Maintenance of Residential Buildings: Users' Practices in Nigeria

Abstract

AbstractThe sustainability of infrastructure demands an attention. One of the ways to achieve this is the adoption of maintenance as essential practice. The level of this practice among various users demands urgency for policy formation. The study examined the maintenance practice among users of residential buildings in Nigeria. The study data were collected through questionnaire administered on the users of residential buildings in the study area. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistical tool. The study found out that all the respondents carried out one form of maintenance activities to other. Majority does not have maintenance manual and economic is the major factor that affects the practice of maintenance among users of residential buildings. The study recommends a need for more advocacy, policy and awareness on the essence of maintenance as a practice for national sustainability.Keywords: maintenance, users' practice, residential building, sustainability, NigeriaINTRODUCTIONSustainability of capital investments of any nation has been a major and global dialogue most especially in developing countries where infrastructural development is still at the infancy. This is because most of government expenditures and investments focus on infrastructural development such as road, power, water and housing eventhough the challenges in the developed nations is sustainability. One of the ways for sustainability is the maintenance of the existing stock of infrastructural facilities and services. Maintenance according to BS 3811 is the construction of all technical and associated administrative actions intended to retain an item in or restore it to a state in which it can perform its required function. Oladimeji (1996) further described maintenance as the combination of any actions carried out to retain an item in or restore it to an acceptable condition. Onwuka (1989) stated that maintenance management is concerned with the planning and control of construction resources to ensure that necessary repairs and renewal are carried out with maximum efficiency and economy.Hence, Kolawole (2002) advocated that maintenance culture requires the correct diagnosis of defects, current remedial measures, sound technical knowledge of material usage, management resources as well as the formulation and implementation of integrated plan and policies to sustain utility. The absence of these qualities has led to the decay of the nation's physical, social, aesthetic and economic environment. Odediran (2002) also emphasized that the technological development around the world is having aesthetic effect on the construction industry. These innovations of new technologies to the residential buildings are beauty to behold after their completion. He further emphasized that there are lots of technical and administrative actions to ensure the sustainability of the intrinsic and extrinsic values of each of the components of the buildings. The physical environment forms the principal dictator of the well-being of man (Williams, 2006). Hence, maintenance like the last leg of a relay team and the lubricating oil of an engine is a component of a conclusive phase of sustainable development.Nigeria has experienced periods of economic prosperity and adversity in the last few decades which has witnessed massive investment in property development both in the public and the private sectors of the economy (Yusif, 1998). Then, the emphasis was on the development of new properties with little attention paid to the maintenance of the existing stock and the future maintenance needs of the proposed ones. This attitude seems to have been carried over into the current period of economic adversity with the result that while the volume of new development has fallen drastically the existing stock is deteriorating at an alarming rate due to inadequate maintenance (Yusif, 1998). The general belief now is that the present very prohibitive cost of new buildings has imposed on individuals, corporate bodies and the nation as a whole the need to invest more in maintenance. …

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