Building Technology, Maintenance and Defect Management
What the exam tests
Building technology questions test whether you can read a building as a system: structure, envelope, roofs, waterproofing, drainage, electrical, plumbing, lifts, HVAC, fire protection, and access. You must distinguish a defect from a maintenance backlog, identify the cause, specify the right investigation, and close out the work with evidence.
Core concepts
- Planned preventive maintenance is scheduled by asset, frequency, and statutory requirement; reactive maintenance is demand-led.
- Defects: patent defects are apparent on inspection; latent defects are hidden. The defect liability period under a sale and purchase contract is not a substitute for contractual maintenance obligations.
- Diagnose before you repair. Water ingress may come from a failed joint, blocked drainage, raised external level, or condensation, not from the wall finish.
- Use condition surveys, asset registers, work orders, permits to work, and handover tests. Record photographs, moisture readings, and warranties.
- Statutory inspections: lifts, fire systems, pressure vessels, and electrical installations must be inspected by competent persons.
Worked example
A basement car park shows damp patches at wall joints after rain. The contractor proposes repainting with waterproof paint. The manager should reject that as a symptom fix. Check the external drainage, joint seals, and construction joints; commission a water test; inspect the sump pumps. Repainting traps moisture and fails again. The correct work order records the investigation, the root cause, the repair method, and a post-repair observation period.
Traps
Accepting a contractor's diagnosis; closing a work order without a completion report; missing the defect liability notice deadline; confusing wear and tear with a defect; ignoring statutory inspection certificates.