Building Maintenance Services Research Articles

Managing Work Requests to Improve Level of Building Maintenance Services

Managing Work Requests to Improve Level of Building Maintenance Services

The buildings (dis)pathology: analysis of management tools for building maintenance services

Buildings are susceptible to both inherent and external vulnerabilities throughout all phases of the construction process, spanning from design to occupancy. Many types of failures can impact these structures. Researching building failures involves a three-step approach: listening, categorizing, and determining solutions that prioritize the least invasive and cost-effective interventions. This research aims to present different prioritization methods and identify the most appropriate methodology for diagnosing and addressing specific failures. The research evaluates conventional tools, as follows BASICO, SWIFT, FMEA, AFF, and GUT matrix, offering a critical analysis of their strengths and weaknesses. A case study focusing on moisture-related maintenance services for building facades is presented. Finally, the GUT matrix and the FMEA method are the most effective approaches for addressing building failures, however, the GUT matrix stands out for being easier to apply in building maintenance management.

PERHITUNGAN WAKTU BAKU DAN PENENTUAN PRODUKTIVITAS PADA PENGERJAAN PEMBERSIHAN KACA GEDUNG X

XYZ is a company that provides building maintenance services; one of its services is glass cleaning services. In every work on building maintenance services projects in the form of cleaning the glass of PT. XYZ has not calculated the standard time of work, which affects 45% of the total work exceeding the deadline for the job given and the difficulty of estimating the productivity of the workers. In this study, the standard time and productivity were determined on the glass cleaning work of building X using the stopwatch time study method. The results of the calculations carried out using the stopwatch time study method obtained the optimal normal time at each stage of the work, namely in the preparation of work equipment for 58.55 minutes, on the removal of the gallows 112.82 minutes, on the installation of ropes of 20.41 minutes, on machine checking is 22.29 minutes, glass cleaning is 54.17 minutes, rope disassembly process is 57 minutes, and gondola storage is 55.33 minutes so that the optimal standard time is 380.56 minutes. Calculation results showed that performance rating measurement, excellent skill is B1 +0.11, a good effort is C1 +0.05, good condition is C +0.02, consistency is C +0.01 with a rating factor obtained in normal time is 65.569 minutes, and from the results of the calculation of worker productivity in the work of cleaning the glass of building X was obtained 0.12 units/hour.

The Impact of Electronic Procurement on the Maintenance and Rehabilitation System of the Surakarta Health Polytechnic Building

This study aims to determine the implementation of the procurement and maintenance system of buildings at the Surakarta Health Polytechnic, the obstacles that occur in the implementation of the procurement and maintenance system of buildings at the Surakarta Health Polytechnic. This research is a qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. The technique of taking research subjects used was purposive sampling. Sources of data used are sources, events or activities, locations and documents and archives. The power gathering techniques used are interviews, archives and documentation. The validity of the data using interactive model analysis, namely data reduction, data presentation and conclusions.The results of this study indicate that the activities of implementing procurement and building maintenance services at the Surakarta Health Polytechnic include: planning, work programs, third party coordination, checking and selecting partners, so that the procurement and maintenance system of buildings runs well. Efforts made are financial proposals submitted in advance of the previous year, independent finance for each department used for minor maintenance, as well as an inventory of damage to each building with selection in building and building maintenance on the proposed priority scale.

An artificial neural network analysis of the satisfaction of hospital building maintenance services

Modern hospital buildings are very large, complex, sophisticated, and costly structures. The productivity of the hospital building users is influenced by the building performance. Maintenance services are conducted on the buildings to ensure optimum building performance and users’ satisfaction. However, many instances, have been recorded dissatisfactions among the hospital building users with respect to the performance of the maintenance services. This research investigated the satisfaction of private hospital building users with respect to maintenance services through a survey questionnaire that included ten satisfaction of maintenance services. The data revealed that the users are most satisfied with the standard of workmanship, cleanliness of the maintained area, communication with users during maintenance works, and degree of politeness and kindness of the maintenance workers. Using the nine/ten as the independent variables, an artificial neural network model to predict the satisfaction of users with maintenance services was presented. The model revealed that cleanliness and tidiness of the maintained area and the quality of maintenance works are the main predictors of the total maintenance service delivery of the maintenance organisations.

Falcon: A False Ceiling Inspection Robot.

Frequent inspections are essential for false ceilings to maintain the service infrastructures, such as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing, and the structure of false ceilings. Human-labor-based conventional inspection procedures for false ceilings suffer many shortcomings, including safety concerns. Thus, robot-aided solutions are demanded for false ceiling inspections similar to other building maintenance services. However, less work has been conducted on developing robot-aided solutions for false ceiling inspections. This paper proposes a novel design for a robot intended for false ceiling inspections named Falcon. The compact size and the tracked wheel design of the robot allow it to traverse obstacles such as runners and lighting fixtures. The robot’s ability to autonomously follow the perimeter of a false ceiling can improve the productivity of the inspection process since the heading of the robot often changes due to the nature of the terrain, and continuous heading correction is an overhead for a teleoperator. Therefore, a Perimeter-Following Controller (PFC) based on fuzzy logic was integrated into the robot. Experimental results obtained by deploying a prototype of the robot design to a false ceiling testbed confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed PFC in perimeter following and the robot’s features, such as the ability to traverse on runners and fixtures in a false ceiling.

Systematic Review on the Attributes of Resident Satisfaction Measurement in the Facility Management Context

Resident satisfaction with the building maintenance services rendered by the property management company is vital to the quality of people's life in the residential buildings. Resident satisfaction measurement generally depends on the service quality of the building maintenance services offered by the property management company. However, there were too many attributes that have influenced resident satisfaction, as highlighted in previous research. In fact, some of them were duplicated and redundant. Thus, the aim of this paper is to identify and simplify the attributes that contribute to resident satisfaction in the building maintenance services. For this purpose, the researchers carried out a systematic review of the most recent articles from 2009 to 2019. Researchers also have considered a few articles before 2009 with the opinion that articles were useful to support the present study. Researchers conducted content analysis by systematically analysing and reviewing previous research publications on service quality dimensions used for users' satisfaction measurement in the facility management context. Past researches have reported on 45 service quality dimensions that have been considered for users' satisfaction evaluation in the facility management field. The findings showed that the identified attributes suggested in the previous works in the facility management field were for a specific and different types of building. In this paper, the researchers suggest a comprehensive range of 18 service quality dimensions including cleanliness, general maintenance and assurance service quality dimension that are useful for measuring resident satisfaction with building maintenance services of the high-rise residential buildings. This finding will benefit the property management companies with valuable information on the attributes that they could rely on to measure resident satisfaction towards building maintenance services. In fact, it provides a clear understanding of service quality dimensions and facilitates future researchers on the appropriate attributes to be considered in evaluating resident satisfaction with the high-rise residential building maintenance services in their future research.

ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY GOVERNMENT OFFICE BUILDINGS IN PERFORMING MAINTENANCE WORK

In Malaysia, most of the building managers faced problems in conducting maintenance operation due to unclear plan and unsystematic approach. Improper maintenance management and practices could affect the performance levels of the maintenance works and the productivity of the building users. This paper aims to examine the issues and challenges faced by government office building managers in selecting an appropriate maintenance strategies. This study adopted mixed method which is a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. Three government office buildings in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia were selected as the case study. Structured interviews were conducted with the building maintenance managers and 200 questionnaires were distributed to the buildings occupants. A total of 67.5% questionnaires were valid for data analysis. The results showed that there are significant correlation between the frequency of services breakdown and the productivity of the building user. Top management, human resource and technical problems were identified as the issues and challenges faced by building managers in conducting maintenance work. Based on the data obtained, the performance level of building maintenance services are analysed using three selected performance indicators. From the findings, it is proven that the issues and challenges faced affect the performance levels of the maintenance works. In contrast, if the building managers do not face too many issues and challenges in implementing the maintenance works, the maintenance strategies will perform in an optimum level.

Critical Success Factors for Low Cost Housing Building Maintenance Organization

Building services are the elements within a building which supports the fundamental operation of a building. Efficient performance of building services able to facilitate and avoid an unnecessary aggravations to the end users. Thus, the role of building services maintenance (BSM) organization is vital during the building operation phase in order to be responsible for overall performance of the building and its services. However, in recent years the maintenance performance provided by BSM organization is lack on many aspects. In Malaysia, the performance provided by BSM organization especially in low cost flats are considered to be poor. Hence, this paper focuses on identifing the BSM problems, the cause and consequently identify critical success factors (CSFs) to be applied by the BSM organization to overcome those problems. Reviews on literatures, questionnaire survey and interview were conducted to collect the valuable data for the study. The data obtained was analyzed using frequency, mean, standard deviation and content analysis. The findings indicatethat the common BSM problems occur in low cost flats are refuse disposal, rain water disposal and fire fighting system. While, lack of expertise, long duration taken and limited numbers of staffs are among the factors identified as the causes of those problems. 10 CSF namely clear goals and objectives, workforce development and training, effetive monitoring and feedback, project team competence, dedicated resources, management planning, taking account past experience, good interdepartmental communication, education on new technologies and clients expectations are identified to solve the challanges facing by the maintenace organization which causes various BSM problems. The 10CSF identified based on the opinion given by 24 interviewees from various Local Authorities. A low cost flat managed by Kuala Lumpur City Hall located at Cheras was used as case study. This study expected to help respective parties to overcome the BSM problems in the low cost flats.

Developing a fuzzy risk assessment model for guaranteed maximum price and target cost contracts in South Australia

Purpose– This paper aims to develop a fuzzy risk assessment model for construction projects procured with target cost contracts and guaranteed maximum price contracts (TCC/GMP) using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation method, based on an empirical questionnaire survey with relevant industrial practitioners in South Australia.Design/methodology/approach– A total of 34 major risk factors inherent with TCC/GMP contracts were identified through an extensive literature review and a series of structured interviews. A questionnaire survey was then launched to solicit the opinions of industrial practitioners on risk assessment of such risk factors.Findings– The most important 14 key risk factors after the computation of normalised values were selected for undertaking fuzzy evaluation analysis. Five key risk groups (KRGs) were then generated in descending order of importance as: physical risks, lack of experience of contracting parties throughout TCC/GMP procurement process, design risks, contractual risks and delayed payment on contracts. These survey findings also revealed that physical risks may be the major hurdle to the success of TCC/GMP projects in South Australia.Practical implications– Although the fuzzy risk assessment model was developed for those new-build construction projects procured by TCC/GMP contracts in this paper, the same research methodology may be applied to other contracts within the wide spectrum of facilities management or building maintenance services under the target cost-based model. Therefore, the contribution from this paper could be extended to the discipline of facilities management as well.Originality/value– An overall risk index associated with TCC/GMP construction projects and the risk indices of individual KRGs can be generated from the model for reference. An objective and a holistic assessment can be achieved. The model has provided a solid platform to measure, evaluate and reduce the risk levels of TCC/GMP projects based on objective evidence instead of subjective judgements. The research methodology could be replicated in other countries or regions to produce similar models for international comparisons, and the assessment of risk levels for different types of TCC/GMP projects (including new-build or maintenance) worldwide.

Prestação de serviços de manutenção predial em Estabelecimentos Assistenciais de Saúde

The scope of this paper was to evaluate the provision of building maintenance services in health units, by means of a descriptive, quantitative and cross-sectional study, considering the five types of facilities (Primary Health, Emergency, Specialty, Hospital and Mental Health Units). The research was approved by the Research Ethics Comittee of FHEMIG with the Terms of Agreement signed with the Unified Health System of Betim. Comparative analysis was conducted by checking the requirements of "Physical-Functional Structure Management" of the "Brazilian Hospital Accreditation Manual" of the National Accreditation Organization. Nonconformities were noted in the physical-functional management of the health centers, especially the primary health units. The assessment was important, considering that compliance with formal, technical and structural requirements, welfare activities, according to the service organization and appropriate to the profile and complexity, can collaborate to minimize the risks of users. To improve the quality of health care establishments, it is essential that managers, backed by "top management," prioritize financial, human and material resources in planning to ensure compliance with security requirements of users in buildings.

Public Sector Contracting: An Australian Study of Changing Work Conditions

Throughout the 1990s, government reports such as the Competitive Tendering and Contracting Report (Industry Commission1996) and the Report of the Independent Commission to Review Public Sector Finances (McCarrey 1993), suggested that the contracting-out of government services would improve the delivery of public goods in Australia. This article reports on the findings of a case study of contracting-out of building maintenance services in the state of Western Australia in Australia. The study focuses on evaluating the impact of the contracting-out of these services on the wages and conditions of employees affected by moving from public sector to private sector employment. The study found differences in the employment conditions of white collar and blue collar workers. In general, the conditions of white collar workers improved but there was a marginal decline in the conditions of blue collar workers. The article concludes that while contracting-out created budgetary savings for government, these resulted partly from a reduction in wages and benefits of former blue collar staff, despite the best efforts of the Western Australian government to protect staff wages and benefits. The research makes an important theoretical contribution by arguing that the impact of contracting-out on staff wages, benefits and conditions is conditional upon the level of competition in the labor market for worker’s expertise. In thick markets, wages, benefits and conditions are likely to reduce, due to strong competition for expertise. However in thin markets, wages, benefits and conditions are likely to increase, due to weak competition for expertise (Borland, 1994).

Law and Building Services Maintenance in Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, statutory requirements applicable to building services maintenance activities appear in a wide variety of ordinances and regulations, which can be confusing and may be misinterpreted or overlooked. This paper reviews the key statutory requirements, common problems with complying with the requirements, and the potential liabilities consequent upon non-compliance. To help focus the analysis, the statutory requirements were categorised with reference to the involved compliance procedures, and a process model was devised to represent the procedures under each category. Attention of individuals and firms responsible for maintenance work is drawn to their liability for damages that could arise due to negligent acts to show that maintenance work shall be conducted not simply to satisfy statutory requirements, but far beyond.

Disputes arising from vaguely defined contractual responsibilities in building services maintenance contracts

A clear definition of the responsibilities of the contracting parties is crucial to any contract. However, many building services maintenance contracts contain vague terms that are often causes of disputes, suspension of work, unsatisfactory performance and financial losses. Common vague contract terms include those that require the contractor to be responsible for any replacement and restoration work arising from “fair wear and tear” and “vandalism”. Reports the findings of a survey of maintenance practitioners’ interpretations of these terms, and their experience with the use of such terms in building services maintenance contracts in Hong Kong.

The Future Direction of Specialist Advice in the Public Sector

In March 1998, there was a near complete electricity breakdown in the fuel-cycle section of the Dounreay Nuclear Plant in Scotland. Fortunately, a serious incident was averted. The UK Government subsequently appointed a team of 16 inspectors to conduct a safety audit of the Dounreay site. The outcome of the multiagency audit included a number of recommendations, some of direct relevance to recent fatal events in Australia with which I have been involved. I refer to the fire on HMAS Westralia, [an Australian Navy vessel], the landslide tragedy at Thredbo [an Alpine resort in Australia] and the botched Royal Canberra Hospital Demolition [an intended implosion for the demolition of a community hospital]. For myself, and more importantly, for the survivors and families, the topic of discussion is deeply personal. At this time, convention requires one to avoid any direct analysis of these tragedies ± the author leaves the reader to draw the parallels. The Dounreay incident indicated that outsourcing of key functions had `weakened the management and technical base at the site' ± inhouse specialist skill had been eroded. The auditors also referred to the Atomic Energy Authority's mindset that it was compelled to accept lowest tenders. The auditors believe that this mindset was influenced by the fact that fines for occupational health and safety (OH and S) breaches were substantially lower than civil damages awards for breaches of Government competitive tendering rules. In referring to the weakening of management and technical skills at the site, the auditors bring to mind my own experience of finding that Government and Government Corporations progressively divest themselves of specialists, with consequent loss of corporate memory, thereby eroding their ability to set effective tender criteria and to assess tenderers against, among other concerns, risk management issues. With the weakened ability to set performance parameters goes the lack of institutional foresight and, in legal terms, foreseeability of risk and the imposition of duties of care. This has proved a bonanza for lawyers, at great cost to shareholders and the community. Lest one takes Dounreay as an absolute indictment of out-sourcing, let one say that one of Energy Australia's senior managers [Mervyn Davies] recently acknowledged that while outsourcing attracts its own special `risks', it can actually enhance controls if task-specific financial rates and quality output standards are devised and implemented. Davies said that managers should assess the increased risks associated with loss of in-house skills and take steps to ensure that exposure to public liability risks by indifferent contractors and sub-contractors is borne in mind. Energy Australia had, for example, outsourced core activities, such as electricity pole inspections, pole replacements, tree trimming and so forth. With this, went ensuring that contractors employed teams of specialists and that Energy Australia recruited in-house supervisors to monitor and control contractors and employees. Davies acknowledged that contractors, at least in the cable laying area, had worked in ways some would say unacceptable by internal (in-house) standards (The Risk Report, 1998). The experience of another agency which outsourced, in this case, building maintenance services, is also positive. Building maintenance for the Queensland Workers' Compensation Board's two Brisbane buildings was out-sourced to Honeywell in October 1995. The Board has reported that they previously had to audit their contractors to keep them honest, however, it knew that if Honeywell is to achieve its guaranteed savings (under an incentive plan) it would have to ensure that everything is performing at optimum level (The Risk Report, 1997b). Nevertheless, not all work is out-sourced to giant corporations with international and national quality assurance standing. Typical out-sourcing occurs at work levels in local government and from larger corporations. Quality Assurance status is usually a pre*Barrister, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Business service market segmentation: the case of electrical and mechanical building maintenance services

Identifies market segments for a category of business services, namely building maintenance services. Hitherto there has been little research on business service segmentation. Data has been collected through written surveys and analysed by factor analysis and cluster analysis. Although only one type of business service is analysed, the method is applicable to other types. Four market segments were identified, with respective emphasis on customer focus, relationship seeking, price sensitivity and high expectations. The study indicates the value of segmentation analysis as a planning tool for business services, which is the newest and fastest growing sector in business‐to‐business marketing.

ビルメンテナンス業に従事する中高年就労者の心理的及び生理的負担の評価に関する研究

The so-called "Building maintenance services" (abbreviated as BMS after this) contains janitor services, security services and the services to maintain air-conditioning systems. The number of building maintenance companies have increased since 1960 because buildings of which total floor area exceeds 3,000 m^2 are required certain degree of indoor air quality by laws. The general population of workers in BMS has a peak in the eldelies, and more elderly workers are expected to engage in BMS. However, detrimental environments in the working space and the daily demand for workers may cause physiological and psychological stress. It was therefore reported that accidents involving elderly workers have frequently happened during working. In this study, environments in working place and physiological and psychological stress to elderly workers in janitor services were evaluated. Results are as follows ; 1) Workers in janitor services walked in the distance of 4,000m - 8,000m a day. 2) Elderly workers claimed chronic fatigues such as back or knee pains. 3) Elderly workers showed their physical characteristics that restrain ankle movements. 4) The main cause of accidents may be workers' careless mistakes.

95/04108 Building services maintenance

95/04108 Building services maintenance