MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT

A WORKBOOK

FOR

B.Tech. (ESTATE MANAGEMENT)

KUMASI TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

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1.0 Maintenance: Introduction

Maintenance has been defined by the British Standard (BS 3811) as a combination

of all technical and administrative actions intended to retain an item in or restore it

to an acceptable standard. Maintenance includes everything from regular cleaning

to repairs and replacements. It can be as small as changing a washer to stop a

leaking tap, or as large as repainting an entire building. Many reasons can be put

forward to justify maintenance being carried out, including the following;

 comply with the law, in particular health and safety requirements

 comply with the terms of occupation (e.g. lease)

 protect the value of the property as an investment

 provide a service to the building occupants

 ensure a safe, healthy environment for the building occupants.

 ensure energy is used efficiently.

 project and help protect a corporate image.

1.2 Factors influencing decision to carry out maintenance

Maintenance and operating expense is one of the major components of housing

cost. Maintenance and operating expense contributes one-third to one-half of total

cost depending on the type of housing such as condominium, apartment, flat and

others. In order to reduce the maintenance costs, building managers or the

maintenance manager should adapt some strategies by minimising the number of

maintenance tasks. There are several factors that affect the housing maintenance

cost. Generally, they can be divided into five main groups, which are building

characteristics, tenant, maintenance factors, political and others factor.

 Building materials. Material selections chosen over the life of a facility or

building component undoubtedly influence the maintenance and operating

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 costs. Incompatible and poor quality materials used in construction and

lack of regular-planned maintenance has caused the deteriorations or

defects occurred in the building components. To check high maintenance

cost, at the design stage, designers must specify materials that require

minimal cost to repair or replace but still very effective.

 Building services. Building services systems are generally installed in

buildings to provide a healthy and safe living environment for the

occupants or residents. Therefore building services is a vital aspect to be

considered in building maintenance management, especially the

mechanical and electrical services, which are the active components in a

building. Building services include ventilation, lighting and power supply,

water supply, sanitation, transportation communication and other systems.

Owing to the high maintenance cost involved and the consequences of

building services' failure, awareness on the significance of building

services maintenance has increased in the building services industry.

 Building age. The age of a building has a close relationship with the

maintenance costs. This means that, the maintenance costs increase while

the building age is increasing. After years of construction, some

maintenance works such as painting work, replacement of new roof tiles

and other works are required to keep the building in shape. Additionally,

higher maintenance cost and remedial cost are required for aged plumbing

and drainage systems in buildings because of corrosion problems. Thus, the

maintenance cost is likely to be increased over the aging of building.

 Size of building. The height of a building has an impact on maintenance

costs. The higher the building, additional costs would be required for the

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 tools and equipment used to carry out the maintenance tasks. For example,

scaffolding is needed to carry out various maintenance tasks at high rise

buildings such as painting work, window cleaning or repair and other

external works.

 Type of structure. The structure of a building is another factor that always

affects maintenance costs. The structural stability of a building must be

inspected and maintained from time to time in order to ensure the

occupants' safety. Cost of Maintenance is dependent on the type of

structure of buildings.

 Tenant factors. Tenant factors that have an impact on the maintenance

cost include the expectation of tenants or residents, use of the property,

vandalism by the tenants, delay in reporting failures, complete failure to

report problems, as well as accessibility to the property. Thus, participation

of tenants and residents in housing management can be considered as a

strategy of the landlord in bridging the gap between expensive maintenance

management and the legitimate expectation or demand of the tenants.

Housing maintenance cost is always influenced by the tenants or residents

in numerous aspects.

 Expectation of tenants. High expectation of tenants significantly affects

housing maintenance cost. The operating and maintenance account of

estate management because of rising demands from tenants and residents

for better living environments. Therefore, it is proven that high standards of

expectation from tenants and residents are likely to increase the

maintenance cost.

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 Usage of property. The deterioration and wear associated with the usage

and occupancy of residents and tenants is a major determinant in the

maintenance cost of any building. It can be minimised by introducing

property operating manuals and rules, and educating tenants and residents

on the proper use of facilities to reduce maintenance and repair cost as

improper use of the property can cause damage.

 Delay and failure in reporting problems. The rate of deterioration of the

component and the corresponding increase in the cost of rectification is

likely without early response to such defect. Early response to the building

failure is necessary to reduce the maintenance cost. However, early

response to the building defect or failure cannot be done if there is a delay

and failure in reporting the problems. In fact, delay and failure in reporting

problems do affect the housing maintenance cost to some extent, but the

significance of this factor is not that obvious

 Vandalism by tenants. Vandalism by tenants or occupants is often

discussed as a factor that affects housing maintenance cost. It is one of the

major factors that cause the defects on building components. Maintenance

costs are influenced by distributing the repair costs to treat such defects,

which are caused by vandalism.

 Accessibility to the property. Inability to gain access to the property is

one of the major factors that affect housing maintenance cost. Sometimes,

the residents or tenants may not allow maintenance staff to access to their

unit space for privacy reasons.

 Poor workmanship. Direct cost is often quoted in evaluating quality of

workmanship and represents a significant proportion of total project costs

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 or total maintenance costs. Hence, the total maintenance costs are likely to

be increased as a result of poor workmanship during the implementation of

maintenance works. Poor workmanship during the implementation of

maintenance tasks greatly affects the maintenance cost in both the short-

and long-term.

 Budget constraints. The deferral or delay of some maintenance tasks

occur because the budget allocated is not sufficient to cover the need for

maintenance. In order to ensure the sustainability of a building, the

increasing maintenance cost is needed while the building age is growing

older. The asset or building failure rate increases as time passes and this

produces more repair and maintenance tasks.

 Political factors. Political factors affect the housing maintenance cost in

some circumstances, especially when there are changes of political policies

through government or local authority. The variables include right to buy

policy, new health and safety regulations and poor management. However,

the "right to buy policy" aspect is only applicable for public housing and

"poor management decision system" is not obvious in affecting the housing

maintenance cost.

TASK A: Briefly explain any four factors that affect the cost of maintenance

works in a building facility.

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Components of Maintenance

Keeping a structure in a good shape for it to perform creditably engulfs a

comprehensive outlook. There are questions which need answers as to what to

maintain or take away from the structure for it to be able to befit a worthwhile

standard. This is why three main components of maintenance are identified. These

include servicing, rectification and replacement.

Servicing

This is an act of repairing a building, plant or machinery for it to be in good state.

It is normally executed on regular intervals of varied frequency to avoid wear and

tear of the structure. In most cases servicing include daily sweeping, removal of

cob webs, greasing polishing, painting, general cleaning services including floors,

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window, and glass cleaning among others. It is therefore normally seen as daily or

day-today activity in maintenance.

Rectification

This literally refers to the correction of defects in an object. In terms of buildings,

it normally occurs during the design stage of the building process. Normally some

of the designs do not fit into the functional requirement of the building, and in

some cases, climatic conditions would not allow for the building to last with such

designs and as such, the designs need to be corrected. Some need for rectification

include installation defects and incorrect assembly, unsuitability of components,

damage of goods in transit and so on.

Replacement

This is where an object which is malfunctioning or obsolete in use is disposed for

a new functioning one to be used. This component is very imperative because,

almost all the problems to do with maintenance come from non-replacement of

spoilt items. For example, leaking roof, obsolete door, malfunctioning tap, and so

on. Due to the fact that depreciation work on almost every item due to both natural

and artificial occurrences, replacement is very expedient to put the building in a

good shape. It is however imperative for the manager to use quality materials to

avoid frequent replacement which would not augur for the organization.

Other forms of maintenance

The forms of maintenance aforementioned are usually small-scaled in nature.

However major maintenance works such as renovations, refurbishment, and

rehabilitation may also be required. This types of maintenance works are not

carried out on a periodic basis. They may only be carried out based on the decision

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of the building owners or underpinned by health and safety laws. These major

maintenance terms are explained;

 Renovations. It consists of work done to restore a structure, service and

equipment by a major overhaul to the original design and specification, or

to improve on the original design. Renovation may include extensions to an

original building design, installation of new services such as lifts etc.

 Refurbishment. This also refers to the process of making an old design

new. In refurbishment, there are no changes made to the original design.

The original design is maintained but the building is made to reflect a more

modern status. The need for refurbishment is not underpinned by safety

reasons but making the building more modern by the use of new

technology to attract buyers or customers to a business service within the

building. Refurbishment may include changing of windows and door types,

roofing design, without any extensions to the building unlike renovation.

 Rehabilitation. This is not much different from refurbishment. Like

Refurbishment, the old design is maintained but the only difference is the

objective of carrying out such a maintenance activity. Thus the main

objective of undertaking rehabilitation is to make the building safe for use.

This usually includes the replacement of dilapidated components of the

building such as windows, doors, correction of leaking roofs and floor

slabs.

Task: The manager of Golden Tulip Hotel wants to design a maintenance

management portfolio for their hotel facility in Kumasi and has consulted you to

advice on the kinds of maintenance works (both current and future) that could

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be included in the portfolio. You are required to advise him indicating the

factors underpinning your selection of the maintenance works.

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Building Maintenance Categories

Each facility and its areas and equipment can vary greatly with many challenging

maintenance tasks. Maintenance can be broadly categorized into:

 Building maintenance

 Grounds maintenance

 Equipment maintenance

Building Maintenance

Building maintenance involves indoor facilities or structures, including rooms,

corridors, stairwells, lobbies, lounges, and offices that need to be kept clean,

functional, and safe. Some specific building maintenance tasks include sweeping,

mopping, picking up trash, window washing etc. Additional building maintenance

tasks include dusting, vacuuming, deep cleaning carpets, changing lights, be

pairing windows and doors, plumbing, performing electrical or mechanical repair.

Grounds Maintenance

Grounds maintenance is often the first thing users see and thus it affects their first

impression of a facility and its curb appeal. This maintenance category

incorporates all the necessary activities associated with keeping the outdoor areas

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attractive, functional, and safe. Grounds maintenance tasks include snow removal,

leaf removal, tree pruning, watering, fertilizing, weed control, pest control, disease

control, grass mowing, trash removal, shrub trimming, and grooming of infield

surfaces etc.

Equipment Maintenance

Equipment maintenance refers to items and mechanical systems that support a

facility or help to make the product efficient and functional. It can include

maintenance equipment and any equipment that fulfills product delivery. It can

also include technical equipment for the efficiency support systems that provide

comfort to users and employees as well as assistance with product delivery.

Examples of maintenance in this category include repairing machines, replacing

parts, cleaning, rotating and replacing tires–sharpening tools, servicing HVAC

equipment, and lift systems.

Task: With reference to practical examples where possible, explain the various

maintenance works that could be carried out in a public university ( You may

use the back pages)

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2.0 Classification of Maintenance strategies

Various classifications of maintenance have been attempted by various authors.

However the most commonly used classification is the one by British standard

(BS3811) which classifies maintenance as summarized in Fig.1.1

Fig 1.1; Classification of maintenance. CIBSE GUIDE, 2008

Planned maintenance

This maintenance type is designed to prevent predictable failure of building

infrastructure or capital items. This includes repainting surfaces or replacing roof

cladding at the times specified by product manufacturers. Predictive maintenance

techniques help determines the condition of in-service equipment in order to

predict when maintenance should be performed. This approach offers cost savings

over routine or time-based preventive maintenance, because tasks are performed

only when warranted. Predictive maintenance is a condition-based maintenance

management program. The use of condition monitoring techniques is the main

character of Predictive maintenance. When the failure event is diagnosed,

corrective maintenance should be performed to prevent the failure deterioration.

scheduled point in time when the maintenance activity is most cost-effective and

before the equipment loses optimum performance. This is in contrast to time-

and/or operation count-based maintenance, where a piece of equipment gets

maintained whether it needs it or not.

Preventive Maintenance

It is a schedule of planned maintenance actions aimed at the prevention of

breakdowns and failures. Its main goal is to prevent the failure before it actually

occurs. Preventive maintenance activities include partial or complete overhauls at

specified periods, oil changes, lubrication and so on. The ideal preventive

maintenance program would prevent all equipment failure before it occurs. It

consists of:

 Proper design and installation of equipment

 Periodic inspection of plant and other equipment

 Repetitive servicing and overhaul of equipment

 Adequate lubrication, cleaning and painting

Preventive maintenance is considered to be a kind of time-driven maintenance

management; the maintenance scheduling has been and, in many instances, is

predicted on statistical trend data or on the actual failure of plant equipment. The

premise of the PM is that all the machines will degrade with the time elapse, in the

initial stage of the equipment life cycle, the probability of failure is relatively low

for an extended period of time; in the normal stage, the probability of failure

increases sharply with elapsed time. Preventive Maintenance has the following

benefits:

 Greater Safety

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  Decreased Production Down Time

 Fewer large Scale & Repetitive Repairs

 Less Cost for Simple Repairs

 Less Standby Equipment Required

 Better Spare parts Control

 Proper Identification of Items

This method can greatly expand the life of equipment, but the disadvantage of the

time-based maintenance is labour intensive, ineffective in identifying problems

that develop between scheduled inspections, and is not cost-effective.

Generally preventive maintenance may take the following forms;

 Scheduled maintenance: preventive maintenance carried out to

predetermined intervals, number of operations, hours run etc. This

provides a useful source of reference for maintenance requirements and

typical frequencies.

 Opportunity maintenance: work done as and when possible within the

limits of operational demand.

 Condition-based maintenance: work initiated by trends highlighted by

routine or continuous monitoring of the condition of plant, such as general

performance or specific parameters (e.g. bearing vibration and motor-

winding temperature). In condition-based maintenance, machinery

conditions are periodically monitored and this enables the maintenance

crew to take timely actions such as machine adjustment, repair or

overhaul. It makes use of human sense and other sensitive instruments,

such as audio gauge, vibration analyzer, amplitude meter, pressure,

temperature and resistance strain gauges etc.

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Corrective or Breakdown Maintenance

Corrective or Breakdown maintenance implies that repairs are made after the

equipment has failed and cannot perform its normal function anymore. In building

maintenance corrective maintenance may include cleaning gutters and changing

light bulbs. Corrective maintenance would normally be carried out by the

occupants. This form of maintenance is justified where down times are non-

critical and repair costs are less than other type of maintenance and also financial

justification for scheduling are not felt.

Disadvantages of Corrective Maintenance

 Breakdown generally occurs at inappropriate times leading to poor and

hurried maintenance

 Excessive delay in production & reduces output

 Faster equipment deterioration

 Increases chances of accidents and less safety for both workers and

machines.

 Direct loss of profit

Emergency maintenance

This type of maintenance usually happens immediately for health and safety or

security reasons. This includes work that may result in the rapid deterioration of

the structure or fabric if unattended to immediately. Such includes roof repairs

after cyclones, graffiti removal or repair of broken glass. Unforeseen emergency

maintenance could also include trees falling over power lines, water leaks that

affect delivery operations, toilet overflow, electricity or light failure.

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Run to failure

In this type of maintenance, the building facility or its components are used until it

finally fails. Thus no maintenance plan is prepared and components are allowed to

deteriorate. The consequences of this type of maintenance are such that

components can be safely and cost effectively run to destruction without serious

loss of service and there is no risk of failing to comply with statutory

requirements. This may assume there is a standby unit that will automatically

operate on failure of the duty unit.

Costs of maintenance strategy

The adoption on any of these types of maintenance whether preventive or

breakdown maintenance has cost implications as summarised in the figure below:

From the figure it could realised that while management increase its commitments

in terms of resource allocation for preventive maintenance, the cost of preventive

maintenance increases. The opposite occurs for breakdown maintenance. Thus a

lower commitment to address breakdown maintenance could result in high

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maintenance costs whereas an increasing commitment result in a lower cost for

breakdown maintenance.

Other implications for adopting each of these maintenance strategies are illustrated

in the Table below:

Table 1.1: Implications of maintenance strategies

Summary of the strategies to maintenance

There are many ways of approaching maintenance. However four key practices

should be highlighted in the approach adopted:

i. Carry out regular preventative maintenance, such as clearing out gutters to

prevent major problems (i.e. blockage/spouting breakage) from happening.

ii. Carry out repairs or replace items as needed, preventing small problems

from turning into big ones.

iii. Plan ahead for major maintenance tasks, such as repainting or re- roofing,

so budget and time is available when the work is needed.

iv. Be prepared for emergencies - know where and how to turn off utilities and

who to contact to report these to.

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A repetitive process is needed in order to provide adequate maintenance. A

maintenance plan will ensure the correct approach, as highlighted above, is carried

out and any shortfalls are discovered and corrected in a timely manner

Task 1: What is the best strategy for carrying out maintenance works in a

higher educational institution?

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3.0 Maintenance Management

Maintenance Management is an orderly and systematic approach to planning,

organizing, monitoring and evaluating maintenance activities and their costs. A

good maintenance management system coupled with knowledgeable and capable

maintenance staff can prevent health and safety problems and environmental

damage; yield longer asset life with fewer breakdowns; and result in lower

operating costs and a higher quality of life.

Benefits of Maintenance Management

Maintenance management has several benefits including the reduction in future

maintenance costs, and low production unit cost among others. These are

explained as follows:

 Low production unit cost. Proper maintenance management can improve

asset reliability; ensure the resources such as labour, materials, energy, and

fixed costs are used efficiently to minimise expenses. While a major

component of these costs is fixed, increasing throughput will decrease the

unit cost of production. Base labour cost will remain constant even when

production throughput is increased; incremental cost for materials and

energy is also reduced as volume increases.

 Reduce maintenance costs. Improved reliability results in lower

maintenance costs. If the assets are not breaking down, a greater percentage

of maintenance work can be performed in a planned and scheduled manner,

which enables the workforce to be at least twice as efficient. Reducing

these losses will also result in requirement of fewer spare parts, less

overtime, and fewer contractors. All of these result in significant reductions

in maintenance spending. It is not unusual for organisations to experience

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 as much as a 50 percent reduction in maintenance cost as a result of

moving from a reactive style of management to a proactive approach.

 Better process stability. Equipment breakdowns inevitably result in

process onsets. It is difficult to have a stable, optimized process when the

production equipment is constantly failing. This inevitably results in

problems with final product quality.

 Expending Equipment life: Many organisations spend an excessive

amount of capital funds to replace equipment that failed far earlier than it

should have. If routine maintenance is continually deferred due to resource

limitations, the organisations, the organisation is in fact mortgaging the

future value of the asset-taking the capital value from the future and

spending it today. The end result is a wasted asset that must be replaced.

 Reduce spare parts inventory. All organisations require some level of

spare parts inventory to ensure the right parts will be available when

needed. Reactive organisations typically find themselves carrying a large

quantity of inventory because they cannot predict when the parts will be

needed. This ties up working capital and results in excessive carrying costs.

Organisations that take a proactive approach to reliability place a high

value in knowing the condition of their assets. The need for parts is much

more predictable. There are fewer "surprises": more parts can be purchased

on a just-in-time basis. Since the volume of inventory required is based to a

large degree on usage, the fewer parts we use, the fewer we need to keep

on hand.

 Reduce overtime: Reactive organisations can never predict when a critical

equipment failure will occur. Failure invariably happen at the most

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 inconvenient time and will require craft resources to be called into the

facility to correct the problem. To counter this reality, most reactive

organisations have a large percentage of the maintenance workforce spread

across all operating shifts "just in case" a failure occurs. In this situation,

the equipment is in control, not management. Large amounts of overtime

are experienced. In organisations that focus on reliability, breakdowns are

much less common. A larger percentage of craft resources are on day shift

where adequate staff supports is available to increase their productivity.

Fewer resources are waiting for breakdowns to occur because equipment

condition is known and early warning signs of distress are heeded.

Maintenance Scheduling/Programme

Maintenance scheduling is an important aspect of maintenance management.

Scheduling may refer to timing and sequences within which maintenance

operations take place. It is an important segment of the production planning &

control activity as well as the service operations like plant maintenance.

Maintenance scheduling is important in organisations for the following reasons:

 Facilitates optimum use of highly paid maintenance staff

 Equipment can be utilized effectively

 Eliminates undue interruptions in the production flow

 Eliminates chances of sudden breakdown

 Facilitates proper sequence in maintenance service delivery

Approaches to maintenance management

There are generally three approaches to maintenance management: In-house

staffing, complete outsourcing and a hybrid of in-house and outsourcing. There are

no hard and fast rules concerning what should be kept in-house or contracted

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outside. Rather there is a need to define thinking, practice and procedures that

would lead to best value for the organisation. Thus the decision to use any of these

approaches should be made having regard to the path that leads to long term best

value for the organisation. This is achieved by taking full account of the

implications, especially the true cost of all options.

The In-house approach involves the provision of maintenance services by a

dedicated resource directly employed by the client organisation, where monitoring

and control of performance is normally conducted under the terms of conventional

employer/employee relationship, although internal service agreements may be

employed as regulating mechanisms.

Outsourcing is made up of two words – “out” and “sourcing”; sourcing

refers to “the act of transferring work, responsibilities and decision rights to

someone else”. Companies must source outsource because there are others who

can do it cheaper, faster, and better. Outsourcing could therefore be defined as “the

allocation of risk and responsibility for performing a function or service to another

entity”. Thus outsourcing in maintenance is the process of delegating maintenance

activities required within an organisation to a third party, usually a specialized

maintenance management firm who can do it better, cheaper and faster.

Criteria for selecting of outsourcing or in-house approach

From a holistic perspective, Atkins (2003) identifies the key factors that should be

taken into account in choosing the in-house approach or outsourcing. These factors

have been outlined below;

 Organisations should identify the characteristics of services they require so

that a balanced view of needs is established as the basis for evaluating

available options as part of the decision to retain in-house or to outsource.

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  Roles and skills must be defined from the services to be provided, with

special skills highlighted.

 Organisations should define their own evaluation criteria with respect to

these attributes of service so that the importance of or weight given to

options is truly reflective of the organisation’s real estate maintenance

strategies and policies.

 Attention should be paid to direct and indirect cost of both in-house and

contracted service provision made on like- for –like basis to enable

decision to be taken on the grounds of best value. Thus evaluating criteria

for the sourcing decision must embrace hard and soft measures and

compare all costs with the required quality.

Advantages of Outsourcing

The list below highlights the key advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing

maintenance with particular reference to the following key factors: cost, work

quality, obtaining expertise, tools, equipment and technology, risk reduction and

management focus on core business.

 Cost savings: Cost control is a driving issue for most industries and a

prime motive for outsourcing. In-house staff wages and benefits (such as

pension, medical, vacation) may have become too costly for the company

to subsidize. Cost is also a function of a contractor’s ability to flex up and

down faster than in-house staff; additionally, hiring costs are absorbed by

the contractor. An outsourced contractor assumes the burden of these, and

other, financial liabilities associated with workers.

 Staffing flexibility, expertise and work quality: An outsourced

contractor can provide flexibility in delivering the proper staffing level and

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 required skill set quickly, with less cost and time investment, as well as

providing expertise that may not be available, or is inadequate, within the

in-house staff. This expertise will also positively impact the quality of the

work being performed. It provides the flexibility to utilize specialized

services as needed, instead of incurring the cost of developing in-house

competencies that are not needed on a permanent or continuous basis.

However, it should be remembered that this is also a potential weakness.

Dependent upon location, and in certain markets, the craft pool may be

limited and the required skill sets may not be easily obtained. Or if they are

acquired they may command top dollar and cost more in the long run.

 Personnel issues: In the majority of instances, when a client completely

outsources its maintenance function, personnel grievances, disciplinary

actions and issues become the responsibility of the contractor. Former in-

house activities such as payroll, time keeping, labour relations, HR,

benefits, etc., are handled by the contractor, releasing management from

the responsibility and time requirements of doing so. This allows

management to concentrate on their core proficiencies and critical

objectives to drive the business.

 Tools, equipment and technology: An out-sourced contractor can provide

staffing well-versed in the usage of the most current technology, without

the need of the company to provide training to the in-house staff in its use,

or the cost of acquisition of the technology/equipment. The same holds true

for specialized tools and equipment, in that the contractor would be

required to supply the tools and equipment to perform the work required.

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Disadvantages of Outsourcing

 Loss of control: Outsourcing the maintenance function may be cost-

effective, but there are restrictions when working with contractors, such as

the host company’s inability to directly manage and instruct the workforce.

Another example is it may be difficult for a service provider to fulfill all of

a client’s requirements such as staff flexibility or craft availability within

the host company’s expectations. Also, the client and contractor may have

different approaches, management styles and philosophies, which can lead

to conflict.

 Staff turnover: In-house employees are inclined to have more years of

service at a facility than employees of a contractor and know the business

and its expectations better. This is a common issue for clients, as

outsourced staff does not, as a rule, possess as much allegiance to the

company. As such, the intellectual knowledge they

Possess in regards to a site’s maintenance function, equipment and business

model is more readily lost if/when they leave, as their loyalty is more

tenuous.

 Redundancy in management roles: Roles may be duplicated within a

client and contractor organization, contributing to overall cost. Overlapping

roles and responsibilities can lead to inefficiencies within the maintenance

organization and contribute to the appearance of too many bosses and not

enough workers create conflicting priorities and confusion.

 Response time: When dealing with specialty contracts such as air

conditioners, refrigeration and complex compressors, a response time to

problems may be handled more rapidly in-house when compared with a

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 phone call to an offsite vendor. The host company must balance the needs

of the site against the decision to outsource this work and negotiate an

acceptable response time, such as 24 or 72 hours. Since a longer response

time equates to more downtime and lost production, this response time

must be clearly defined in the contract, or the host company may be unable

to meet their goals and objectives.

In conclusion, it is up to the end user to determine the cost-effectiveness, control,

flexibility and focus required at their unique site to properly manage their

maintenance function within their particular budgetary constraints. Outsourcing

does not mean abdication of management responsibilities; on the contrary,

outsourcing requires dedicated management personnel. Only with a detailed

examination of these factors can it be realistically established whether outsourcing

is a viable option or not.

TASK 1: Assume you are the manager of an office building in Adum-Kumasi,

which approach of maintenance management would you adopt and why?

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4.0 Maintenance Plan

A maintenance plan is the most cost-effective way to maintain the value of an

asset. The advantages of a maintenance plan have been outlined as follows;

i. The property is maintained in a systematic rather than ad-hoc way.

Building services can be monitored to assist their efficient use. The

standard and presentation of the property can be maintained, and subjective

decision making and emergency corrective maintenance are minimized.

ii. A maintenance plan sets out the work required in the next financial year

and longer term. Maintenance plans must be supported by a maintenance

budget.

Preparation of a maintenance plan

The preparation of a maintenance plan involves a systematic approach set out to

guide the conduct of maintenance works in an organisation. The process is

outlined below;

i. Collect property information: To prepare the maintenance plan, you will

need the site plans and building plans showing construction details and

utility layouts (if available) Details on age and condition of building,

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 Fabric/product specifications, Previous reports on the building, and

Details of previous maintenance work

ii. Create Maintenance Records: Records show the history of a buildings

condition, and are a guide to likely future problems and costs. They

indicate whether a property is being over or under-maintained or misused,

and can show if previous maintenance was appropriate or if there are

design or material faults. It is advantageous to record the long-term

performance, materials and procedures in order to assess their suitability

for future maintenance work. As there may be changes in maintenance

personnel, the failure to keep detailed records could result in repetition of

previous mistakes. The usefulness of written records can be enhanced by

taking photographs periodically to illustrate changes in performance of the

repair.

iii. Carry out maintenance survey: All properties should be inspected at

regular intervals to identify any deterioration and required maintenance

work, including cleaning. Estimate the time required to complete the task -

indicating how long each task should take to complete.

iv. Develop a periodic work schedule: Planning what time the maintenance

work for the entire year should take place.

v. Prepare and issue a work order: Identifying what, when, where and by

whom maintenance work is to be done; and

vi. Determine a Budget: Determine the costs for all maintenance activities by

calculating labour hours, material, equipment, and contracting costs. After

the costs are calculated for one work order, the process is repeated for the

remaining work orders to get the total cost required to maintain the asset.

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vii. Inspect the property and review the maintenance budget every year:

The results will help you set the next work program and budget. Do not

attempt to carry out work or inspections that may expose you or others to

danger. You may need specialized assistance to carry out the inspections,

risk assessment, maintenance scoping and budgeting. Before inspections, it

is a good idea to ask property occupiers about maintenance issues. This

survey:

 Identifies problems affecting occupants

 Provides extra information about the building and ensures the

property managers are exercising due diligence in carrying out

duties, functions and powers. It encourages communication

between the property managers and occupiers, and builds

awareness of issues and legal responsibilities.

viii. Keep records of surveys, inspections and maintenance work: These

records can track problems and are a handy reference when setting out the

maintenance plan. A record of maintenance should include:

 A description of the work including; the estimated and actual date of

completion, estimated and actual cost, contractor details,

warranties and product maintenance specifications

 A template for surveys and inspections. This will make it easier to

compare results from previous years.

 Review Maintenance Survey Results: The maintenance inspector (s)

should review the results of the survey/inspections to determine

overall priority needs. The priorities must be reported and followed

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 through. High priority items should be attended to immediately and

others scheduled accordingly.

 Organise maintenance inspection for options and costs. Technical

assistance should be sought to provide options and costs where

required.

 Prepare maintenance report and budget: A maintenance report

would categorize priorities and costs into the following: managed

expenditure, relates to unplanned maintenance work, committed

expenditure, tasks that occur every year as part of planned

maintenance variable expenditure, includes regular tasks within

overall planned maintenance that may not occur every year .The aim

of a maintenance plan and budget is to reduce maintenance

expenditure over time as far as possible and replace it with variable

expenditure. Regular inspections will help identify how components

are performing and when they might fail.

 Approve and implement report and budget. Invariably, the cost of

all desirable works in any one year will exceed the budget. The

Property Manager then has to decide what is necessary this year to

maintain the asset within the funds available, and what could be

carried forward to the following year. This implies setting priorities

for different works. Some of the factors affecting priorities are

include occupational health and safety security of premises,

statutory requirements, vandalism, loss of revenue, likely failure of

critical building fabric, and policy decisions.

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  Maintenance Review. Implementation of the maintenance plan

should be reviewed annually to report on its effectiveness and areas

requiring improvement. An important part of maintenance planning

for a building is to improve the previous decisions to maintain the

asset so that subsequent maintenance expenditure will be more

effective. Issues to consider when reviewing the work include:

whether the work was necessary or appropriate, the cost, timing and

standard of work, and the time needed for planned maintenance

work. This can form part of the annual inspection when the building

condition is being assessed.

TASK 2: Develop a short strategy for responding to routine maintenance needs

of the properties of Kumasi Technical University. Write on the back of the page.

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5.0 Maintenance Policy

A building maintenance policy should be a clear statement of the objectives and

methods to be employed in keeping buildings fit for use and preserving their asset

value. It should define the framework on which all building maintenance and

management operations are based and state the life expectancy, or required life

expectancy, of the asset. The emphasis of a maintenance policy should be to

maximise planned and cyclical maintenance works and reduce responsive

maintenance. The policy statement should also set out the approach to

miscellaneous works. A maintenance policy aims to:

 provide a clear statement of the objectives for the maintenance of building

assets

 explain how these objectives support the maintenance requirements of the

organisation.

 identify, at a strategic and operational level, the people responsible for

maintenance management, and outline the nature of these responsibilities.

Importance of Maintenance Policy

 Sets out the organisation's obligations;

 Details the approach to the maintenance of housing stock;

 Details the priority that should be attached to undertaking this type of

work;

 Details how information is recorded and targets/ programme monitored;

 States and review timeframe to ensure policy is current and relevant;

 Details timetabling arrangements for achieving a ratio of 60:40, or better,

in favour of planned and cyclical maintenance.

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In the development of a maintenance policy, planned maintenance schemes for the

replacement of elements which have reached the end of their useful life must be

done taking account of:

 Life expectancy (age and deficiency);

 Future programmed work for the dwelling concerned;

 Response to maintenance history;

 Health and safety regulations

 Financial constraints.

In order to manage this work, there is the need to appoint someone to oversee all

repairs and maintenance works and have a contact point' to deal with queries, and

to record and monitor progress. A balance of 60:40 in favour of planned and

cyclical maintenance should be the target. There must be a timetable in place to

meet this target, monitor progress towards achieving this ratio and have suitable

arrangements in place for reporting. Measurement and monitoring is an essential

part of maintenance management and progress should be reported on at least an

annual basis. Inspections must be carried out to ensure that the maintenance policy

is being implemented appropriately.

Planned maintenance should be programmed based on the most recent stock

condition survey information and components replaced in accordance with their

anticipated life. An annual maintenance plan should be prepared and costed setting

out priorities as this will identify the amount of funding required.

In good property management, it is essential to have in place a creditable system

of planned maintenance identification and a resultant programme of work

carefully budgeted and procured in a proper fashion. Such systems:

 Reduce crisis management and response maintenance;

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  Enable good financial planning arrangement;

 Maintain the estate in a creditable and safe condition;

 Establish a knowledgeable database of information on property

requirements over a projected and rolling period of time;

 Encompass strategic procurement and budgetary management control

of all requirements; and

 Include the gathering and collating of all relevant data.

There should be a comprehensive record for each dwelling. Detailed information

on the age, type and condition of the housing stock should inform all aspects of

housing management and provide a sound basis for effective asset management.

Feedback should be used to monitor service delivery and to address weaknesses,

improve performance and develop services to meet the tenants' needs. Reports on

how targets are being achieved should be published annually.

Elements of a maintenance policy

Essentially, a maintenance policy should identify how, and by whom, the

maintenance of a building asset is to be managed. The policy should be structured

to include the following:

i. A statement of the policy's intent and objectives

ii. the scope of the policy

iii. the details of the policy (i.e. the policy requirements)

iv. allocation of responsibility for implementing the various policy

requirements

v. continuous improvement arrangements for the policy, including policy

review procedures.

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In the "details" section of the maintenance policy, maintenance managers should

outline their approach to achieving the policy objectives. There is the need to

explain how the maintenance policy relates to other asset management policies

and capital works and asset disposal programs. The "details" section of the policy

should briefly address the management’s approach to the following:

 establishment and periodic review of condition standard ratings for all

building assets.

 preparation of a maintenance strategy incorporating a balance of planned

(i.e. preventative, statutory and condition-based) maintenance and

unplanned maintenance

 formulation of a Strategic Maintenance Plan (SMP) that reflects the

maintenance needs over the immediate, medium and long term

 development and implementation of a program of regular condition

assessments

 an assessment of maintenance demand across the building portfolio

 formulation of a budget based on a realistic calculation of the level of

funding needed to maintain the portfolio to specified condition standard

ratings

 production of an annual maintenance works program based on condition

assessments, existing programs, historical data and the agency asset plan

 procurement of maintenance services in accordance with government

policy

 ongoing monitoring and periodic review of maintenance performance,

including the development of performance measures and their integration

with other asset management performance measures

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  establishment of processes for the collection and utilisation of maintenance

information to facilitate maintenance management and meet minimum

reporting requirements

 establishment of processes for the retention of technical and asset

information from handover and commissioning arrangements for the

establishment of feedback loops between maintenance service providers

and building planners and designers (effective feedback loops can facilitate

improvements in maintainability, thereby minimising the maintenance

needs of future buildings).

Drafting a maintenance policy

The drafting of maintenance policy requires a careful consideration of the

following factors;

 heritage and environmental legislation,

 health and safety regulations,

 building security,

 risk management

 related government policy such as the State Procurement Policy, and

relevant quality assurance policies.

Benefits of documenting a maintenance policy

A comprehensive and clearly written maintenance policy will:

 facilitate compliance with relevant government policies and statutory

requirements

 facilitate consistency in maintenance activities

 promote effective maintenance management practices among asset and

facility managers

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  support the efficient conduct of maintenance activities by service providers.

Writing the maintenance policy

A maintenance policy may be divided into several parts though the division and

content of each part may vary from one organisation to the other. However

irrespective of the variations in the content of the maintenance policy, the

following key aspects are required:

 Part One: Introduction. In the introductory aspect of the policy, the

maintenance manager must clearly provide a background to the

establishment of the organisation including its core objectives, mission, and

vision statements linked to the need to maintain the organisation’s

properties. In addition, there should be a description of the organisation’s

properties including the various uses, users, and the occupancy profiles

during the year.

 Part Two: The Scope of the policy. This part of the policy specifies what

the policy covers. For example if the policy is written for only fixtures and

fittings, the scope must specify it. The policy may also be for only

outsourcing of works, and may not necessarily cover other issues such as

procurement. The scope must also bring out if the policy is for short term

maintenance alone or covers the medium and long term.

 Part Three: The maintenance works. This part also spells out the various

maintenance works, which ought to be carried out indicating when and how

the works should be done. This part should indicate the types of

maintenance works such as servicing, rectification, replacement and other

major maintenance works adopted by the organisation.

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 Part Four: The maintenance strategy. This part of the policy addresses

the various strategies adopted for the maintenance of the organisation’s

properties. Maintenance strategy includes the choice of planned and/or

unplanned maintenance, and the rationale behind the adoption of these

strategies. The strategy also deals with the procurement, including tools &

materials and outsourcing of labour. It should also clearly indicate the

procedure for responding to the routine maintenance needs of the

organisation, including inspections, and methods of reporting and

supervision of maintenance works.

 Part Five: The Maintenance Budget. This part also specifies standards of

budget preparation. This may include the time and procedure for preparing

budgets, budget preparation methods, approvals (limits), budget execution,

and reviews.

 Part Six: Policy Implementation & Review. This deals with the various

ways of working with the maintenance policy or putting the policy into

action. For example the policy standards on procurement must be

implemented in line with the procurement policy of the organisation and

the Public Procurement Act, in cases where the organisation is public. In

addition, this part should specify appropriate times for reviewing the policy

and making changes accordingly. For instance the review period could be

every two or three years depending on the dynamics in the nature and use

of the property and the workability of the maintenance strategy.

Note: The parts indicated above is not necessarily exhaustive of all the

elements a maintenance policy. In some cases, the maintenance policy may

include fire safety, security, and energy conservation measures etc. What

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 should be in a maintenance policy is dictated by the nature of the property in

question, the use of the property, and the existing legislations on the use of

buildings/facilities.

TASK 1: You have been contacted by the Manager of Menka Hotel to develop a

maintenance policy for their hotel in Amakom-Kumasi. You are required to

prepare a maintenance Policy for the hotel building outlining the factors you

consider important in the process.

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6.0 Life-Cycle Costing

Life-Cycle Costing is technique of cost prediction which estimates the initial

construction costs and the annual running and maintenance costs of a building or

part thereof to a common measure. This is a single sum which represents the

present value of all costs over the life of the building. Also referred to as ultimate

cost or total cost. The Life Cycle Costing (LCC) analysis of building projects deals

with the determination of costs, which arise throughout a building's life including

planning, design, operation, maintenance, repair, replacement, demolition as well

as disposal or reuse. Evaluation of costs of buildings should include Costs-in-Use

which arise in the course of the lifetime of the building in addition to the initial

costs of construction. This may be more applicable to some clients than others. For

instance, a developer who constructs buildings mainly for sale will not be

concerned with costs-in-use to the same extent as buildings meant for lease or

owner occupation.

Application of life-cycle Costing

The LCC is useful information for decision making in

i. Purchasing a product, in optimizing design, in scheduling maintenance, or

in planning revamping;

ii. Evaluation and comparison of alternative design;

iii. Assessment of economic viability of projects/products;

iv. Identification of cost drivers and cost effective improvements;

v. Long term financial planning;

vi. Evaluation and comparison of alternative strategies for product use,

operation, test, inspection, maintenance;

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vii. Evaluation and comparison of different approaches for replacement,

rehabilitation/life extension or disposal of aging facilities;

viii. Optimal allocation of available funds to activities in a process for product

development /improvement; and

ix. Assessment of product assurance criteria through verification tests and

their trade-offs.

Timing of LCC Analysis

LCC analysis is preferably carried out in any and all phases of a product's life

cycle to provide input to decision makers. However, early identification of

acquisition and ownership costs provides the decision makers with more

opportunity of balancing performance, reliability, maintenance support and other

goals against life cycle costs. LCC analysis in the early program phase has

significant opportunities for minimising the LCC, because the cost profile of

commitment rapidly increases in the early program phase. It is generally believed

that 80 % of the LCC is allocated by decisions that are made within the first 20 %

of the life of the project.

Project Stages where LCC is Applicable

At Inception Stage: LCC may be used to determine the most economic way of

meeting the need for additional building space.

Early Design Stage: LCC may be used to assist in developing the most economic

plan shape, structural form and internal layout.

Detail Design Stage: LCC may be used to identify the design features,

components and finishing that have the lowest total cost.

During the Occupation stage: LCC may be used in formulating planned

maintenance and renewal policies.

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Determination and Calculation of Life cycle Cost

With the help of financial models, such as the Present value method, the Life

Cycle Cost of a building can be calculated. In a first step the separation of the

costs according to different phases of life is necessary. In a second step the

resulting costs, which spread over many years have to be converted to a common

value (mostly with the use of the discounting technique) in order to make them

comparable over a defined period of time. The costs can be differentiated

accordingly as follows:

Costs for planning and construction: Total costs for building erection actions,

including planning and financing expenses

Costs for operation, maintenance and repair: Regular or irregularly recurring

costs during the utilization phase, as well as costs for rebuilding and

modernisation

Costs for demolition and disposal: Costs for the removal of buildings and

building elements as well as the disposal of building waste material, including the

profits gained by the further use of components.

Steps in the Determination of Life cycle Cost

The determination of life-cycle costs of a construction requires the following

steps:

 Specification of the objectives and constraints of the analysis and definition

of acceptable alternatives.

 Identification of data source.

 Definition of a life-cycle costing model which is able to convert all costs

on a common base.

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  Calculation of the total life cycle costs for each alternative (considering

unquantifiable costs and benefits and uncertainties in input values,

assuming discount rate, inflation rate, economic life, etc.)

 Analysis and comparison of the alternatives on the basis of the stated

objectives and constraints to select the best alternative (in terms of

sustainability).

Terminologies and Definitions

Life cycle: Time interval between a product's conception and its disposal.

Life cycle cost (LCC): Cumulative cost of a product over its life cycle.

Life cycle costing: Process of economic analysis to assess the life cycle cost of a

product over its life cycle or a portion thereof

Cost driver: LCC element which has a major impact on the LCC

Cost profile: Graphical or tabular representation showing the distribution of costs

over the life cycle (or portion thereof) of a product

Life cycle cost breakdown structure: Ordered breakdown of the elements of cost

to arrive at a product's total life cycle

Initial costs: This is the capital expenditure incurred on an asset when it is first

developed.

User costs: This refers to the costs involved in running a facility as well as the

occupational charges. It can also be described as future costs.

Operating costs: This represents the costs involved in providing the operating

services.

Operating services: This describes services provided to facilitate the effective

functioning of the building such as cleaning, caretaking, operation of plant and

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equipment and any associated activities.

Energy costs: This represents the energy costs of a building which includes the

cost of heating, lighting, air conditioning and other similar services.

Modifications or alterations: These are new works required to improve an asset

or adapt it for additional or a different use.

Availability: The ability of an item to be in a state to perform a required function

under given conditions at a given instant of time or over a given time interval,

assuming that the required external resources are provided. It is assumed that

Availability depends on the following three system performance measures:

Reliability, Maintainability, and Maintenance support performance)

Reliability: The probability that an item can perform a required function under

given conditions for a given time interval.

Maintainability: The probability that a given active maintenance action for an

item under given conditions of use can be carried out within a stated time interval,

when the maintenance is performed under stated conditions and using stated

procedures and resources.

Maintenance support performance: The ability of a maintenance organisation,

under given conditions, to provide upon demand, the resources required to

maintain an item, under a given maintenance policy

Logistics support: The materials and services required to operate, maintain, and

repair a system. Logistics support includes the identification, selection,

procurement, scheduling, stocking, and distribution of spares, repair parts,

facilities, support equipment, and so on.

Supportability: Inherent characteristics of design and installation that enable the

effective and efficient maintenance and support of the system throughout its

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planned life cycle.

Economic Life: the estimated number of years until that item no longer represents

the least expensive method of performing its function.

Technological Life: the estimated number of years until technology causes an

item to become obsolete.

Useful Life: the estimated number of years during which an item will perform its

function according to some established performance standard.

TASK A: Mr Quaino the manager of Asempa Lodge wants to make a decision to

replace or repair some doors and windows in his building. He has consulted you

for advice. Write down the factors you consider important to effectively advise

him

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TASK B: The manager of Regaust properties is facing the challenge of replacing

or maintaining the following components of his building for the next 4 years. The

cost of maintaining the components for the next 4 years is provided in the schedule

below.

Item Quantity 0 1 2 3 4

DOORS 1 300 350 400 450 500

WINDOWS 1 150 200 250 300 350

The current cost of replacing the doors and windows are GH 2000.00 and GH

700.00 respectively. Using a discount rate of 10% and assuming the new doors

will not require maintenance for the next four years advice the manager of Regaust

properties.

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7.0 Maintenance Model

Márquez proposed a generic model for maintenance management that integrates

other models for built and in-use assets. It consists of eight sequential management

building blocks.

Fig. 2.2 A new maintenance model by Márquez (2007)

 Definition of Maintenance Objectives and Strategy

For better strategic planning, operational objectives and strategy, as well as the

performance measures must be consistent with the declared overall strategy. This

can be done by introducing a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) which allows the

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creation of key performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring maintenance

management performance. The Balanced Scorecard puts overall strategy and

vision at the centre and emphasises on achieving performance targets.

 Asset Priority and Maintenance Strategy Definition

There must be a systematic basis for deciding what assets should have priority

within a maintenance management process based on the existing maintenance

strategy. The criteria to assess priority may vary widely for one case to another

according to the maintenance objectives and Key Performance Indicators. Once

there is a certain definition of assets priority, there is the need to set up the strategy

to be followed with each category of assets. This strategy should be adjusted over

time, but an initial starting point must be stated.

 Immediate Intervention on High Impact Weak Points

Once the assets have been prioritised and the maintenance strategy to follow

defined, the next step would be to develop the corresponding maintenance actions

associated with each category of assets. An initial point of departure would be, for

instance, the design of the maintenance preventive plan, and the resources required

to accomplish it, for those assets considered of high criticality impact. Care must

be taken to find and eliminate the causes of critical failures in order to provide a

fast and important initial payback of the maintenance management strategy.

 Design of the Preventive Maintenance Plans and Resources

To arrive at the best preventive maintenance plan for a particular system, there is

the need to identify its functions, failure pattern and establish a set of applicable

and effective preventive maintenance tasks, based on system safety and economy.

A Reliability Centred Maintenance method can be used as it allows for the

detection and elimination of causes of some failures before they show up through

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a set of practical maintenance actions and plans. Maintenance staff must ensure

that the correct numbers of resources are engaged, and best utilised.

 Preventive Plan, Schedule and Resources Optimisation

Maintenance planning and scheduling must be optimised to enhance the

effectiveness and efficiency of the maintenance policies resulting from an initial

preventive maintenance plan and program design. This involves the use of

maintenance optimisation models. Long-term models address maintenance

capacity planning, spare parts provisioning and the maintenance or replacement

interval. Mid-term models may address, for instance, the scheduling of the

maintenance activities, while Short-term models focus on resources allocation and

control.

 Maintenance Execution Assessment and Control

Once the execution of maintenance activities are designed, planned and scheduled,

It must be evaluated and differences controlled to continuously follow set targets

for key maintenance performance indicators as selected. It is very important to

make sure that the suitable data is captured and that that data is accurately

aggregated/disaggregated according to the necessary level of maintenance

performance analysis.

 Asset Life-Cycle Analysis and Replacement Optimisation

A life cycle cost analysis estimates the cost of an asset for its entire life span. The

analysis of a typical asset includes costs for planning, research and development,

production, operation, maintenance and disposal. Costs such as up-front

acquisition (research, design, test, production, construction) are usually obvious,

but life cycle cost analysis crucially depends on values calculated from reliability

analyses such us failure rate, cost of spares, repair times, and component costs. A

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life cycle cost analysis is important when making decisions about capital

equipment, that is, replacement or new acquisition.

 Continuous Improvement and New Techniques Utilization

Continuous improvement of maintenance management will be possible due to the

utilisation of emerging techniques and technologies in areas such as "e-

maintenance" which can be defined as a maintenance support which includes the

resources, services and management necessary to enable proactive decision

process execution. This support not only includes e-technologies (ICT, Web-

based, tether-free, wireless, infotronic technologies) but also, e-maintenance

activities (operations or processes) such as e-monitoring, e-diagnosis, e-prognosis

etc. Besides new technologies for maintenance, the involvement of maintenance

people within the maintenance improvement process will be a critical factor for

success. Higher levels of knowledge, experience and training will be required, but

at the same time, techniques covering the involvement of operators in performing

simple maintenance tasks will be extremely important to reach higher levels of

maintenance quality and overall equipment effectiveness.

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