Minimizing Fluctuation of the Maintenance, Repair, and Rehabilitation Cost Profile of a Building

Preventive and regular maintenance, repair, and rehabilitation (MR&R) is necessary for a building to function satisfactorily throughout its lifecycle. A relatively constant MR&R budget is generally allocated to a building each year. However, because the components used in a building have different life expectancies, annual MR&R cost profiles may fluctuate quite strongly over time. Accordingly, if MR&R for several components comes due in the same budget period, the pre-allocated MR&R budget may not be sufficient to cover all necessary MR&R. In these cases, MR&R for some components would be postponed. This failure to conduct MR&R in a timely manner may adversely affect long-term performance of the building. To address this concern, this paper introduces a model that can minimize the fluctuation of the MR&R cost profile by adjusting the timing of some MR&R activities to earlier points than the initial MR&R schedule. Applying the newly developed model to a case study confirmed its applicability and effectiveness in stabilizing the MR&R cost profile. This paper makes a theoretical contribution to developing an optimization model that can minimize the fluctuation of the cost profile over time. It is of value to practitioners by providing an effective tool to establish a more reliable and executable MR&R schedule, thereby preventing MR&R activities from being postponed and increasing the life expectancy of a building. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.