Facility condition is the state of a building expressed so that it can be compared with last year, with the building next door, and with the money available. The arithmetic is simple and the honesty is not: the condition figure everybody quotes is the deferred maintenance backlog divided by the replacement value of the building, and both of those numbers are estimates produced by the people who want the budget. This page sets out how the figure is built, what an assessment records to support it, and what the number cannot be used for.
Reading facility condition as a number
Total the work that is already due and has not been done, which is the deferred backlog, and divide it by what it would cost to replace the building. A small fraction says the building is being kept up; a large one says the backlog has become the building's real condition. The figure's value is not its absolute level, which depends entirely on how the backlog was counted, but its DIRECTION over several years measured the same way. A site that recounts its backlog with a new method each year has a number and no series, which is the usual reason the figure persuades nobody.
A facility condition assessment template, and the four systems on it
An assessment is the backlog broken down by building system so the total can be argued with. Four groups cover most buildings: the envelope, meaning roof, walls, glazing and doors; the mechanical and electrical plant, meaning heating, cooling, ventilation, distribution and generation; the water and drainage systems; and the interior, meaning floors, finishes, fittings and the fabric occupants touch. Each line carries what is wrong, what it costs to put right, and the year by which it should be done. The subtotals are what make the assessment useful, because a single figure gives a budget holder nothing to prioritize.
Where the numbers come from, and where they are invented
The honest part of a condition figure is the work orders: jobs raised, priced and not done are backlog with evidence. The invented part is everything found by walking round and estimated, and the replacement value, which is usually a rate per square foot applied to an area. Neither is wrong, and both should be labeled, because an assessment that presents the two at the same confidence is the reason finance discounts the whole document. Record the source against each line the way this site records the source of an interval.
Facility assessment software, and what it does not decide
Products in this category hold the asset list, the condition grade, the estimated cost and the year, and total them by system. What they do not decide is the grade or the cost, which are judgements made by whoever walked the building, and no product improves a judgement made in a hurry. The useful test of one is whether last year's assessment is still readable beside this year's: a condition series is the only output that changes a budget, and a product that overwrites the previous grade destroys the one thing worth having.
What facility audits and the condition figure cannot tell you
Which asset will fail next, because condition is an aggregate and failure is particular. Whether the schedule is right, which is answered by findings between preventive visits rather than by a grade. And whether the money is being spent well, because a falling backlog bought by deferring everything else is a better number and a worse building. The figure is a budget instrument. The maintenance record underneath it is what says whether the building is being looked after, which is the part this site holds.
Questions people ask about facility condition
Is facility condition the same as the deferred maintenance backlog?
The backlog is the numerator. Condition is the backlog set against the replacement value, so a large backlog on an enormous estate can read better than a small one on a single building.
How often should a condition assessment be done?
Often enough to give a series, which in practice means the same method every one to three years. An assessment done once is a snapshot nobody can argue from.
Who should carry out the assessment?
Somebody who can price the work, which is usually a mix of the in-house team for what they already know and a surveyor for the envelope and the plant. The team's own work-order history should be the starting point, not a fresh walk.
Does a small site need any of this?
It needs the backlog counted. The ratio only becomes useful when there is more than one building to compare or more than one year to trend.