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Deferred maintenance of buildings: A review paper
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10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
1
Deferred maintenance of buildings: A review paper
M N Yasin1,2*, R Mohamad Zin2, M Y Hamid3, M A Zakaria1 and R Deraman1
1 Faculty of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400
Parit Raja, Johor, Malaysia
2 Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
3 Universiti Teknologi Mara, Bandar Seri Iskandar, 32610 Seri Iskandar, Perak, Malaysia
*Corresponding author: irazam79@gmail.com
Abstract. The building must be maintained to keep it in optimal operation in giving service
and it is vital and also it can be influenced towards the building performance. Therefore,
immediately after construction of the building project is completed, maintenance start to set in.
The conducive environment that provided for the buildings will give a good performance and
significant impact. Therefore, building maintenance is crucial in making sure the buildings can
deliver a good service or function, but in certain reason building maintenance and repair
activities that were not performed when they should have been will be deferred. Deferred
maintenance occurs because there is no efficiency in managing building maintenance. Deferred
maintenance has become a pressing issue in many countries and have adverse effects to the
organization (stakeholders and users). Hence, this study is intended to provide definitions,
issues and challenges of deferred maintenance of the buildings.
1. Background
Nowadays, it’s become a great challenge to ensure that all the building's condition and quality are at
the top so that their serviceability could be maintained and can fulfil their function requirements [1].
Generally, once buildings have been completed they expected to perform on function in certain period
of time. Proper maintenance of the buildings is important and need to be given a priority by the
organization [2]. Thus, a building must be maintained to keep it in optimal operation in giving service
and it is vital and also it can be influence towards the building performance [3]. [3] also mentioned,
building maintenance and building safety are closely related to each other. Therefore, there are a need
to create a conducive environment that support all activities in the buildings. Thus maintenance is
crucial in making sure the buildings can deliver a good service or functional. In Malaysia maintenance
of buildings were not different from other facilities which are preventive, corrective and condition
based but currently most of the building rely heavily on corrective maintenance [3]. Hence, can be said
that organizations in Malaysia are still managing their buildings in the traditional ways [4].
10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
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doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
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2. Introduction
Building construction is a human activity that existed a long time ago [5] and is one of the biggest
industries in the world today [6] and building maintenance is one part of it that need to be carried out
after the completion of the building. Buildings require maintenance in order to create a conducive
environment and meet the physical needs that supports and stimulates the activities. Therefore to meet
the purpose and keep the buildings usable [7], there are a need to make sure all the buildings are
working in a good performance condition [8]. With this conducive environment that provided to the
buildings will give a good performance and significant impact. Hence, in order to optimise the users it
should never be exposed to the risks [9]. Nowadays, [10] points out that one of the major problems for
the countries is inadequate maintenance. According to [11], more than 90% of the life cycle of
building required maintenance after completion of construction and 75% approx. of the total
expenditure on life cycle cost of building is due to maintenance. Hence, this proves that repair and
maintenance is a critical element in organization and expected work will become more important and
will be increased in the future and it carries dire consequences if ignored. Top management and
maintenance organisation are aware of the physical appearance of their respective buildings, installed
systems and services within the buildings appear to be deteriorating.
3. Definition of building maintenance
Building maintenance is defined as the preservation of a building so that it can serve its intended
purpose [12]. In addition, [13] state that British Standard 3811 (1984), has defined building
maintenance as a combination of any actions carried out to retain an item in, or restore it to, an
acceptable condition. In placing more emphasis, [14] mentioned that The Chartered Institute of
Building, CIOB (1990) defined maintenance as 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 determined
by the balance between the need and the available resources. For some people, building maintenance
is a complex process and involves large financial resources but if implemented efficiently, it can save
money other than the potential for building life. It is practically impossible to produce buildings which
are maintenance free [15]. Therefore, immediately when construction of buildings project are
completed, maintenance start to set in. Building maintenance assist a lot in retaining the economic
value of building and also to extend the building’s lifespan The maintenance of the building should be
taken into account and carried out during the phase which follows the construction phase until the
operational phase [16].
4. Definition of deferred maintenance
Basically the term of deferred maintenance is repair work that have been postponed to a future date
beyond the recommended service [17]. Deferred maintenance refers to maintenance and repair
activities that were not performed when they should have been. The repair and deficiencies that are
unfunded, unavailability of sufficient funds and human resources [18] and any kind of reason or issues
at the fiscal year on a planned or unplanned basis and are deferred or postponed to a future fiscal year
until the issues are solved. Deferring maintenance work can reduce the overall life of facilities and
may lead to higher costs in the long term [19]. Basically deferred maintenance occurs because there is
no efficiency in managing building maintenance. Building maintenance management practice which is
not in the right practice will give the bad impact towards the building and the environment [20].
According to [21] deferred maintenance is physical depreciation, or loss in value of a building, that
results from postponed maintenance to the building. This type of depreciation normally is curable by
making the necessary repairs and improvements. It is sometimes called curable physical depreciation
or curable obsolescence. According to [22] the deficiency in maintenance management system also
makes organizations hard to totally record facilities defect periodically can contributed to deferred
maintenance. In placing more emphasis, [23] mentioned that, deferred maintenance often referred to as
unfunded or unaccomplished maintenance or backlog, has not been a popular or frequently discussed
topic in the literature. Furthermore, in an observation based on study by [23] also opined that, there are
10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
3
four basic analytic steps were identified for the full reporting of deferred maintenance:
Assessment of the condition of the building and facilities.
Determination of a minimum acceptable condition level for each type of buildings and facilities.
Estimation of the cost to bring those buildings and facilities back to acceptable condition; and
Estimation of the consequences of deferring maintenance.
5. Issues of deferred maintenance
Deferred maintenance have become a pressing issue in many developing countries and have adverse
effects on quality service and performance of buildings, stakeholders and users. The related issue of
deferred maintenance whereas organisation needs to identify factors causes and implementing
programs to reduce deferred maintenance in future [14]. Reducing facilities deterioration and sustain
functional facilities in support of institutional objective and mission is also a requirement. There is a
challenge for organisations to keep the aesthetic value to give attraction to the buildings. With deferred
maintenance the stress on organisation to hold it all together, there is a need for find a way to prioritize
and achieve sustainable building agenda. In addition, [24] also opined that the issues of deferred
maintenance can be summarized as:
No linkages between strategic and operational planning in piecemeal approach for capital
planning.
Chronic in resource shortage.
Inadequate management policies and practices as well as internal politics.
Unrealistic financial planning.
Misunderstood and misapplied needs assessment methodologies and tools.
Lack of performance measures.
6. Challenges of deferred maintenance
Deferred maintenance is a mistake that comes from presenting part of the appropriate category of
needs to improving existing physical conditions by combining the annual life cycle reforms for its
buildings and systems that have reached the end of life as well as enhancement and improvement
needs. According to [24], there are two (2) major challenges in addressing deferred maintenance:
Consistent and commonly applied a definition of deferred maintenance.
A capital planning through process identifying and integrating of all campus capital needs.
Addressing deferred maintenance is a fundamental responsibility of the maintenance
management professional. It is required to understanding of the definitions and methodology in
developing reliable and convincing capital planning process.
7. Overview of causes of deferred maintenance
Existing studies such as [25] investigating the research of poor facility management in the Public
Schools of Ghana. Empirical discoveries was used in gathering and analysing the data obtain from the
research. The researcher found that several causative factors contributed to the poor facility
management. However, only fifteen (15) causes direct relate to deferred maintenance. The causes are
lack of funds, lack of management; lack of knowledge, lack of training; lack of planning; neglect
towards importance of maintenance; lack of expertise; building age; do not have rule, standard
practice, guideline and implementation mechanism of building maintenance; lack of qualified and
professional maintenance/ facility managers; poor maintenance culture; attitude of deferred
maintenance; low priority on maintenance financial planning and capital budgeting; difficult to
maintain because of poor designs of buildings and budgetary restriction on maintenance expenditure.
The researcher [26] conducted a study of maintenance management sourcing strategies and the
10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
IOP Publishing
doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
4
condition of tertiary institution buildings in Lagos and Ogun States, Nigeria. A structured
questionnaire was designed and used as the principal instrument for collecting data for this study. This
study found that the right chosen a strategy of maintenance sourcing procurement either insourcing
(in- house) or outsourcing is capable of assisting to prevent the occurrence of deferred maintenance
and consequently improved maintenance services towards well maintained buildings. Thus, in the
other word the accuracy of the procurement selection will be a cause to the deferred maintenance.
According to [27] attempted to assess the maintenance and rehabilitation prioritization of school
buildings using Knapsack Problem. Data were gathered through a case study to apply knapsack
algorithm within dynamic programming framework. The researcher addressed the main factor inhibits
the quality of the buildings in their research is limited budget. This factor is related to the causes of
deferred maintenance. Further, [28] was carried out a research to identify the factors militating against
effective maintenance of tertiary institutions’ buildings. A questionnaire and interview were carried
out, 4 potential causes related to deferrred maintenance were identified. The causes are lack of funds,
lack of training, unavailability of skilled appointed maintenance personnel and lack of understanding
of the importance of maintenance. The researcher [7] who carried out assessment of building
maintenance management practice for Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital,
Bauchi found that in his study by using questionnaire to gather information. There were several factors
contributing greatly to the poor management practice. However, 23 causes that related to deferred
maintenance are budget constraints; poor maintenance management; lack of awareness among the
maintenance staff; little priority on maintenance; lack of quality and qualified maintenance manager;
unqualified, ill- trained and unprofessional personnel; ineffective planning; lack of knowledge; lack of
resources; administration system faults; lack of maintenance culture; lack of emphasis on training;
lack of training and continuing education in efficient; absence of planned maintenance programme;
complexity of design; Unstable organizational structure; poor strategies for maintaining; absence of
regulations/legislations; lack of sustainable policies; political interference; lackadaisical attitude of
senior management staff; lack of understanding of the importance of maintenance; and poor attitude of
maintenance team.
Another researcher [11] has carried out a study on Factors for Maintenance Priority in Malaysian
University. A review of literature was incorporated as a means of generating data for the research. The
study conducted through literature review to provide a general guideline for the factors that are
considered in setting maintenance priorities. These several factors are important and need to give
attention where they can affect and become a causes of deferred maintenance. The findings discovered
that the causes are lack of funds; stakeholders (policies, goal & objectives); and political interference.
The researcher [3] conducted regarding interval of routine maintenance and maintenance performance:
a literature review. The research by an extensive review of literature published in 1987 to 2014 is
performed for the purpose of this research implementation of maintenance strategy. The results from
study suggested the most important causes of deferred maintenance are ineffective planning; lack of
knowledge; poor management; and neglect towards importance of maintenance. This claim can also be
supported by [29] conducted a research on establishing the status of building maintenance operations
of Nigerian Universities based on the European Construction Institute Total Quality Management
Measurement Matrix. The questionnaire was employed in generating the data required for the
research. Some of their findings revealed and indicated that in order to achieve acceptable quality
management in their building maintenance practices these factors need to be improved the prosperity
of organization; making work more enjoyable; need commitment to overcome resistance; training
awareness, education and skills; clear policy, objective and strategies; effective planning; the existence
of rules, standard and procedures; adequate resources; communications and team work for
improvement; and good ethics and attitude of maintenance team. Hence, in the research of deferred
maintenance, the causes are contrary to the factors of this study. However, it still contributes to the
causes of deferred maintenance. Furthermore, [20] carried out a study on the development of building
maintenance management best practice in Malaysia: a review. The study discovered that, there are a
lot of elements that must be considered to develop the building maintenance management best
10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
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doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
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practices. Five major aspects that have become the focal points for previous scholars are strategic
planning, resource management, information management, user involvement, and performance
control. However, from this highlighted aspect come out a few factors that can be related to the causes
of deferred maintenance. The causes are lack of funds; unrealistic financial planning and
management; poor of management; ineffective planning; lack of emphasis on training; unavailability
skilled of maintenance personnel; poor attitude of maintenance team; information and Communication
technology; absence of regulations/ legislations/ procedure/ standard practice/ guideline/ manual;
lack of commitment; lack of human resources; lack of financial control; unstable organizational
structure; and poor strategies for maintaining. In observation based on study of [30] directed their
research efforts towards maintenance practice for school buildings in Malaysia. A survey
questionnaire identified problems was conducted in performing maintenance work of this research.
Their major findings revealed that there are several causes can be related to deferred maintenance and
the most causes are insufficient budget allocation for maintenance; lack of efficient management; and
do not have sufficient knowledge. Another study related to deferred maintenance was carried out by
[14]. Data was gathered through review of literature. The reseachers concluded that maintenance
which is deferred because of insufficient funding; poor of management; ineffective planning; lack of
understanding of the importance of maintenance; neglect towards importance of maintenance; lack of
expertise; unforeseen expenses; building age; misunderstood needs assessment methodologies and
tools; lack of performance measure; lack of quality and qualified professional maintenance/
maintenance managers; lack of maintenance culture; low priority on maintenance financial planning
and capital budgeting; and lack of resources. Research conducted by [31] on towards effective
management of university education in Nigeria. Their study were identified inadequate funding for
maintenance activities and mismanagement of the funds available as the underlying factors responsible
for the decay and deferred maintenance. However, these claims also contended by [32] directed their
research efforts on identifying maintenance issues in Malaysia. A literature review, with the support of
interviews conducted to generate the much needed data for the study. The findings of their research
uncovered the causes that can be related to the deferred maintenance are limited budget; lack of
management; ineffective planning; lack of quality and qualified professional maintenance/
maintenance managers; chronic in resource shortage; poor of ethics; and ambiguous contract. The
study that can be summarized from the academic literature of research on contributing causes of
deferred maintenance of buildings shows in Table 1.
Table 1. Causes of deferred maintenance of buildings.
Causes
Wuni et al
2018
Faremi et al
2017
Nwacuku et al
2016
Aliyu et al
2016
Chong et al
2016
Au-Yong et al
2016
Abdulazeez et
al 2015
Nah et al 2015
Ropi &
Tabassi 2014
Hamid et al
2010
Ekundayo &
Ajayi 2009
R. Mazalan &
Mohammad
2009
Lack of funds
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Poor
management
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Lack of
knowledge &
skills
X
X
X
X
X
X
Lack of
emphasis
training
X
X
X
X
X
Ineffective
planning
X
X
X
X
X
X
10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
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doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
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Neglect towards
importance of
maintenance
X
X
X
Lack of expertise
X
X
Building age
X
X
Do not have rule,
standard &
regulation
X
X
X
X
Lack of quality
& qualified
X
X
X
X
X
Poor culture
X
X
X
Lack of ethics,
Attitude &
commitment
X
X
X
X
Low priority
X
X
X
Poor design &
budget
restriction
X
X
Procurement
accuracy
X
X
Lack of
understanding
X
X
Lack of
resources
X
X
X
X
X
Administration
system faults
X
Absence planned
program
X
Unstable
organizational
structure
X
X
X
Lack of
sustainable
policies,
objective &
strategies
X
X
X
Political
interference
X
X
Lack of
communication
& teamwork
X
X
8. Conclusion
Addressing deferred maintenance is a fundamental responsibility of the organization professional.
Required is an understanding of the definitions, issues and challenges of deferred maintenance to
develop a credible and persuasive the planning process. Deferred maintenance liability requires
documentation of the causal factors, and shall include the impacts need to be developed and follow by
methodology and contribute to meeting the changes and challenges of an organisation. This study has
made and provided a platform for addressing future research into a process protocol for deferred
maintenance. This literature review set out to identify all relevant published journal articles from the
past ten years (2018-2008), focusing on issue, practice, management, effective management, total
quality management matrix, performance and priority of maintenance.
10th Asia Pacific Structural Engineering and Construction Conference 2018
IOP Conf. Series: Materials Science and Engineering 513 (2019) 012028
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doi:10.1088/1757-899X/513/1/012028
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ASOCSA2008
... Maintenance is a crucial element of any structure, and it is always necessary for any structure to keep and maintain its serviceability and prevent deterioration that could reduce the service life to an acceptable standard [5], [6]. In order to provide a conducive environment, university buildings must be maintained and preserved so that they may serve their intended function [7], and they must also promote and encourage teaching, learning, creativity, research, and other academic endeavours. Under the autonomous system, it is believed that building maintenance management will be more efficient, since universities may not have to wait too long to promptly implement maintenance service. ...
... Additionally, it is essential to minimize the deterioration of facilities and preserve their usability in support of the institution's objective and mission. According to Yasin et al. [7] in his study, deferred maintenance issues can be attributed to a lack of communication between strategy and operational level in terms of planning, particularly budgeting, poor planning of resources, improper regulation and procedures of operational implementation, interference with internal politics, lack of appropriate methods and tools for evaluation, and insufficient performance indicators. ...
... This scenario was sparked by a variety of reasons, and it is crucial to identify them. As a result, Yasin et al. [7] correlate a variety of factors with the causes and consequences of deferred maintenance. The causes are insufficient funding, inefficient management, a lack of knowledge, a lack of training, a lack of planning, a disregard for the importance of maintenance, a lack of expertise, building age, a lack of building maintenance rules, standards, guidelines, and implementation mechanisms, a lack of qualified and professional maintenance/facility managers, a poor maintenance culture, a deferred maintenance attitude, a low priority on maintenance financial planning and capital expenditure. ...
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In most developing countries, deferred maintenance has become a common problem that negatively impacts the administration of an organization. A building must be effectively maintained in order to provide optimal service functioning, and this is crucial because it affects the building's performance. Public university produce future leaders, managers, engineers, and industry players. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the issues and challenge, causes and effects of deferred maintenance for public university buildings at Malaysia. In order to accomplish this, a preliminary interview with an expert was held in order to identify rich information and to discuss the issue in depth with participants, as well as to acquire initial information and understanding before further study is continued. Preliminary expert interviews are required to assist the researcher in refining, rephrasing, and confirming the literature-derived criteria. In order to identify the important issues, challenges, causes and effects of deferred maintenance for public university buildings at Malaysia, interviews were conducted with a sample of experienced individuals in order to obtain their expert opinions. Seven professionals and academics working in building maintenance management were selected as respondents. The study will show the issues and barriers as well as the causes and effects and provide valuable information and a deeper understanding of deferred maintenance.
... The strong endorsement of preventive maintenance aligns with research demonstrating its cost-effectiveness compared to reactive repairs (Yasin et al., 2019). The significant correlation between regular inspections and preventive maintenance effectiveness underscores the need for proactive strategies that identify and address potential issues before they escalate into major problems. ...
... While technological advancements and personnel training are recognized as crucial resource allocations (Dahake & Sheikh, 2023), inadequate funding and bureaucratic hurdles remain significant challenges, mirroring issues faced in other developing countries (Rocca & Sanfilippo, 2018;Olanrewaju et al., 2010;Mergel, 2017). Preventive maintenance is strongly endorsed, particularly regular inspections, aligning with its established cost-effectiveness (Yasin et al., 2019). However, a lack of clear accountability and designated overseers, as well as gaps in preventive strategy implementation, highlight areas for organizational reform (Prempeh et al., 2022;Kearney et al., 2019;Chen & Wong, 2020). ...
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The public buildings experience poor maintenance, and this is sometimes attributed to neglect and lack of funds, and this results in a decline, user dissatisfaction, and a cycle of neglect again. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the maintenance practices of some selected public buildings in the Central Region of Ghana. A mix of stratified and random sampling techniques was used to select 80 (maintenance personnel and users) respondents from the Development Offices of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) and Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) in Ghana. The questionnaires were administered online, and quantitative data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26 and Microsoft Excel with descriptive statistics and correlations. The study results revealed that maintenance-related cultural factors were appreciated most as compared to other factors like teamwork and collaboration. Increased community participation may also be brought about through campaigns and partnerships. New technologies for building health monitoring were considered as appropriate investments, while funds for training the maintenance personnel were deemed necessary. The study reveals gaps in bureaucracy, planning, and roles and responsibilities in Ghana's maintenance culture. It calls for a comprehensive strategy to improve this culture, including funding, reducing red tape, embracing technology, and promoting public awareness and staff development. Clear roles and responsibilities, along with performance indicators, are also crucial. The study, targeting the Central Region, helps understand regional disparities in challenges and opportunities. It uses a mixed-methods approach and considers individual and organizational levels to understand maintenance activities in a developing environment. Although the sample size may limit generalization, the study provides valuable information for policymakers and facility managers aiming to prolong the lifespan and minimize maintenance costs of public buildings in Ghana.
... Such delay had severe consequences which led to post-occupancy modi cations, depreciation of capital and rental value, disruption of work ow and productivity, health and safety risk of students and staff, high cost of repairs in the long run, and acceleration of building failure. This is in line with the ndings of [30,31,32,33]. ...
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Institutional building should provide conducive environment that would enable staff and students perform optimally. This functional requirement is sustainable through maintenance. A cognizance survey through tertiary institutions in Owerri metropolis, revealed alarming rate of building defects. The research is aimed at evaluating these defects and their maintainability, with a view to recommending appropriate solutions for overall improvement. The objectives were to: determine the nature and extent of defects; concepts that are not in line with design for maintainability; mode of maintenance; limiting factors; and consequences of delayed maintenance. A case study of randomly selected buildings from the five tertiary Institutions in Owerri was adopted. Copies of structured questionnaire were administered to a sample size of 153 respondents in-charge of maintenance, using stratified systematic random sampling technique. Analysis of responses was done using descriptive and quantitative statistics. The findings revealed wrong design decisions that contributed to the defects and high maintenance frequency, such as climatic-non-compliant design concept, inaccessibility of building components, and wrong specifications. Maintenance delay caused: decline in capital value, disruption of work flow, risk of users health and safety, high cost of repairs, post-occupancy modification and acceleration of building failure. Major obstacles were: lack of maintenance culture; improper supervision; and under-funding. The paper recommended that: designers should adopt design concept responsive to tropical climate; government should increase the intervention fund giving to the institutions; while the legislature enacts laws to regulate and create awareness of maintenance culture.
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Purpose The aim of this study is to understand health-care facilities’ practice of deferring maintenance and to identify the relationship between deferred maintenance and hospital profitability. Design/methodology/approach Financial statements from hospitals in Washington State were analyzed. Differences in building and equipment values were compared to the capital renewal investment benchmark. Then, linear regression analysis was conducted to identify correlations between deferring or sustaining maintenance and a hospital’s profitability. Findings The majority of hospitals in Washington State practice deferred maintenance, investing less in annual facility capital renewal than benchmark amounts. Hospitals in deferred and sustained maintenance states do not significantly differ in terms of facility size and plant operating expenses but there is a statistically significant difference in profit margins. Furthermore, a linear relationship exists between the level of investment in facility renewal and overall hospital expenses, revenue and profit. Practical implications The findings of this research can be used to support fiscal policies related to maintaining aging health-care facility infrastructure. The findings can also be used to overcome barriers to securing capital budgets that are sufficient to optimize the safety and performance of the built environment. Originality/value Hospitals in a state of deferred maintenance return higher profits than do hospitals in a state of sustained maintenance. Nevertheless, hospital spending on deferred maintenance backlog reduction generates a positive return on investment. While hospitals may achieve higher returns, in the short term, by spending less on facility capital renewal and focusing instead on higher-revenue-generating opportunities, additional research in necessary to understand the long-term costs of deferring facility infrastructure repairs and replacement.
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Purpose This paper aims to review the elements of facilities condition index (FCI) as one of the most widely used metrics for describing the physical condition of facilities and as a measure of financial indicator related to maintenance activity. This research will benefit future studies that focus on implementation of FCI and encourage the best practice when assessing the physical condition to evaluate the performance of facilities as well as to plan for maintenance action to be taken and financial implication involved based on the findings from FCI. Design/methodology/approach A total of 33 studies from 2012 to 2022 were identified and extracted from four academic databased, named Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Mendeley. These published studies were selected because it matches with the inclusion requirements for research question, “What are the elements of facilities condition index discussed in the literature from 2012 to 2022?”. To answer the research question, the studies in ATLAS.ti were grouped into five major themes based on the codes and categories found. Findings This paper presents the findings of a thematic analysis of the current literature discussed about FCI. A total of 33 studies from 2012 to 2022 were identified and extracted from four academic databased, named Scopus, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Mendeley. A themed review was conducted, and five themes were identified as elements of FCI, which are named as follows: “Condition Assessment”, “Deferred Maintenance”, “Facilities Performance”, “Financial and Fund Allocation” and “Decision Making”. Originality/value This paper fulfils the fundamental elements on current FCI practices as well as intended to highlight existing practices that are essential to evaluate facilities performance and planning for maintenance strategies.
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Institutional buildings should provide conducive environments that enable staff and students to perform optimally. This functional requirement is sustainable through maintenance. A cognizance survey through tertiary institutions in the Owerri, revealed an alarming rate of building defects. This research is aimed at evaluating these defects and maintainability, with a view to recommending appropriate solutions for overall improvement. The objectives were to determine the: building characteristics; nature and extent of defects; correlation between design characters and defects; maintenance strategies adopted and their consequences; and factors limiting maintenance. A case study of randomly selected buildings from the five tertiary Institutions in Owerri was adopted. Copies of structured questionnaires were administered to a sample of 153 respondents in-charge of maintenance, using a stratified systematic random sampling technique. The analysis of the responses was performed using descriptive and quantitative statistics. The findings revealed wrong design decisions that contributed to the defects and high maintenance frequency, such as climatic noncompliant design concepts, and inaccessibility of building components. The corrective maintenance strategy adopted, had severe consequences which included decrease in capital value, disruption of workflow, increased risk to user health and safety, high cost of repairs, post-occupancy modification and acceleration of building failure. Major obstacles included lack of maintenance culture; and underfunding. The paper recommended that: designers adopt design concept responsive to tropical climates; governments should increase the amount of funds given to institutions; and legislatures enact laws to regulate and create awareness of maintenance culture.
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The building has deferred the maintenance activities either planned or scheduled and delayed from the original schedules by some factors and therefore cause dissatisfaction of the building users commonly become a familiar issue. The public university buildings are an important place, everyone gathers to learn and share knowledge. They are producing future leaders, engineers and industry players. Therefore, it is also the heart of the development of a country. Hence, this study is intended to establish a group of causes factors of deferred maintenance of public university buildings in Malaysia. Questionnaires survey were carried out amongst the targeted respondent and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software were used to analyse 220 data collections for factor analysis. The study reveals 42 factors of causes are then classified into three groups. Group 1 is the organization and it displays 20 factors, group 2 is the resources which display 13 factors and group 3 is financial display 9 factors. This study shared useful information and insight knowledge of deferred maintenance of public university buildings in Malaysia.
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p class="Abstract">Many of the public buildings are in conditions of distress due to deterioration and damage and require maintenance and rehabilitation to be able to function appropriately. On the contrary the government funding and budget allocated is limited. A systematic approach to overcome the problem is using setting up priority and optimize the resources allocation. Within a budget ceiling the what buildings components should be prioritized to achieve maximum profit and or surpass threshold is the ultimate goal of the decision maker and stakeholders. In this study, optimizing budget allocated for maintenance and rehabilitation of building components may be carried out by implementing knapsack algorithm within dynamic programming framework. The public junior high school 4 (SMPN 4) building was chosen as case study to apply the algorithm and determine the priority scale. The building is in Salatiga and suffers from some material deterioration as well as structural component degradation. The school building consists of three main sections namely, building itself, school yard, and school fence. To assess and evaluate damage based on the criteria set by Ministry of National Education, the building is divide into structures, architecture, and utilities. These components were divided into elements and sub elements. The structure was divided into the roof structure, super structure above the ground, and substructure (foundation). The damage condition of components and sub components of the building was then tabulated by assigning weights according to criteria set by office of education of Salatiga (Dinas Pendidikan Kota Salatiga, 2017)</p
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Facilities in the public institutions of Ghana are poorly managed and sidelined in the financial planning and capital budgeting of most public institutions in Ghana. There exist dilapidated buildings and facilities in nearly all the public institutions of Ghana and the reasons behind such negligent attitude have not received empirical examination. This paper sought to fill that knowledge gap by empirically mapping out the causes and effects of poor facility management in two public schools in Ghana. The study employed the case study research design within a qualitative research methodological paradigm and gathered data using interview guides from facility management/ maintenance teams from two public second cycle schools in the Upper East Region of Ghana. The data was analyzed using thematic content analysis and taken through peer debriefing and re-screening of final codes by facility management staff to ensure reliability. The findings from the study run contrary to popular beliefs. It was identified that the empirical causes of poor facility management include lack of professional managers, attitude of deferred maintenance, budgetary limit on maintenance expenditure, sidelined in the financial planning and capital budgeting of institutions, and non-privy of facility management staff to the building design and construction stage. It was also established that poor facility management is characterized by a plethora of consequences including recipe for disaster, financial erosion of institution, malfunctioning and abandonment of buildings. The study recommended that there should be the establishment professional district facility management teams whose works should be supported by institutional facility management teams to oversee facility management in the public institutions.
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Public properties in Nigeria have suffered a long period of poor maintenance culture which makes the properties to become obsolete earlier than necessary and inhabitable when compare with private properties. This study was designed to investigate and examine the problems and prospects of maintenance practice in Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital Bauchi. A total of eighty six (86) respondents were randomly selected out of the total population of one hundred and ten (110) within the study area. The data were collected using questionnaires administered to the works and service department in the study area. The questions in the questionnaire, among others, probed the problems of maintenance practice, the role played by the maintenance department and the possible prospects derived from maintenance practice. Primary data collected were subjected to simple percentage distribution tables and statistical package for social science (SPSS) were used to analyze the data. The study revealed that misuse of the property by the users, normal wears and tears due to the constant usage of the property by the users as well as natural factors from unforeseen circumstances found to be among the major problems that causes the building defects in the hospital. The department works and service plays a vital role in ensuring that the property users do not misuse the property in the hospital. The study further revealed that proper maintenance of the hospital building provides habitable and healthy environment for patients " quick recovery in which it is the main purpose to which the hospital was established. The study recommends that maintenance staff and users of the hospital buildings should be given opportunities for further training on their jobs as well as on effective use of hospital facilities. This is necessary to reduce the occurrence of defects, which will consequently bring about better physical and functional hospital building elements and services.
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The concept of retrofitting an existing building towards green building was introduced to move towards greener development. This paper investigates the benefits of retrofitting an existing building to green building. The potential retrofit of the existing Sultan Ismail Parliament building was also determined and later the elements of the building to be retrofitted were proposed. The Sultan Ismail Parliament building is one of the newest development that serves as the Johor state administrative center under Iskandar Malaysia. Therefore, this paper focuses on whether the existing building has fulfilled all of the green building elements. A set of questionnaire was distributed to the targeted respondents who were the engineers, architects, technicians, staffs and those who were involved in the development of the Sultan Ismail Parliament building. A total of 60 respondents was involved. Based on the analyzed data, it shows that the existing building has fulfilled only one of the green building elements which is the Indoor Environmental Quality. The items that scored 3.5 and above mean index under this element include the daylight glare is not bothering, the ventilation in the building is adequate, inspections are done regularly, smoking regulation is implemented and the number of openings of windows and doors is sufficient. While it shows that other elements were only partially fulfilled. The criteria that achieved below 3.5 mean index values is considered to be the potential elements that could be used for future retrofitting initiative.
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Proper maintenance planning is required to ensure the upkeep for buildings. However, maintenance of university buildings are often plague with challenges such as poor maintenance, increasing maintenance backlogs and insufficiency of budget allocation. Thus, maintenance prioritisation is practiced as part of the solution to these challenges. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of issues and factors related to maintenance prioritisation through literature review. It discusses the issues faced by maintenance manager in deciding priorities for maintenance work. The consideration for factors when deciding maintenance priorities is also presented in this paper. While there are a lot factors listed in previous literatures, this paper attempts to provide a general guideline for the factors that are considered in setting maintenance priorities. These factors are organisation's objective, risk, performance measurement, resources, and stakeholders. By following and incorporating these factors in deciding priorities, a maintenance programme can be designed to achieve better maintenance planning in universities.
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In the face of the deplorable state of buildings across the various tertiary institutions in Nigeria, the need to deploy appropriate maintenance management strategy cannot be overemphasized. However, sourcing decision for maintenance services remains a tough one for decision makers as different sourcing option suit different scenario. This study examines maintenance management sourcing strategy used in tertiary institutions and investigates the extent to which the physical and functional conditions of buildings are determined by the choice of maintenance strategy. A survey of fifteen tertiary institutions in Lagos and Ogun State, Nigeria was conducted. Structured questionnaire was administered to seventy-five (75) respondents comprising maintenance staff and users of tertiary institutions within the study area. A total of fifty-six (56) questionnaires were found to duly completed and useful representing 75% response rate. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools including, frequency tables, mean and independent samples T-test were employed to analyze collected data. The results revealed that out of the thirty (30) maintenance services investigated, thirteen (13) and seventeen (17) maintenance services had better physical and functional condition under insourced and outsourced maintenance strategies respectively. Also, there was no significant difference in the physical and functional conditions of tertiary institution buildings maintained through insourcing and outsourcing strategies. This study recommends various building elements and services that could be maintained under the insourcing and outsourcing maintenance management strategies respectively. Keywords: In-sourcing, Outsourcing, Tertiary Institution, Buildings, Maintenance
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The need to optimise the performance of buildings has increased consequently due to the expansive supply of facilities in higher education building (HEB). Hence, a proper performance assessment as a proactive measure may help university building in achieving performance optimization. However, the current maintenance programs or performance evaluation in the HEB is a systemic and cyclic process where maintenance is considered as an operational issue and not as opposed to a strategic issue. Hence, this paper proposed a Building Performance Risk Rating Tool (BPRT) as an improved measure for building performance evaluation by addressing the users' risk in health and safety aspects. The BPRT was developed from the result of a rating index using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. A total of 12 facilities management (FM) experts and practitioners were involved in the rating process. The subjective weightings were analysed by using the AHP computer software programme, the Expert Choice 11. The result of the AHP had successfully assigned weighting scores to all performance-risk indicators, with five indicators ranked as the most critical indicators; structural stability (14.9%), fire prevention services (9.1%), building-related illnesses (7.4%), emergency exits (6.8%), and electrical services (6.3%). The final indication to the assessed building using the BPRT provided a rating classification in terms of the following: " Excellent " , " Good " , " Medium " , " Low " , or " Poor " , which suggested further actions to improve the performance of the building, as well as to mitigate the users' health and safety risks. Hence, the establishment of the BPRT was successfully employed as an aid of improvement towards the current performance assessment of HEB by emerging the concept of building performance and risk into a numerical strategic approach.