Authors:
Baba Shehu Waziri;
Abstract:
Defects arising from design and construction are recognized to have substantial consequences on the level of maintenance during occupancy of buildings which often translate to high costs causing dissatisfaction of users. This study attempts to investigate through a field survey the significance of design and construction
defects on maintenance of residential buildings in Maiduguri in northern Nigeria. 60 structured questionnaires were distributed to personnel in the offices of consultants, contractors and building owners who are responsible for design, construction and maintenance of residential buildings in order to obtain the desired data for analysis. 47 questionnaires representing a response rate of 73.33% were retrieved and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 16 for WINDOWS. The results of the survey revealed that the use of defective construction materials, poor supervision, non-compliance with specifications and poor quality control on site are the most significant factors contributing to maintenance with Relative Importance Index (RII) values of 0.8617, 0.8351, 0.8245
and 0.8138, respectively. Therefore, it is imperative for design and construction professionals to ensure the use of good quality materials and comply with specifications through adequate supervision to trim the menace of maintenance during operation of residential buildings.
Keywords:
Residential buildings, Maintenance, Design defects, Construction defects, Nigeria.