Factors affecting maintenance cost of public buildings: case study of Tanzania Buildings Agency and National Housing Corporation

PurposeThe state of public buildings in Tanzania exhibits evidence of a lack of maintenance and repair. Despite efforts to raise the performance of public buildings, little emphasis is placed on maintenance works and related factors affecting maintenance costs of public buildings, which are often high. This study aims to examine factors affecting maintenance costs of public buildings.Design/methodology/approachThis was a case study involving two government building agencies – Tanzania Buildings Agency (TBA) and National Housing Corporation (NHC). A total of 387 tenants and 29 experts participated in the study. Data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed using Stata version 16 – descriptive statistics feature reporting absolute numbers and frequencies.FindingsBoth tenants and experts ranked building age, poor quality control, building material used, execution of work when it is urgent and inadequate financial resources as major factors affecting maintenance costs of public buildings. In the distinctive rating, tenants ranked resource management as a major factor, while experts ranked ignorance about the property of materials, misuse of buildings and faulty maintenance as major factors.Research limitations/implicationsThe study has some limitations such as geographical coverage which is limited to Dar es Salaam and Dodoma regions, hence missing information from other regions may have different experiences. Additionally, data were collected in a self-reported manner which could bring about information bias.Practical implicationsFindings of this study provide an insight on recent developments on the factors affecting maintenance cost of buildings using two cases of NHC and TBA which are single entities owning a substantial amount of housing units in Tanzania. Factors affecting the maintenance cost of public buildings identified in this study is a threshold for experts to devise strategies for minimizing maintenance costs.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that assessed factors affecting maintenance cost in public buildings run by TBA and NHC from the tenant and expert perspectives.

The barriers faced by recent immigrant women in Hamilton and Toronto's rental housing markets

The overall purpose of this paper is to add to the existing body of literature on the housing situation and needs of recent immigrant households by placing the unique experiences of recent immigrant women at the centre of the study. It will begin with a review of the existing literature on immigration and housing, with a particular focus on the barriers facing newcomers in the rental housing market. Based on data from Statistics Canada, the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), studies conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and interviews with persons with demonstrated knowledge of the barriers facing newcomer women searching for adequate, suitable and affordable housing, this paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that many newcomer women face in their search for and retention of housing in Hamilton and Toronto. It also includes a series of recommendations addressing some of these barriers.

The barriers faced by recent immigrant women in Hamilton and Toronto's rental housing markets

The overall purpose of this paper is to add to the existing body of literature on the housing situation and needs of recent immigrant households by placing the unique experiences of recent immigrant women at the centre of the study. It will begin with a review of the existing literature on immigration and housing, with a particular focus on the barriers facing newcomers in the rental housing market. Based on data from Statistics Canada, the Longitudinal Study of Immigrants to Canada (LSIC), studies conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and interviews with persons with demonstrated knowledge of the barriers facing newcomer women searching for adequate, suitable and affordable housing, this paper aims to provide an overview of the difficulties that many newcomer women face in their search for and retention of housing in Hamilton and Toronto. It also includes a series of recommendations addressing some of these barriers.

Quantitative Analysis of Waiting Length and Waiting Time for Frame Construction Work Activities Using a Queue Model; Focusing on Korean Apartment Construction

The frame construction of an apartment complex that consists of multiple buildings encounters various uncertainties, owing to the complex relationships between units of work. Currently, the period of such a construction is calculated based on the number of floors of the highest building in the complex. This study quantitatively analyzes an apartment frame construction period using a queue model and evaluates the validity of the estimated period. In this regard, a methodology is proposed for analyzing the construction period by applying the concept of a customer and a server. A case study on the duration of an apartment frame construction period is conducted with the Korea Land and Housing Corporation, which has supplied the largest number of apartments in South Korea. It was found that the stable state of a queue system was observed when the rate of server utilization was applied to the basement and above-ground floors. However, a stable state was not reached on the ground floor. This study includes non-working days in its calculation and quantitatively analyzes uncertainty factors during construction. Therefore, the findings can be practically utilized to quantitatively plan the durations of work units in an apartment frame construction.

Quantitative Analysis of Waiting Length and Waiting Time for Frame Construction Work Activities using a Queue Model; Focusing on Korean Apartment Construction

The frame construction of an apartment complex that consists of multiple buildings encounters various uncertainties, owing to the complex relationships among units of work. Currently, the period of such a construction is calculated based on the number of floors of the highest building in the complex. This study quantitatively analyzes an apartment frame construction period using a queue model and evaluates the validity of the estimated period. In this regard, a methodology is proposed for analyzing the construction period by applying the concept of a customer and a server. A case study on the duration of an apartment frame construction is conducted with Korea Land and Housing Corporation, which has supplied the largest number of apartments in South Korea. It was found that the stable state of a queue system was observed when the rate of server utilization was applied to the basement and aboveground floors. However, a stable state was not reached on the ground floor. This study includes non-working days in its calculation and quantitatively analyzes uncertainty factors during construction. Therefore, the findings can be practically utilized to quantitatively plan the durations of work units in an apartment frame construction.

The Essential Internet: Results from a study into household internet use at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation

This paper presents highlights of research conducted into the Internet supported household activities of residents at the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC). The routines of residents in five distinct basic needs activity areas were examined in an effort to identify the role of the Internet in supporting these undertakings. The results indicate that the Internet can be characterized as an essential technical resource that supports the stability of TCHC households by helping to multiply and interconnect the activities that constitute household routines. By providing an explanatory model of the Internet’s role in supporting the stability of TCHC households, this research advances an argument for public intercession in the provisioning of household Internet services to help redress the digital divide in Canada’s most populous city.

An Evaluation of Professional Involvement and Challenges in Housing Development in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria

This study evaluated the extent of professional involvement in housing development in Ekiti State housing corporation, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria with a view to providing information that will promote the importance of professional’s involvement in housing development in the study area.User’s opinion was obtained through the research instrument called questionnaire which was designed to investigate a number of variables that determines the involvement of building professionals and challenges in housing development and planning by the house owners in both the Federal and the State Housing Estates selected in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria. The sample size was taken using krejcie and morgan, (1970) table for determining sample size from a given population. The corresponding value of 281 housing owners amounted (162) sample size. One hundred and sixty (160) questionnaires were retrieving from the randomly selected respondents of the housing estates. Samples were analyzed and processed using descriptive, bivariate and Multivariate Analysis. The result shows that majority of the respondents (44.3%) had 3-bedroom flat in the selected housing and 84.5% of respondents consulted registered surveyor for survey plan. Also, only (61.9%) affirmed that they involved a building professional during the building development. Challenges such as undue delay in signing the survey plan (63.8%), getting competent professionals (58.8%), architectural drawings (70.0%), structural drawings (61.3%) electrical and mechanical drawings (64.4%) from the architect and engineers respectively, accessibility (74.4%) for building materials storage and undue delay due to omo-onile (78.1%) during land development had very low influences on housing development and planning. However, undue delay in signing the final building plans (64.4%) for construction and getting competent artisans and laborers (76.3%) had very high influences on housing development. the result of this study will be useful to establish a policy on the impotence of involving competent professionals in housing development in Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.