MAINTENANCE CULTURE AND ITS IMPACT ON THE CONSTRUCTION OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN NIGERIA

¹Usman, Napoleon Daniel, ²Gambo, M. J. and ³Chen, James A.

^1,3Department of Civil Engineering Technology, Federal Polytechnic, Bauchi

² Estate Management Programme, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi

E-mail: mjgambs@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

Building maintenance is a subject that has to be considered seriously if building is to live up to its expected life span.  A questionnaire was designed and distributed to the occupants, both senior and junior staff of the estate and ministry of works respectively. From their responses, a severity index method was used in analyzing the data. These indices were used to rank the importance of each factor, which made it possible to cross-compare the relative importance of the variable factors by different respondent. Based on the analysis, it was found that the major cause of maintenance problems were post construction preventive maintenance management, design resolution, lack of funds, response time to maintain and usage. Since these factors are of human nature, the introduction of the culture of post construction preventive maintenance should be encouraged.

Keywords: Maintenance, Construction, Impact, Property, Design