UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI

DEPT OF REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

BRE 407: PROPERTY MAINTENANCE/ BQS 407: CONSTRUCTION MAINTENANCE

COURSE OBJECTIVE- To offer an investigation of approaches of building

maintenance management and develop appropriate skills in undertaking
maintenance works.

COURSE CONTENT

INTRODUCTION TO MAINTANANCE
REASONS FOR MAINTANANCE
PROBLEMS OF MAINTANANCE IN KENYA
FORMS/ TYPES OF MAINTENANCE

INTRODUCTION TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

What is management and functions of management?

What is maintenance management?

MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

- Planning and budgeting for maintenance work

- Maintenance organization
- Maintenance policies, Maintenance manuals, Maintenance standards
- Maintenance procurement and service contracts
- Maintenance costs
- Maintenance data management/ Maintenance information system

APPROACHES TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

- Audit approach
- Total Quality Approach
Life cycle cost (LCC) approach to maintenance management
BUILDING/SERVICES DEFECTS AND FAILURES

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

BUILDING & SERVICES INSPECTIONS AND INVESTIGATION

- Inspections and report writing- condition/ structural/dilapidation survey

reports, occupational safety survey reports

STATUTORY PROVISIONS RELATING TO REPAIRS AND MAINTENANCE

CONSERVATION, PRESERVATION AND REHABILITATION OF BUILDINGS,

HISTORICAL SITES AND MONUMENTS
GROUNDS MAINTENANCE

RECOMMENDED READINGS

Lee’s Building Maintenance Management by Paul Wordsworth 4th edition

Add
TH
3351 (Building Maintenance by Brian Wood- Wiley- Blackwell Publishers)
.W663
C.2

Management and Agency in the urban property market in Kenya by Paul

Syagga and Eric Aligula.

ASSIGNMENT/CAT - 30 Marks (should be handed in at least I week before

semester exams).
 The care of the grounds is an important aspect of maintenance management.
Well-kept grounds improve a property’s appearance and image, help increase
or at least maintain its value and create a sense of pride among residents and
tenants. In light of this statement, discuss the maintenance activities that
constitute grounds care.

LESSON 1

INTRODUCTION TO MAINTANANCE

DEFINITIONS:

British Standards (BS) 3811 by the British Standards Institute 1984 defines
maintenance as ‘a combination of any actions carried out to retain an item in, or
restore it to, an acceptable standard.

The Chartered Institute of Building (British) offers the following definition of

maintenance ‘work undertaken in order to keep, restore or improve every facility,
i.e. every part of a building, its services and surrounds, to an agreed standard.

Thus, from the above two definitions, we can derive a general definition of
maintenance as ‘Work undertaken in order to keep/retain, restore, or improve
every facility, i.e. every part of a building, its services and surrounds, to currently
acceptable or agreed standard and to sustain the utility and value of the building/
facility.

1) ‘Retaining/Keeping’- implies work undertaken in anticipation of failure i.e.

planned/preventive work- this is usually referred to as preventive
maintenance
2) ‘Restoration’- implies work undertaken/carried out after failure has
occurred. Also called refurbishment or corrective maintenance.

3) ‘Improvement’- work undertaken to increase a properties performance, to

make it better to do its intended function and to meet the needs and
expectations of building users/ occupants whoever they might be e.g.
tenants, employees, students, visitors etc.

Facility- A facility means a place, space, amenity or piece of equipment

provided for a particular purpose. A facility can also be viewed as a
permanent, semi- permanent or temporary property such as a building,
plant or structure, built, established or installed for the performance of one
or more specific activities or functions

The concept of ‘Acceptable Standard’ in the definition of maintenance is an

abstract concept i.e. there is no benchmark or measure that defines the
accepted maintenance standard.

What is an acceptable maintenance standard:

‘May be construed as acceptability to the person paying for the maintenance

works i.e. the landlord, head of the institution/organization’.

Or

‘It may also be construed as acceptability to the person receiving the benefits
of maintenance i.e. the occupiers, users of buildings/facilities, tenants,
students, staff etc.

Or

‘acceptability to some outside body with the responsibility for enforcing

minimum standards e.g. county government, national government or any
other local or international agency

Or

‘It can also be construed more widely as acceptability to the general public or
some sections of the public

Clearly, there are no absolute standards which would equally be acceptable to

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

An acceptable standard is contrasted from Agreed standard in that an agreed

standard is determined by the balance between the maintenance needs of
buildings and users and available resources. i.e. the use of the concept agreed
standard in the definition of maintenance emphasizes the fact that the
standard to be achieved for maintenance is to be determined by the amount of
resources – financial resources, labor, technical skills etc. that is available and
allocated rather than the maintenance needs and expectations of owners,
occupants etc.

Maintenance activities/works

Activities/works constituting maintenance works includes;

Inspections of buildings- routine work to identify defects and possible failure

Testing of building’s fabric- to determine the structural strength/stability of

building’s fabric- normally done by professional structural engineers

Servicing- scheduled work at regular defined intervals to prolong life and

prevent breakdowns
 Restoration/ refurbishment/ re- habilitation- Massive works undertaken after
failure has occurred to restore the building/facility into its original condition to
better perform its intended function.

Rectification/repairs and replacements- Planned works based on observed

condition, to repair or replace components immediately prior to anticipated
failure

Decoration- Works done to improve a building’s physical appearance, aesthetic

appeal e.g. painting works, tiling of floors, walls, ceilings, works of art on
building’s surface etc.

Cleaning-

Maintenance or Improvement?
It is important to distinguish between maintenance from improvement. While
noting that the two words convey different meanings and cannot be used
interchangeable, it is generally agreed that maintenance should include a
reasonable element of improvement e.g. the replacement of worn out
components with their modern versions e.g. replacing boiler with better
technical performance than original boiler is considered maintenance although
some element of improvement is realized. Also replacing single glazed
windows with modern double- glazed units is maintenance as well, with
element of improvement.

Thus, it is logical to extend the meaning of maintenance to cover localized

improvement.

However, where the intention is to increase the efficiency in the use of the
building/facility by adding facilities/ features/structures which were not
previously present, the work should be classed as improvement and not
maintenance.
REASONS FOR MAINTENANCE

- Maintenance maximizes the aesthetic and economic value of fixed assets of

an organization. It enhances returns from a building/facility in the form of
rent (leased property) or increased capital value (incase its sold)

- Leads to increased occupancy for rented properties

- Prolongs the economic and physical life of a building/ asset- Maintenance
by arresting decay extends the physical and economic life of a building and
thereby delays replacement and defers expenditure on new construction
- Ensures a conducive working/living environment- this in turn improves staff
motivation hence increased work output and productivity
- Prestige- the condition and quality of buildings reflect public pride, and the
level of prosperity in the area, and country at large. If you see old
dilapidated and neglected buildings, it tells you about the quality of life of
the inhabitants, their social status and security of the people. Dilapidated
and unhealthy buildings in a decaying environment depresses the quality of
life and contributes in some measure to anti-social behavior- It is common
knowledge that Goons thrive in old, neglected and dilapidated buildings!
- Maintenance leads to reduced running costs.
- Maintenance plays a role in the provision of housing and therefore helps
meet the housing needs of the community- when old disused houses are
rehabilitated, they add to the existing housing stock.

Problems of maintenance in Kenya

1. Little budgetary allocations on maintenance especially in public
organization/institutions e.g. Public universities, public hospitals, public
schools etc. have suffered the most from reduced cash allocations
towards maintenance. In times of bad economics, maintenance budgets
are very much subjected to reduction and even in good times, there is
usually a reluctance to spend in order to preserve the condition of the
assets. Usually in most organizations, maintenance standards are met at
the barest minimum rather that aiming for the optimum standards.
2. Lack of commitment by owners on maintenance
3. Lack of a clear maintenance strategy and supporting policy
Important Rules on Maintenance

1. The maintenance work done should be commensurate with the amount of

money spent. The expenditure on maintenance should not appear excessive
in relation to the work done.
2. The work done should be necessary and unavoidable i.e. the work should
be necessary to contribute to health, safety and productivity

NB: Maintenance though neglected is slowly gaining impetus due to

regulations imposed on health and safety, conservation, and environmental
protection by government and international agencies e.g. the public health
Act, the building code, occupational health and safety regulations,
environmental management and coordination Act etc.

TYPES/FORMS OF MAINTENANCE

1. Planned maintenance- maintenance organized and carried out with

forethought, control and the use of records, and to a pre-determined plan

2. Preventive maintenance- is maintenance carried out at pre- determined

intervals or corresponding to prescribed criteria intended to reduce the
probability of failure or the performance degradation of an item. Preventive
maintenance is normally planned and hence the term planned preventive
maintenance is used. It is a concept which is more applicable to plant and
machinery which is subject to mechanical wear and tear but there are
certain building materials which justify this treatment. In order to introduce
the system of planned preventive maintenance, it is necessary to:

i). To produce an inventory of every building, facility, equipment, space,

service etc. which has to be maintained.
 Ii). Then determine which items should be included in the planned
preventive programme and the frequencies at which they will require
attention e.g. Weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. The selection would
be based on the consequences of failure in regard to such factors as health,
safety and productivity e.g. Fire doors would obviously be included and the
frequency on an analysis of past records.
iii). Finally works orders are prepared for the various tasks and an
appropriate bring forward system devised.

Then performance should be monitored continuously to check that the

work is being carried out in accordance with the programme and that the
costs are commensurate with benefits.

Planned preventive maintenance is worthwhile if:

- It is cost effective
- It is wanted to meet statutory and other legal requirements
- It meets a client need from an operating point of view
- It will reduce the incidence of running maintenance necessitating
requisitions for work from the user
- There is a predominant incidence of maintenance work- i.e.
recurrent/stubborn maintenance need requiring attention

NB- It should be noted that a preventive maintenance system which carries

out unnecessary work, or which maintains to an unnecessarily high level is
wasteful. This can come about particularly when repair needs are
anticipated too far in advance of their actual failure. This may happen
because an inspecting maintenance officer, who may lack the necessary
knowledge of deterioration processes, assumes too high a required
functional standard, or adopt an overcautious approach in order to
minimize professional liability.

3. Corrective maintenance- maintenance carried out after a failure has

occurred and intended to restore an item to a state in which it can perform
its required function.
 4. Emergency Maintenance- Maintenance needing to be put in hand
immediately to avoid serious consequences.
5. Unplanned maintenance- maintenance carried out to no pre- determined
plan.
6. Running maintenance- Maintenance which can be carried out whilst an
item is in service.

Which maintenance would you recommend to your organization and why?

LESSON 2

INTRODUCTION TO MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

What is the general definition of management?

Management is the art of conducting the affairs of an organization so as to

achieve the organization’s goals and objectives.

The goals/objectives of any organization are:

Maximization of returns/profits
Maximization of shareholders wealth

To achieve some social or political power

Functions of management

Forecasting, planning, coordinating, controlling, commanding, organizing

Thus, the best definition of management is that which draws from the functions
of management. Therefore, Management can be defined as the process of
forecasting, planning, coordinating, controlling, commanding and organizing the
affairs/activities of an organization so as to achieve desired goals or objectives.

A brief History of management

Initially at the beginning of industrial revolution, management was concerned

with improving the production performance of organizations by increasing the
operational efficiency and production output of manufacturing plants. Thus the
focus on management was:

- Improvement of production techniques/methods

- Plant layouts and flow of operations

- Improving work schedules

- Training of staff

- Breakdown of complicated processes and simplifying procedures

Later in the mid-19th century, management studies focused on staff motivation

and financial control. Much later, other aspects of management like marketing
and sales promotion started getting attention. Maintenance to-date is yet to be
recognized as an independent management aspect and most
organization/institutions still handle maintenance issues within their human
resource department where maintenance is regarded as a staff welfare issue.
What is maintenance management?

Is the art of forecasting, planning, coordinating, controlling, commanding and

organizing the affairs/activities of a maintenance organization/ department so
as to achieve the maintenance and repair goals of the organization.

FORECASTING

- Involves looking at the future maintenance needs of the organization and

taking decisions now which affect the future. The maintenance manager
will for instance:

A). Look at the future demand or need for space and quality of space

B). Look at future technological developments geared towards increasing

operational efficiency of buildings and facilities

C). Look at future expectations of building users in terms of quality of

finishes, fixtures and fittings etc.

- Forecasts are made partly by analysis of and interpretation of obtainable

facts and partly by hunches or guesses of subconscious analysis.

- Forecasts by analysis of facts would require that as many relevant facts as

possible should be gathered before a prediction of the future is made. The
facts can be obtained from comparable buildings, reading construction and
maintenance books, finding information from the internet, watching
documentaries of buildings, benchmarking in other countries, attending
relevant conferences and symposium where maintenance and
construction topics are discussed and discussion with experts among,
other sources of information.

- Making forecasts by hunches or guesses of subconscious analysis is through

imagination which can be informed by reading and gathering
maintenance, repair and house improvement information from a variety
of sources.
- Forecasts needs a time horizon whether short term, medium term or long
term.

PLANNING

Planning involves forethought (i.e. careful consideration of what will be

necessary or may happen in the future) and putting in place measures now
which will help achieve the desired future. In maintenance management,
planning begins by looking into the future maintenance needs of the
organization and preparing in advance to achieve the desired maintenance
standards for the organization. The planning process for maintenance
management is as follows:

A) Forecast into the future maintenance and repair needs of the

organization’s buildings/facilities , and building quality expectations of
occupants/users

B) After examining the future, then set up or formulate goals that will help
achieve the expected maintenance standards. Examples of goals are:

-To improve the physical appearance of all buildings and facilities

-To enhance the efficiency and speed/convenience of vertical

movement within the buildings

C) Provide a review of maintenance actions/activities that may need to be

done to achieve those goals e.g. Decoration of all external and internal
walls of the organization’s building/facilities, replacement of existing
vertical movement facilities with their modern equivalents.

D) For each activity/action, evaluate the various options that may need to
be undertaken to execute the work. The evaluation is on the basis of
resource requirement e.g. materials, labor/skills/ finance and time. The
source of finance must be established. After evaluating the options,
select the best option/cause of action and implement it.
 - Like forecasts, plans are set against time scales and frequently long,
medium, and short term plans are conceived each related to one another
and reviewed periodically to ensure they are kept mutually consistent.

- Planning also involves programming and budgeting. Programming involves

identifying the maintenance work/task to be undertaken, specifying when
the work should be executed and duration work should take. Budgeting is
concerned with identifying activity/work needing to be done, establishing
finance requirement and source of finance.

CO-ORDINATION

- Is the harmonization of different activities of an organization such that each

is effectively related to the other. Each and every department within the
organization is interdependent and there should be close coordination to
ensure effective delivery of organizations goals. E.g. the maintenance
department needs the human resource dept and also the finance
department when it comes to hiring of competent people with the requisite
maintenance skills to execute the maintenance function in the organization.
Effective coordination in management depends upon adequate
communication balance and control within the organization/entity.

CONTROLLING

- Control is important to ensure that the maintenance works specified in the

plans are executed within the set time lines and budget estimates. This
ensures that there are no cost and time overruns in the constructions and
maintenance works. Effective control ensures that there are no wastages of
building materials, funds and time allocated for the work. This is achieved
by ensuring that each expenditure is tied to its appropriate activity/task as
specified in the plan. Control thus entails supervision of the execution of
maintenance works.

COMMANDING
 - Is concerned with creating a high morale (motivation) amongst the persons
engaged in an undertaking by giving them a sense of purpose and
enthusiasm for their work. In maintenance management, commanding
involves motivating the workers/skills involved in the execution of the
maintenance works, whether in house or hired/contracted staff or
outsourced labor/ by giving appropriate directions and taking clear
decisions where they are required, ensuring fairness in the treatment of
workers, recognizing staff through appropriate staff incentives and rewards,
negotiating with trade unions, assigning appropriate duties and
responsibilities to the maintenance staff etc.

ORGANIZING

- This management function is necessary in large organizations/entities. It is

concerned with establishing relationships within the entity by defining clear
lines of communication, establishing patterns of accountability and control
and defining the roles and responsibilities of each person within the
organization.

LESSON 3

AN INDEPTH REVIEW OF MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT FUNCTIONS

The maintenance management functions will be discussed under the following

broad topics:

1. Planning, programming and budgeting of maintenance works.

2. Maintenance organization
 3. Maintenance Standards

4. Maintenance procurement and service contracts

5. Maintenance Data Management/ Maintenance information system

PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND BUDGETTING OF MAINTENANCE WORKS

- Planning, programming and budgeting are very crucial in maintenance

works and ensures efficiency and effectiveness of the use of building
structures and facilities.

- Many deficiencies in buildings maintenance are linked to weak planning,

adhoc budgeting and basically poor management.

- For successful management of maintenance work, proper planning,

programming and budgeting is essential.

Planning for maintenance work

The major processes in the planning for maintenance work include:

i). Preparation of asset registers, inventories and condition surveys

ii). Resource inventories

iii). Task identification and definition

iv). Preparation of Maintenance manuals

v). Formulation of maintenance policies

vi). Setting of maintenance standards

Asset Registers/Inventories

- It is important to prepare a detailed inventory or asset register of all

items/assets under your management.
- The purpose of the asset register or inventory is to identify and collect
technical information on each asset to be maintained.

- Inventories form the data base upon which regular record keeping is based

- Compilation of the inventory/asset register should be on annual or regular

basis so as to keep information current and up to date

- The salient features/facts to be included in the asset register are:

i). Address of the property- physical location defined by street name/ name
of road, brief description of neighborhood.

ii). Identification of the Asset- By asset number, and in case of real property,
plot no or Land reference number, allotment number, part development
plan( PDP) Number.

iii). Type of property and use it is put to e.g. commercial, residential, lecture
room, assembly hall, laboratory, kitchen etc.

iv). Leasing or purchase particulars e.g. date of leasing, purchase, cost

details of leasing or purchase, name of suppliers etc.

v). Plinth area or built up area of building

VI). Occupancy- is it vacant or occupied and by who? Name of occupant

vii). Value of the asset and statement of its current condition.

vii). Any other relevant information the asset owner or management may
require captured in the register.

Condition Survey

The purpose of condition survey is to establish the maintenance and repair

needs of buildings, assets and facilities. Condition surveys may be required
in the following instances:
- To record condition of an asset at a particular time as a basis of an
agreement when handing over the property, asset.

- Condition surveys required in order to satisfy health, safety requirements

set by a government authority

- To provide a basis for establishing value of the property

- To provide the basis for planned repairs and maintenance and to provide
basis for budgetary allocations

- To provide a record of condition which can be updated so as to assess

periodically the effectiveness of property maintenance policy

- To estimate remaining life of the asset

When conducting a condition survey for buildings and assets, you can use
rating scales to indicate a property’s condition as follows:

GOOD- meaning that the utility value of subject asset is not essentially
different from utility value of a similar new asset

FAIR- Meaning maintenance and rehabilitation is needed but then condition

of the asset does not yet impose severe constraints on its utilization

POOR-Means the subject asset has seriously deteriorated or will deteriorate

within a short period, thus, it requires comprehensive rehabilitation or
replacement

NB- It should be noted that while this type of appropriate condition

assessment rating scale is useful, it is necessary to have precise indicators of
whether it is good, fair or poor.

Resource Inventory
This is an inventory of human, material and financial resources required for
maintenance. Resource inventory should be conducted along with the
inventory for physical assets to be maintained.

Human data include the staff inventory, their number (how many they are),
their job descriptions, the skills/specialties represented, staff turn-over rate,
in-house staff, contracted staff, their qualifications.

Materials data- will include for instance the buildings- type of building, Age,
location, condition, its use, who the occupants are etc.

Financial data- include source of funds, annual maintenance expenditure,

and percent ratio of annual maintenance expenditure to asset value.

Task Identification and Definition

Once the detailed inventory of the properties or assets to be maintained

has been developed, the maintenance task which must be performed on
each element must be identified and defined. There are 3 types of
maintenance tasks:

1. Preventive maintenance

2. Common corrective maintenance

3. Rehabilitation

For each task, identification should include task name, brief description
of the task and frequency of undertaking the task

Preparation of Maintenance Manuals

A maintenance manual contains detailed information about the

property, asset and the associated maintenance requirements.

A manual includes details about the building, materials, services,

maintenance schedules for engineering services, names of the design
 team, contractors, sub-contractors, details of surface finishes,
decorations, means of operating mechanical, electrical, or solid plant,
condition of meters etc.

A typical maintenance manual may contain the following data:

 A brief history of the property

 Short specification outlining systems of construction, principal

materials and finishes

 Floor plans with sections and elevations where possible

 Descriptions of renovations, extensions, adaptations and major

repairs

Why do we need a maintenance manual?

1. Will enable the maintenance manager to organize the repair and

maintenance of buildings, its services and surrounds effectively and
economically

2. Will enable the occupiers of the buildings to operate the services of

the buildings effectively thus reducing loss of time

3. Will establish a link between the project team and the client and his
maintenance organization to their mutual benefit.

Formulation of maintenance policy

- A policy document is an effective tool of maintenance work performance

- It is a set of rules , regulations and guidelines that defines and governs how
the maintenance work is executed

- A maintenance policy document should be brief and straight to the point

 - It should include among others:

i). The organizations/Institutions attitude towards maintenance (i.e. this is

captured in the Vision and mission statement)

i). The standards to be set for maintenance

iii). Policy towards statutory and other health and safety requirements

iv).Identification of issues for priority treatment

v). Responsibility for monitoring the quality of work carried out

v). Use of consultants and contracted labor.

NB: The maintenance policy should be able to guide the maintenance

manager on which type of maintenance to adopt for his or her organization
eg planned maintenance, preventive maintenance, and corrective
maintenance.

Setting of maintenance standards

‘Standard’ denotes a measure, a level of quality or

achievement/attainment that is thought to be acceptable. ‘Standard’ is
established, either, by authority, custom or agreed through consensus.
Anything below the set ‘standard’ is generally regarded as ‘unacceptable’.
The best somebody should do is to achieve a level higher than the set
standard or at least achieve the minimum standard.

Maintenance standards define the organizations maintenance requirements

and expectations. Maintenance standards must be clearly spelt out in the
maintenance policy document. An example of a maintenance service
standard may be a standard statement like: All lifts must be operarating
effectively at all time.
LESSON 4

BUDGETTING AND PROGRAMMING OF MAINTENANCE WORKS

Budgeting process begins with estimation of resources required for the

carrying out of maintenance work.

An estimate is made of all expected resources including materials,

equipment, human resources/staff and an estimate of all management and
administration costs.

In the budgeting process, the maintenance manager would require

estimation forms such as; maintenance programme work sheet, materials
quantity work sheets, equipment work sheets, and the maintenance cost
work sheet

Budgeting finally involves estimation of works and costing of the tasks in

order to establish in total the financial requirements of maintenance for the
given financial year.

The aim of budgeting is to enhance control as it links each expenditure item

with the allocated financial resource and ensures no deviations

Maintenance organisation