The overall need for professionally prepared facility conditional assessment analysis is becoming more demanding due to the ages numerous buildings being older than the original planned useful life.
Needless to say, the value engineering aspects of modern day construction, although meeting the minimum acceptable standards established in the uniform building codes and construction standards, has lessened the appreciable quality and useful life of many structural and operating system components. In plain words, the majority of these buildings will be forced into providing services for which they were not designed as they get older. These facts, and an increasing amount of other factors, stress the infrastructure and place increasingly difficult demands on maintenance professionals. These professional service contractors must now deliver more value for each maintenance dollar expended.
The best weapon any building manager, or building owner, can have are accurate and detailed conditional assessments on the buildings, their equipment, and the primary operating systems for the building. The knowledge of how, when, and why to apply preventative and predictive maintenance, and how to avoid inappropriate measures, is the only acceptable outcome, as catastrophe is not an acceptable and it is counterproductive.
The Conditional Assessment (CA) is the in depth process whereby the building or organization’s facility, systems, components, and sub-components are evaluated as to their condition and integrity. Conditional Assessments are best conducted by thoroughly skilled professionals; otherwise the facility manager’s or building owner’s expectations will not be achieved.
During recent years of staff downsizing in management and maintenance personnel; time and experienced manpower to conduct clearly defined formal and thorough assessments of this nature are lacking. Management companies and building owners have come to realize their limitations, therefore place more credence on the outside consultant’s report. Once the initial Conditional Assessment has been completed, a Capital Improvement Program can be established, adopted, and carried out.
