Purpose – This paper aims to provide insight into the use of a standard for condition assessment. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a literature review, an analysis of the development, content and practical use of the Dutch Standard for Condition Assessment of Buildings, and the findings of several research projects about condition assessment and maintenance planning by Dutch housing associations. Findings – By using the standard for condition assessment, building inspectors can provide property managers with objective data about the condition status of building components. Aggregated condition data could be used for setting condition targets for built assets and for benchmarking. It is anticipated that as a result of the standardisation, condition surveys will become more reliable and as a consequence more popular among large-scale property owners. Research limitations/implications – The standard has been introduced recently. At present there is little experience of the use of (aggregated) condition data for maintenance planning and benchmarking built assets. Practical implications – The standard is a tool to assess the technical status of the properties to underpin the long-term maintenance expectations. Condition assessment is not meant for preparing the annual maintenance budget and planning of the work. Supplementary information is needed in the phase of preparing for the execution of remedial work. Originality/value – This paper provides practical tools for condition assessment and maintenance planning.

The concept of Circular Economy (CE) and its application in the built environment is an emerging research field. Scholars approach CE from various perspectives covering a wide range of topics from material innovation to city-scale application. However, there is little research on CE implementation in housing stock, particularly that which is managed or owned by the social housing organisations (SHOs) and which offers opportunities to generate circular flows of materials at the portfolio level. This research focuses on Dutch SHOs and uses the Delphi method to examine CE practices in their asset management, as well as the main barriers to and potential enablers of its uptake. The analysis of two iterative rounds of expert questioning indicates that Dutch SHOs are in the early experimental phase in CE implementation. From the results, it is evident that organisational, cultural, and financial barriers are the most pressing ones that hinder the wider adoption of CE in their asset management. Building on the panel input, this study suggests potential enablers to overcome these barriers, such as CE legislation, best practice case studies, commitment and support from the top management, and the creation of a clear business case.

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.

New procurement approaches combined with performance‐based building approaches should reduce costs, but empirical qualitative and quantitative studies are lacking. Performance‐based maintenance contracts give maintenance suppliers incentives to improve their way of working. Innovative, cost‐effective solutions that meet the performance criteria can be achieved, especially if the principle of whole‐life costing is being adopted. Indirect cost savings are expected as well. It enables maintenance contractors to assume responsibility for certain activities for which they are better equipped to perform than their clients. A calculation model was developed that calculates the net present value of the direct (product) and indirect (transaction) costs at project level for a competitive maintenance tendering approach and for performance‐based maintenance contracts. The findings show that performance‐based maintenance contracts reduce both direct and indirect costs compared to a competitive tendering approach. Essential preconditions are an early supplier involvement and longer term contracts, giving opportunities for maintenance product and maintenance process improvements. Santruka Nauji pirkimo būdai, derinami su subalansuotos statybos būdais, turetu mažinti išlaidas, tačiau trūksta empiriniu kokybiniu ir kiekybiniu tyrimu. Veiklos rezultatais pagristos priežiūros su tar tys skatina priežiūros paslaugas siūlančias bendroves tobulinti savo darbo būdus. Galimi no vatoriški, taupūs sprendimai, tenkinantys rezultatyvios veiklos kriterijus, ypač taikant viso naudojimo laiko išlaidu (angl. whole‐life costing) principa. Tikimasi sumažinti ir netiesiogines išlaidas. Priežiūra atliekantiems rangovams tai leidžia prisiimti atsakomybe už tam tikra veikla, kuriai vykdyti jie turi daugiau priemoniu nei ju klientai. Sukurtas skaičiavimo mo de lis, kuri taikant apskaičiuojama viso projekto tiesioginiu (produktas) ir netiesioginiu (sandoris) sa nau du dabartine grynoji verte (NPV), kai vykdomas priežiūros darbu pirkimo konkursas ir kai sudaromos veiklos rezultatais pagristos priežiūros sutartys. Rezultatai rodo, kad, lyginant su pirkimo konkursais, veiklos rezultatais pagristos priežiūros sutartys mažina ir tiesiogines, ir netiesiogines išlaidas. Būtinos salygos ‐ itraukti i priežiūros vykdyma tiekeja ankstyvuosiuose etapuose ir sutartis sudaryti ilgesniam terminui, suteikiant galimybiu tobulinti produkta ir priežiūros procesa.

In the last decades, considerable work has been done regarding service life prediction of buildings and building components. Academics and members of the CIB W080 commission, as well as of ISO TC 59/SC14, have made several efforts in this area and created a general terminology for the concept of service life, which is extremely relevant for property management, life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costs (LCC) analyses. Various definitions can be found in the literature that share common ideas. In fact, there are different criteria that trigger the end of a building’s service life, but the trap that building practitioners too often fall into and that should be avoided is dividing a problem into separate boxes, labels, and specializations without the mutual cohesion and interaction, and ignoring human behavior. Some definitions of service life are discussed in this review paper, in which the cause-effect processes underlying aging and decay are described. These descriptions highlight the continuous interrelation between different criteria for the end of a building’s service life, considering too often neglected and misunderstood causes of the end of life.

Prefabrication has the potential to improve the efficiency and sustainability of housing production. However, there are various challenges in the realization of prefabricated housing (PH) from the stakeholder’s perspective. Transaction costs (TCs) theory provides a particular angle that explains the invisible costs within transactions. This study aims to explore how perceptions of TCs vary for stakeholder groups and show the potential to reduce TCs in China. The distribution of TCs related to stages and stakeholders was investigated by a literature study and validated by expert interviews. Further, an existing framework of TCs was adopted to conduct a questionnaire survey for collecting perceptions of TCs from six stakeholder groups. The findings show that assembly, detailed design, and design change are the most highlighted TCs of PH. In particular, the component suppliers complained of TCs from the points of detailed design and hiring skilled labor. The local government emphasized TCs on monitoring and enforcement in assembly, architectural design, and component transportation. This research contributes to the construction management community by acknowledging stakeholders in understanding their TCs, which also inspires the policy makers to reduce significant TCs to smooth transactions for the future of China’s PH market.