Standardizing Design and the Importance of Building Maintenance
For workers in the building maintenance field, a large concern is their budget. Saving their employers money while providing the proper maintenance for the building is one of a building manager’s top concerns. An article at buildings.com discusses the importance of standardization in a building maintenance professional’s job.
Standardization is largely an effort designed to lower the annual upkeep cost, which includes capital costs, installation costs, and operation and maintenance costs over the building’s life. Maintenance costs constitute a large part of a buildings. As a result many building maintenance professionals use standardization in order to help lower costs for their employers. By using “tried and true” products, reducing the number of product lines wherever it is practical and cost effective.
So what type of things can be standardized? Often items an equipment manufacturer selects for product quality, response times for repairs, and parts are standardized for an organization. These include items like HVAC equipment, pumps, fans, switches and receptacles, circuit breakers, paint type, color standardization, bathroom fixtures, flooring, light fixtures and lamps, doors, roofing slopes, and other materials. Basically anything that is important to the longevity of the building can be standardized.
These measures can lead to significant savings in inventory and can reduce the need for training, since all of the parts are virtually the same throughout the installation. While this may not provide instant significant savings as far as the budget goes, seeing these changes long-term does indeed lead to significant savings.
Designing the building with this in mind is an integral component to the overall success of the building, as well as its fiscal feasibility. The article also discusses the consequences of not taking maintenance into mind when designing their buildings. To read the rest of the article, including these systems that can be affected by a lack of proper design, click this link.
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