Using a condition‐dependent approach to maintenance to control costs and performances

By adopting a condition‐dependent approach to maintenance, facility managers can exercise control over the desired maintenance performance levels and costs. The practice of condition assessment by building inspectors yielded variable results due to subjective perceptions of inspectors. Nowadays well‐trained building inspectors are able to manage condition surveys and provide property managers with objective, reliable information about performance loss and defects in building components. The implementation of various performance levels in planned maintenance requires not only the standardisation of the condition assessment method, but also the related planning methodology. This paper describes the findings from research in the Netherlands which examined the methodology of condition assessment of building components using a six‐point condition scale. Different categories of performance loss in maintenance are distinguished and linked to different kinds of maintenance activities.