Some legal and organisational aspects: buildings

When designing for a client who builds with the intention of owning or occupying the facility throughout its working life, total through-life costs should be taken into account when choosing products, and the specifier is faced with three possibilities: information is available for a clear and informed choice to be made between cheap short-life products or more expensive, more durable ones, allowing the designer to choose how many times the items will need to be replaced in the building's working life; for some products the available norm will have well-known maximum life and the designer must provide for expected routine maintenance or replacement; Many proprietary products are sold with little data on long-term performance, and the designer must select with prudence, bearing in mind the mixed record of success which novel proprietary products have had in construction. This article discusses working life, durability, defects insurance, and other aspects of the subject.