Abstract
Construction-related factory buildings degrade slowly over time for various reasons, such as
unattended damage, neglected defects, and natural causes. All these listed reasons are because
maintenance has been overlooked. Many factories respond to the need for maintenance only
when there is damage reported rather than preventing defect and damage. As a result, the
maintenance routine is required to prevent the degradation of the buildings to ensure that the
construction-related factory buildings remain functional and compliant according to occupational
health and safety standards. It is critical to manage financial resources wisely so that
maintenance procedures may be implemented before major damage occurs. The ideal approach
to execute maintenance is through a regular plan, whether it is daily, weekly, monthly, or
yearly. This will ensure a systematic procedure to enable all maintenance personnel to execute
their duties properly. Therefore, this study assessed the maintenance of construction-related
factory buildings in Gauteng province, South Africa. To appraise the study, a review of extant
literature was conducted. The study adopted a quantitative technique. Primary data were gathered
using survey questionnaires issued to the targeted respondents who are construction professionals.
Only one hundred and thirty-three (133) of the one hundred and eighty (180) questionnaires
issued were returned and validated as genuine for the study. The obtained data accounted
for 73% of the overall response rate. Data from the study was evaluated using descriptive
statistics and exploratory factor analysis. The findings revealed the challenges faced in the
maintenance of construction-related factory buildings, such as lack of maintenance practice,
lack of resources, building design, building construction challenges and poor maintenance
budgeting. These were the most selected challenges revealing a strong statistical relationship
which implies a strong connection. The study also indicated the preferred maintenance approach
to be used for the maintenance of construction-related factory buildings. In predicting
the most often utilised maintenance strategy, four of the nine maintenance approaches revealed
a statistically significant connection. Preventive maintenance, corrective maintenance, predictive
maintenance and total quality maintenance were among the strategies used. Further, the
study highlighted the drivers for maintenance of construction-related buildings which revealed
that five out of twelve variables had a statistically important relationship. These variables included:
factory building value, job security, cost reduction, sustainability and, competition, all
of which were recommended as significant drivers for maintenance. Therefore, the ways to
mitigate the challenges faced in the maintenance of construction-related factory buildings findings
revealed that appointing qualified and experienced maintenance contractors, spare parts
inventory management, open communication and support system, facilitation of workshops
and/or seminars for revised policies and procedure, and adequate maintenance budget were the
main recommended ways to mitigate the challenges faced in the maintenance of constructionrelated
factory buildings. Finally, maintenance is the key to keeping the building serving at its
full potential, and it requires unequivocal support from management through proper planning,
training, and adequate budgeting. Therefore, the study recommended the practice and use of
outsourced maintenance tasks from the qualified or specialised contractors, and the involvement
of provincial or local government for investment purposes and security.