Residential Building maintenance and operation cost

Residential Building Maintenance and Operation Cost

Abstract

Up to-date maintenance of the residential buildings and keep them in sustained good condition poses a continuing challenge to the owners of multi storied residential buildings as well as smaller buildings . A careful assessment of the maintenance needs economic procurement of maintenance materials leading to savings in operational cost of maintenance and planning a scheduled maintenance to keep the value of the property enhanced are at the root of any residential building maintenance programme . Though appear to be easier there several aspects in

the maintenance of residential buildings some of which may be trivial yet will have the effect of reducing the life of the equipments being used in the maintenance drastically . Therefore it is imperative to have a thorough understanding of the maintenance needs of the residential buildings before any attempt is made to undertake one . The other facet of the residential building maintenance that needs careful attention is the operational cost of maintenance that needs to be kept under check by continuous monitoring of the purchase and consumption of the maintenance materials . The Life Cycle Cost model would be handy in achieving grater economies in the maintenance of the residential buildings . With this background , this study presents a comprehensive report on the maintenance of residential buildings including the control and reduction of the operation cost of the residential building maintenance . As a case study the research has been centered round the reduction of operation costs of private home appliances in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Chapter 1

Introduction

Building maintenance is the act of preserving a building in tact so that it serves the purpose for which it was constructed . David Arditi and Manop Nawakorawit (1999 ) say Building maintenance includes cleaning inspecting , repairing and replacing the building 's various systems and components 'The need for maintenance starts from the time the buildings are completed as the buildings start to deteriorate . Since the cost of construction is escalating every day the proper maintenance of the existing buildings has become exceedingly important . The owners of residential and other buildings have increasingly started feeling that the maintenance of their buildings should be attended on a proactive basis rather than reacting to the maintenance needs . This calls for a planned and effective preventive maintenance programmes aimed at avoiding the deterioration of the buildings and at the same time to minimize the maintenance costs . The design and location of a building plays an important role in attracting people and businesses which are compatible with the buildings . To maintain this compatibility , it is necessary to keep up the appearance of the structure , to operate the electrical /mechanical systems efficiently , and to keep the interior clean and safe ' This requirement has increased the responsibility of the property managers to adopt a systematic approach for the maintenance of the buildings . Still there are instances where billions of dollars are spent on the maintenance of buildings and also in other instances buildings are left to deteriorate...