Chapter Two: Principles and Importance of Building/Property

Maintenance

2.1 Building/Property Maintenance Needs

Some of the main purposes of maintaining a building or a property include:
• Retaining value of an investment
• Maintaining the building or property in a condition in which it continues to
fulfil its function
• Presenting a good appearance that is for aesthetic reasons
2.2 Key Criteria Influencing the Building/Property Maintenance Decision
These key criteria include but not limited to the following:
• Cost of maintenance works
• Age of the building/property
• Availability of physical resources
• Urgency to carry out maintenance works
• Future use
• Social considerations
2.3 Reasons for carrying out Building/Property Maintenance
Property owners, property managers or occupiers may need to carry out
maintenance of their buildings/properties mainly because of the following
reasons:
• Physical integrity. To keep the building/property in good working order
so as to minimise disruptions and downtimes.

• Risk Management. To keep the building/property in a state of good

repair for the occupiers’ or visitors’ health and safety.

• Aesthetic Preservation. To prevent the building/property from

deteriorating in appearance and to prevent it from becoming bad looking.

• Maximum Returns. To ensure that the building/property achieves its full

potential service life

• Fiscal Responsibility. To leverage efficiencies that can be reflected on

the owner’s balance sheet
• Duty of care. To satisfy a legislated duty that is owed to owners,
occupiers and visitors of the building/property

• Duty to mitigate. To prevent unnecessary damage to the

building/property that may result from premature failure.
Chapter Three: Building Maintenance Approaches and Types of Building
Maintenance

3.1 Role of Building Maintenance Officer

The key roles of a building maintenance officer include:
• Maintenance reporting

• The establishment of condition standards

• The costing, planning and implementation of maintenance works

3.2 Building Maintenance Approaches

3.2.1 Reactive Maintenance Approach

Definition: Reactive maintenance also known as breakdown maintenance

refers to where maintenance and repairs are done when an asset, machine or
equipment has already broken down.

Purpose: Reactive maintenance focuses on restoring the asset, equipment or

machine to its normal operating condition. The broken down asset is returned to
working within service specifications by replacing or repairing faulty parts and its
components.
Effect: Emergency repairs cost 3 to 9 times more than planned repairs, so
maintenance plans that rely on reactive maintenance are generally the most
expensive. Breakdown maintenance is so expensive because shutdowns
happen during production runs (instead of pre-scheduled maintenance
shutdowns during downtimes); because expedited shipping for spare parts
costs much more than regular shipping; and because maintenance staff is
often forced to work overtime to repair machinery.

Advantages of Reactive Maintenance

• Lower initial costs. As your systems are new, they require little maintenance so
you save on parts and emergency labour.
• Requires fewer staff – Complex repairs tend to be outsourced reducing the need
for internal staff.
• No planning needed – Technicians repair equipment when it fails. As fails are
unpredictable, no time is spent planning the repairs.
Disadvantages of Reactive Maintenance Approach
• Higher maintenance costs and difficult to control budgets – As
equipment failures can be unpredictable, labour and spare parts may not
be readily available so organizations may end up paying a premium for
emergency parts shipping, travel time and out of hours support.
• Shorter life expectancy of assets – Reactive maintenance does not keep
the systems running in optimal “as new” condition. Over time, systems that
have not been maintained deteriorate faster so don’t maximize their initial
capital cost investment.
• Safety and environmental issues – When a property/asset is not
maintained, it can cause harm to people and environment around it.
• Time consuming – Reactive repairs tend to take longer due to a number
of factors including time to diagnose, travel time, time to pull parts from
stores or emergency order, time to pull correct manuals and schematics
etc.
• Interferes with planned work – Emergency repairs are usually prioritized
at the expense of planned work. Planned work may be pushed or
cancelled completely.
• Collateral Damage – A minor issue could quickly result into a major
system repair.
• Repeat issues – Reactive maintenance does the bare minimum to get the
system up and running again. If not repaired correctly, the issue could
reoccur and cause more downtime.
• Higher energy costs.
When Should Reactive Maintenance Be Used?
Reactive maintenance should only be performed in the following
circumstances:
• Should be performed on components that are inexpensive
• Should be performed on components that are easy to replace
• Where the failure does not cause collateral damage in the system
• Where the cost of reactive maintenance is not greater than preventative
maintenance.
• Reactive maintenance is also ideal for business that cannot plan work due
to the nature of the industry. An example would be satellite
communications. It is too costly to send technicians into space to perform
regular preventive maintenance.
3.2.2 Proactive Maintenance Approach

Definition: Proactive is a preventive maintenance strategy for maintaining the

reliability of an asset especially machines and equipments.
Reliability is the ability of an item to perform a required function under a stated
set of conditions for a stated period of time.

Purpose: The purpose of proactive maintenance is to view asset failure and

similar problems as something that can be anticipated and dealt with before
they occur.

Proactive maintenance consists of:

• Preventive maintenance
• Predictive maintenance

Effect: Proactive maintenance focuses primarily on determining the root

cause of asset failure and dealing with those issues before problems occur.
It is often seen as a cost effective practice since it allows a company to avoid
asset failure and solve issues before they become problems

Home Assignment
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of Proactive maintenance
approach
3.3 Types of Building Maintenance
3.3.1 Planned maintenance: “The maintenance that is organized and carried
out with forethought, control and the use of records to a predetermined plan
3.3.2 Unplanned maintenance: “The maintenance that is carried out to no
predetermined plan.”
3.3.3 Preventive maintenance: “The maintenance is carried at predetermined
intervals or corresponding to prescribed criteria and intended to reduce the
probability of failure or the performance degradation of an item.”
3.3.4 Corrective maintenance: “The maintenance is carried out after a failure
has occurred and intended to restore an item to a state in which it can perform
its required function.”
3.3.5 Emergency maintenance: “The maintenance which is necessary to put in
hand immediately to avoid serious consequences.” This is sometimes referred to
as day-to-day maintenance, resulting from such incidents as gas leaks and gale
damage.
3.3.6 Condition-based maintenance: “The preventive maintenance is initiated
as a result of knowledge of the condition of an item from routine or continuous
monitoring.”
3.3.7 Scheduled maintenance: “The preventive maintenance is carried out to a
predetermined interval of time, number of operations, mileage etc”.
3.3.8 Routine maintenance: “The day to day building operational activities of
the property such as daily cleaning of premises”.
3.4 General Maintenance Classifications

These could be:

• Major repairs or restoration
• Periodic maintenance
• Routine or day to day maintenance

N.B: Home assignment

Distinguish between building operational activities and building maintenance
activities?

HINT: Building operational activities are routine functions undertaken for

hygienic, aesthetic and security purposes and for supply of utilities. These
activities are necessary to keep the building in a habitable and usable
condition.

Whereas,

Building maintenance activities…….?

Chapter Four: Building Components

4.1 Sub-structure: The structurally sound and watertight base upon which to build.
This includes:
• Foundations
• Foundation walls
• Hard core filling
• Slabs
• Damp proofing
• Floor structures
• Sub-soil drainage
• Service tunnels
• Ramps/steps
4.2 Super structure: The structural walling that supports the roof. This includes:
• Columns and beams
• Upper floors
• Staircases
• External and internal walls
• Windows
• External and internal doors
4.3 Roof: roof structure and roof covering. The structurally sound and watertight
structure and covering over the top of the building wall structure.
4.4 Finishes: These include:
Wall finishes
Floor finishes
Ceiling finishes

4.5 Fittings: Fitments-built-in or fixed items that furnish or equip a building.

Cupboards
Shelving
Counters
Kitchen worktopes
Notice boards
Signs and symbols/Artworks
Mirrors
Stages
4.6 Services
a). Sanitary fixtures: normal fixtures connected to the soil and waste plumbing
systems and all associated ancillaries includes; WC suites, urinals, wash hand basins,
sinks, tubs, showers, shower curtains, soap and toilet paper holders, towel rails and
hand driers.
b) Sanitary Plumbing System that allows disposal of all waste and soiled water from
fixtures and equipment out to the external face of external walls. These includes:
stacks and vents, all loose traps, floor wastes, internal sewer drainage runs, pumps
and ejectors
c) Water supply system to supply water from the point of entry to the building to the
points of consumption. These include: storage tanks, pumps, water treatment plants,
water heaters and coolers
d) Gas services system to supply gas from the point of entry to the building to the
points of consumption. Include: portable gas cylinders, booster compressors,
manifolds and regulators.
e) Space heating
f) Ventilation system
g) Evaporation cooling
h) Air conditioning
i) Fire protection system to detect or to extinguish fire. They include:
sprinklers and other automatic extinguishing systems, fire indicator boards, manual
and automatic fire alarm installations, fire fighting equipment, electric light and power
system to provide all light and power.
j) Communication systems to provide audio and video communication within the
building. Include: telephone cabling, internal telephones, public address system, call,
emergency warning and intercommunication system, Clock and bell system, TV
antenna and closed circuit TV
K) Transportation system to move personnel and goods from floor to floor or area to
area. Include: lifts and escalators
l) Special services. These include: monitoring system, special conditioned rooms,
medical and industrial gas systems, dust extraction system, security system (CCTV
cameras), lightening protection (conductor), stage lighting, theatre equipment, and
laundry.

4.7 External services

• External storm water drainage-dispose of rain and surface water from site.
Include: culvers, pipe runs, inspection pits and trenches.
• External sewer drainage
• External water supply
• External gas
• External fire protection
• External electric light and power
• External communication
• External special services
• Roads, foot paths and paved areas-car parks, ply grounds, kerbs and
crossovers
• Gardening and lawn compound with lawn grass, flowers, shrubs and
shed/compound trees and fruits.
• Walls/fencing structures that enclose or define the extent of the site and
portions within the site
• Outbuildings and covered ways-small buildings supplementary to the mains,
bicycle sheds, garbage shelter, workshops, stores and garages.

Chapter Five: Common Defects in Building and their Remedial Measures

5.1 Origin of Defects
The origins of defects can be categorized into five broad categories namely:
Failure of materials
Design defects
Poor workmanship and errors
Damage by external elements/forces
Natural wear and tear of the buildings/structures
5.2 Common Defects and their appropriate Remedial Measures
• Cracks
• Rust
• Deformation of window/door frames and other structures
• Peeling off painting
• Failure of locking devices
• Broken glass panels-windows, doors and curtain walls
• Failure and loose of claddings such as glasses, aluminium and tiles cladding
• Rotting and decay of some building components such as roof and foundation
• Ponding/stagnant water on a flat roof
• Dampness due to moisture entering the building
• Roof leakage, etc

5.3 Structural Analysis of the Building Defects

When analysing the building defects, we consider the following:
Cause of defects: What caused the fault/defect?
Effect of the defect on the building performance. How is the defect going to
affect the performance of the building.
The state of activity of the defect. Is the defect dormant or active.
Proposed remedial action. What can be done to rectify the fault.

5.4 Remedial Measures

The above 5.3 is a take home assignment by students themselves