year. Although theoretically the budget should be built up as a result of estimated needs, it is almost invariably based on previous year’s figures, modified for changes in the number of buildings, specially agreed programs of planned maintenance and inflation forecasts (Spedding, 1987). Three methods are currently used for constructing a budget for estate-based management organizations; none is entirely satisfactory and each produces a different budget (Lee, 1987): • Base this year’s budget on last year’s expenditure with an allowance for inflation. • Use the Department of Environment or other formula for calculating the maintenance element of the estate budget. • Use a stock condition survey to quantify the size of the maintenance task. In contrast to the way that current building maintenance strategies are selected, the new maintenance management approach is based on the failure consequences of each item in a building. Thus, the objective of maintenance management is to prevent, to minimize and to repair building defects by enhanced planning and implementation using appropriate materials and tools at the right time and minimum total life-cycle cost. 53
  • 54. 4.4 THE MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT DECISION DIAGRAM The maintenance management decision diagram is a logical process used to select an appropriate and cost-effective maintenance strategy for each item or group of items in a building. Its objective is to determine the best combination of maintenance strategies for a building by selecting the optimum maintenance strategy for each individual item in the building, taking into consideration health, safety and satisfaction of the user and the costs of maintenance tasks. The first step in developing the maintenance management decision diagram is to carry out a comprehensive review of all constituent items in a building. This can be done by breaking the building down into the physical elements and items of each functional system and subsystem. Engineering failure analysis provides insight into the type of failures that an item in a building is likely to experience. So each item within the building should be analyzed from the point of view of failure. It is especially important to identify the consequences of failure. The engineering tool which is used to perform this task is a failure mode, effect and consequences analysis (El-Haram, 1996). As a result of this 54
  • 55. analysis, all the constituent items in the building can be divided into two groups depending on the significance of the consequences of failure. 4.4.1 Significant items Significant items are those whose failure affects health, safety, environment or utility (including cost). Health, safety and environmentally significant items: to determine health, safety and environmentally significant items (HSESIs), it is necessary to find out exactly how the item might affect the environment and the health and safety of the user when it fails. Niczyporuk (1994) defines a safe object as one which causes no hazard in relation to life, health or the environment. It is also defined as freedom from unacceptable risk or personal harm. Risk is the combined effect of the chances of occurrence of some undesirable failure and its consequences in a given system. Thus, HSESIs are those whose failure creates a possibility that the user could be injured or killed, or that environmental standards could be breached. 4.4.2 Utility significant item 55
  • 56. An item is utility significant if the cost of maintenance is less than the cost of failure. In determining the cost of failure, it is necessary to take account of any loss of availability which may result from the failure. Thus, all items whose failure is likely to have an effect on the revenue, direct and indirect maintenance costs, quality, user satisfaction, appearance, serviceability or availability of the building are potentially utility significant. Care should be taken to ensure that all items that have failure consequences are included in the list of significant items. 4.4.3 Non-significant items Non-significant items are those items whose failure has no significant effect. This means that the failure affects neither health, safety, environment nor utility. 4.5 SELECTION OF BUILDING MAINTENANCE STRATEGY Once significant and non-significant items are identified, the next step is to select an appropriate maintenance strategy for each item in the building. Generally speaking, all three types of maintenance strategies 56
  • 57. could be applied to every item in the building, but only one will yield optimal results. The process is illustrated in Figure 1. 4.5.1 Corrective maintenance Corrective maintenance is most likely to be the appropriate maintenance strategy for: • Non-significant items. • Utility significant items whose condition cannot be monitored and for which the cost of applying time-based preventive maintenance is less than the cost of applying corrective maintenance. 4.5.2 Preventive maintenance Time-based preventive maintenance is most likely to be the appropriate maintenance strategy for: • Health, safety and environmentally significant items whose condition cannot be monitored. • Health, safety and environmentally significant items whose condition can be monitored, but for which the online condition monitoring techniques either are not available or are not cost effective. 57
  • 58. • Utility significant items whose condition cannot be monitored and for which the cost of applying time-based preventive maintenance is less than the cost of applying corrective maintenance. 4.5.3 Condition-based maintenance Condition-based maintenance is most likely to be the appropriate maintenance strategy for: • Health, safety and environmentally significant items whose condition can be monitored and for which on-line condition monitoring techniques are available and cost-effective. • Utility significant items whose condition can be monitored and for which condition-based monitoring techniques are available and cost-effective. • Utility significant items whose condition can be monitored and for which the cost of applying condition-based maintenance is less than the cost of applying corrective maintenance. 58
  • 59. List of a building’s constituent items Significant items (SI) Non-significant items (NSI) Time-based maintenance (CBM) HSES items Time-based maintenance (TBM) Failure-based maintenance (FBM) Time-based maintenance (TBM) Condition-based maintenance (CBM) US items Condition-based maintenance (CBM) Can the Condition of theU SIbe m onitored? Isthecostof applying CBM lessthan thecost ofapplying FBM ? Is the cost of applying TBM less than the cost of applying FBM ? Istheon-line condition m onitoring technique availableand costeffective? Can the Condition of theH SESI be m onitored? YN N Y Y N Y N NY KEY HSES = Health, Safety and Environment Significant US = Utility Significant Figure 1. Building Maintenance Decision Diagram 59
  • 60. 4.6 SUMMARY To determine an optimal maintenance strategy for a building, it is necessary to integrate the three types of maintenance strategy because: • Not all items are significant. • Not all significant items can be condition monitored. • Condition monitoring techniques are not always available. • The application of condition monitoring techniques is not always cost-effective. This approach will allow maintenance engineers and managers to make decisions in advance about: • Selecting the most cost-effective maintenance strategy for each individual item in the building. • The optimal allocation of logistics resources such as spare parts, tools, and personnel which are needed for the execution of maintenance activities. 60
  • 61. CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION This report is about Building Maintenance Costs. It starts with an introductory chapter. After that, the concept of building maintenance costs is explained. The explanation includes the maintenance cost classification, how to control the maintenance costs and types of factors the influence decision to incur maintenance expenditure. In addition, the relationship between design and buildings maintenance and construction is discussed separately. The third part is about the identification the factors affecting buildings maintenance costs. There are 34 (thirty-four) factors, and these are grouped into seven (7) major categories. These categories are Engineering Services, Labors, Building Materials, Environments, Management and Administration, Budget and Finance, and Building Users Behaviors. The different strategies for managing the building maintenance costs are explained in the forth chapter. At the end, summary and conclusion is mentioned. In conclusion, some findings are highlighted: • Lack of productive local standards and specification used to classify the materials according to the client's activities, enhance most of the designers used American, Garman..etc. standards which 61
  • 62. might not consider the hard condition of the gulf area such as hot weather, humidity and nature of the society. • Owners always concern about the initial cost more than the running cost. Therefore, the financial support for maintenance work after the building has been constructed is weak. The reason may be that from the standpoint of the individual firm the amount spent on maintenance appears small in comparison with other operating costs. But when viewed on a national scale it is quite clear that maintenance is an activity of primary importance. Also, it can be attributed to the existing belief that leaves the minor problem to be worse before repairing it. • Good supervision and management of any project requires the implementation of a special knowledge, skills, tools and technique to the project activities in order to meet stakeholder needs and expectations such as scope, time, cost and quality. • Lack of maintenance date makes the designers uncertain to determine the high maintenance cost area, which need annual inspection and then incorporate in the buildings maintenance manuals. • Lack of defined uniform maintenance contract which will make maintenance contractors more familiar with the terms and 62
  • 63. conditions and eventually will make the execution of maintenance work easier, faster and more effective. • The design stage is very important phase of the project. Special care should be taken since it has a vital effect on the amount of maintenance woke that will be needed after the building completed. • A construction defects as a consequence of wrong decision is one of the most common causes of early deterioration. Construction contractors should be aware about materials selection, construction techniques used and skilled labor hiring. 63
  • 64. REFERENCES 1. Al-Hazmi, T. “Toward Standardization of Public Building Maintenance Contracts in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1995. 2. Al-Juwairah, Y. “Factors Affecting Construction Cost in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1997. 3. Al-Khudair, A. “Factors Affecting the Maintenance Cost of the Building in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1988. 4. Al-Shiha, M. “The Effect of Faulty Design and Construction on Building Maintenance.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1993. 5. Higgins, L. R. Maintenance Engineering Handbook, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill New York, 1988. 6. Ikwan, M. Haq, A. and Burney, F. “Maintenance Management in Saudi Arabia.” Journal of King Saud University, Eng. Sci., Vol. 4, PP. 67-80, 1996. 7. Kelly, A. and Harris, M. J. Management of Industrial Maintenance, Butterworths, London, 1978. 64
  • 65. 8. Lee, R. M. Phil, Frics. Building Maintenance Management. 3rd Edition, William Collines Sons & Co., 1987. 9. Liska, R. Means Facilities Maintenance Standards. R. S. Means Company Inc., 1988. 10. Mahmoud, T. “Assessment of the Problem Facing the Maintenance Industry in Saudi Arabia.” Master Thesis, KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, 1994. 11. Mills, E. D. Building Maintenance and Preservation – A Guide to Design and Management, Butterworths, 1980. 12. Neely, E. and Neathammar, R. “Life Cycle Maintenance Costs by Facility Use.” Journal of Construction Engineering & Management, Vol. 117 no. 2, Jun 1991. 13. Patton, Joseph D. Jr “Maintainability and Maintenance Management.” Instrument Society of America, North Carolina, U.S.A., 1988. 14. Raymond, C. M. and Joan, C. f., Preventive Maintenance of Buildings, Chapman and Hall, London, 1991. 15. Sceley, Ivor H. Building Maintenance, 2nd Edition, McMillan Education London, 1987. 16. Seeley, H. Building Maintenance. Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1976. 17. Shear, M. Building Maintenance Management. Virginia, Reston Publishing Co., 1983. 65
  • 66. 18. Spedding, A. Building Maintenance Economics and Management, E. & F. N. Spon Ltd, London, 1976. 66