Building maintenance is all the work carried out to keep a building or building element in the condition it needs to be in, so that it keeps performing and reaches its intended service life. It is not the same as refurbishment: maintenance restores the existing condition, refurbishment improves it.
Types of maintenance
- Day-to-day or minor maintenance — small, recurring jobs: a dripping tap, a sticking door, a slipped tile
- Planned (cyclical) maintenance — work on a predictable cycle, such as external redecoration or renewing sealant joints
- Major maintenance — replacing a complete element at the end of its life, for example the roof covering or the boiler
- Reactive maintenance — repair after something has failed; usually the most expensive route
- Deferred maintenance — postponed work that has started to cause consequential damage
Applying it: the maintenance plan
Landlords, managing agents and building owners work from a long-term maintenance plan setting out, element by element, when work falls due and what it will cost. Condition is often recorded using a standard condition survey scale, which expresses the state of each element from as-new through to very poor, so that priorities can be compared objectively.
Indicative maintenance cycles
| Element | Typical cycle |
|---|---|
| External paintwork on timber | 4-7 years, depending on orientation and substrate |
| External sealant joints | 10-15 years |
| Bituminous flat roof covering | 20-30 years to replacement |
| Pointing to brickwork | 30-50 years, highly dependent on exposure |
| Boiler | Annual service, replacement after around 15-20 years |
These are guides only; actual life depends on exposure, weathering and the quality of the previous work.
Rules of thumb
- Inspect twice a year — before and after winter, looking at gutters, sealant lines, roof edges and timber on the weather side
- The weather elevation sets the pace — the south-west face weathers fastest and usually drives the whole redecoration cycle
- Set money aside regularly — a commonly used guide for owners is roughly 1% of the rebuilding cost per year
- Do not defer — a redecoration cycle that gets skipped usually means timber repairs next time round, at a much higher cost
Related terms
- Planned preventive maintenance
- Condition survey
- Deferred maintenance
- Refurbishment
- Building survey
- Service life
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