Optimising maintenance cost by prioritising maintenance of facilities services in residential buildings

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the maintenance prioritising for facilities services in high-rise residential buildings in Peninsular Malaysia. Maintenance prioritisation is becoming more prominent in the building maintenance industry due to budget constraints, poor maintenance management and to yield better maintenance performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Two main categories with eleven facilities services that require maintenance were identified through extensive literature review. A total of 321 returned questionnaires were analysed to distinguish the relationship between the maintenance priority and cost variance. Semi-structured interviews were then conducted to validate the findings.

Findings

The findings revealed that five essential facilities services were significantly correlated to cost variance and a regression model which examines the probability of over-budget was developed. Meanwhile, the interviews recognised that maintenance prioritisation has impact towards maintenance cost.

Research limitations/implications

This research focusses on the maintenance priorities of facilities services and their effects to maintenance cost. However, it is undeniable that the maintenance cost can be affected by other factors, contributing to a lower percentage of the total variance in the regression model. Thus, it creates research opportunity to study the factors (i.e. manpower, materials, wear and tear, etc.) affecting the variance of maintenance cost.

Practical implications

This study is useful to property managers in efforts to enhance the cost performance via appropriate maintenance prioritisation. The essential facilities services should be highly prioritised compared to the value-added facilities services.

Originality/value

The paper signifies the importance of maintenance prioritisation. It serves as a guide to plan and execute maintenance planning in a more logical way within budget and time constraints.