Assessment of public building defects and maintenance practices: Cases in Mettu town, Ethiopia

Abstract

Building flaws are one of the main aspects of building problems that need to be carefully considered. Besides the high demand for construction projects in Ethiopia, the problems of defective buildings and maintenance issues were so prevalent. According to the researchers' field survey, Mettu town's public buildings have suffered from major building defects and deterioration, and neglect of maintenance practices. This research aimed to assess building construction defects and maintenance practices in Mettu building projects. A case study and questionnaire survey were utilized for data collection. A Case study was conducted on a randomly selected nine public building projects in Mettu Town using site observation and formal checklists. Whereas, a questionnaire method was used to address the study objectives based on respondents' perspectives using ordinal scales of Likert's. The Spearman rank correlation coefficient, mean score, and weighted average values were utilized for data analysis using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and SPSS version 20 tools. The study revealed that non-structural cracks were found the top first-ranked building defect. Shortage of budget, inadequate maintenance standards, and Poor maintenance cultures were the top-ranked building maintenance factors. Project delay, High maintenance cost, and diminishing reputation were the top-ranked impacts of building defects. Periodic and regular construction supervision and proper and periodic maintenance were the top measures to minimize building defects.