Physical space is critically important to the people living and working there. Across sectors like healthcare, education, religious institutions, and housing services, the built environment plays a dual role – ensuring safe service delivery to clients while serving as a critical asset for client/staff attraction and retention.
Maintaining functional, aesthetically pleasing facilities is more important than ever for both effective business strategy execution and mission fulfillment. Campus facilities represent significant capital investments that carry substantial asset risk if replacement is needed. Just as important, overall facility appearance and operability directly impact market reputation, financial stability, and operational performance metrics.
Because of these factors, facility preservation through asset management best practices is mission-critical. Also, employing short- and long-range planning methodologies akin to other asset/program management approaches is key in ensuring proper CapEx budgets. The results lead to much less stress for the C-suite and facility managers.
Ensuring assessment accuracy and impartiality means engaging independent specialized consultant engineering services focused solely on these assessments as their core offering. They will conduct comprehensive facility condition assessments to identify deferred maintenance issues and systems requiring renovation, re-positioning, or replacement. You can avoid potential conflicts of interest by excluding consultant affiliations with contractors or architects.
Key Factors for Facility Condition Assessments:
Environmental Contamination
In the 21st century, environmental concerns are becoming even more important and top of mind with investors and consumers. Identifying environmental concerns like asbestos, lead-based paint, and soil contamination during assessments is crucial. For capital projects or refinancing, investors and lenders typically require current ASTM-compliant Phase I Environmental Site Assessments as a baseline.
Per industry standards and norms, any identified issues must have corrective actions thoroughly documented to provide stakeholders transparency on environmental risk mitigation measures.
Construction Quality Assurance/Quality Control
In modern construction, general contractors operate as construction managers, while architects focus on design rather than inspection duties. Standard architect contracts rarely include quality assurance/control inspection services for code/specification compliance – these must be separately contracted. Many projects rely on subcontractors for compliance with limited oversight.
Unfortunately, many leaders find that inadequate compliance oversight risks non-compliant work….this requires costly future repairs after warranties expire. Proactive quality management is the best option through an independent construction monitoring consultant or owner’s representative to provide impartial oversight distinct from contractor/designer interests – safeguarding project quality and profitability.
For existing facilities, assessment consultants will inspect for apparent non-compliant construction or inadequate detailing that may require further investigation. Even minor issues like cracking can indicate significant future repair needs. For moisture/mold issues, identifying and addressing root causes is critical beyond just visible symptoms.
Critical barrier components like roofing, cladding systems, and fenestrations are too often value-engineered, which necessitates proper design detailing and installation verification to prevent moisture intrusion and associated costs. Site infrastructure condition assessments for elements like pavements are also important to identify deterioration requiring repair/replacement to mitigate any safety hazards and compounding costs.
Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing (MEP), Equipment & Appliances
Moving inside the facility, repair/overhaul/upgrade/replacement needs for mechanical, electrical, plumbing systems, appliances, and equipment are impacted by a laundry list of factors: failures, obsolescence, life-cycle costs, maintenance quality, comfort/safety standards, code compliance, insurance obligations, litigation risks, and capital availability.
Comprehensive assessments are the key to avoiding unexpected repair/replacement costs. They also ensure operational continuity through adequate lifecycle reserve funding.
Life Safety & Security Systems
These systems differ as replacement drivers are often beyond owner control – insurer mandates, litigation mitigation, and evolving codes/regulations present leaders with unpredictable compliance costs. Having robust systems in place provides a competitive marketing advantage by demonstrating high safety/security standards.
Interior Finishes, Fixtures, Furnishings
As property owners and managers, industry leaders are consistently striving for points of differentiation in the marketplace. Visual aesthetics and amenities drive demographic attraction and retention. The timing and extent of refreshment varies by business model – e.g. entry-fee vs. rental models for senior housing impact unit turnover obligations. Competitive forces and demographic trends also influence upgrade decisions.
Studies indicate entry-fee model retirement communities allocate 25-40% of capital budgets over 40 years towards unit refurbishments and common area finish/furnishing renewal to maintain market competitiveness.
Summary
While all of these considerations provide a foundation from which to begin, comprehensive facility assessments require a multifaceted approach that administrators may overlook due to time and resource constraints. For reliable decision-making and investor and lender reporting, engaging independent specialized facility assessment consultants as a core service is the best option versus architects/contractors with potential conflicts of interest. Be sure to prioritize securing top expertise within budget.
Remember: The best way to solve problems is to prevent them.
Rob Milam
Project Manager and CEO
