A Review towards a Standardized Approach in Building Structure Inspection for Maintenance Management

Abstract

Maintenance is a combination of several management methods without changing the basic features and functions of building structures and service systems. Effective maintenance planning ensures optimal use of the structure and reduces operating costs. Building inspection is one of the methods in maintenance management for assessment of building physical condition. Moreover, this method is a preliminary analysis to gather information, assess and identify damages to building structures. This paper discussed variety of structural inspection methods including inspections for pitched roof and fade. Literature was collected from journals, conference proceedings, standards and books. These methods were compared and classified according to defect. The results demonstrated that there are weaknesses in the method of building structure inspection. For example, there are varieties of information in the verification of damage causing inconsistencies in the inspection. Hence, causing inconsistent final report on maintenance performed. Besides, the assessments also depend on the discretion and experience of the inspector resulting in subjective evaluations. For instance, the final reports were interpreted differently from individual perspectives. In conclusion, building structure inspection requires a guide to standardize the inspection process. In addition, specific strategies are required to ensure the documents provided can be reduced consistently by various inspectors.