March 5, 2003—A project funded by the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry DTI and other industry sources aims to get better value for the money and improved customer satisfaction from coatings used for building renovations and upgrades.
This study, led by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), highlights existing best practices in order to improve specifications for correct preparation and product selection, improve monitoring and quality control, and develop performance quality schemes to provide clients with approved products and suppliers.
The project is looking particularly at planned maintenance painting, which accounts for a large part of housing stock owners’ budgets, and at the importance of efficiently partnering with contractors and coatings manufacturers to get better value for the money.
The growth in partnering initiatives has been a key development in planned maintenance. Almost three quarters of contractors questioned in the study said that partnering has raised the standards and quality of work. Typically, partnering has developed from relationships between contractors and Local Authorities and Housing Associations, which have matured over years of mutual understanding and experience.
Critical Success Factors identified by the project for planned maintenance painting are: Training (painter’s skill level), Performance (quality of the painting job, workmanship, surface preparation, repair) and Satisfaction (client and tenant). These issues can be measured by surveys, site inspections, and the monitoring of housing stock.
Information from the project, which started in October 2001, is now being collated to produce a best practice guidance package to assist users in achieving better value for their money and improved satisfaction from their routine refurbishment projects.
For more information, contact Wendy Thorpe at 01923 664155.
