What Is a Building Condition Score & Why Do You Need One?

Knowing your building condition score is an essential step for effective facilities management. The score provides a snapshot of the overall health and performance of your facilities and the expected total cost of ownership. In addition, it is a comparable term for the facility condition assessment or facility condition index. However, this score is commonly associated with a range, such excellent condition for new assets or fair condition for assets requiring replacement in the coming months. Facility Managers need to understand the usefulness of a building condition score and its impact on the financial health of the building and its assets.

The Problems Associated With a Poor Building Condition Score

A poor building condition score means the current health and performance of facilities is close to, if not higher than, the total cost to replace all facilities assets. In other words, assets are on the brink of failure, and deferred maintenance practices have led to problems that would require replacement or a complete overhaul, says FacilitiesNet. A simple repair is not enough to correct a poor building condition score.

Poor scores are associated with a decrease in customer experience and satisfaction, limited ability to maintain control over capital planning and extended total cost of ownership. Any asset group, such as lighting or the HVAC system, can bring down the overall score of your facilities. As a result, poorly performing facilities may have a steep price to pay for a replacement. However, tracking the building condition score in real-time helps companies decide if maintaining existing assets is worth the investment.

Building Condition Scores Provide a Snapshot of Your Buildings’ Performance

The scope of building performance found within building condition scores considers all systems and factors affecting the total cost of ownership. The score is determined by considering the total repair cost of existing assets and dividing it by the total cost of replacement for all assets. Facilities Managers can determine the score for individual asset groups, as well as the entire facility. When the score is used for a specific set of assets, it is most often referred to as the facility asset condition index. This is a subset of the facility condition index. When an asset group’s ration increases closer to one for each group, it becomes more evident that an entire asset group will need replacement, not just repair.

Benefits of Knowing Your Building Condition Score

Without a facility condition assessment, it is next to impossible to budget for maintenance and plan for expansion of facilities. Determining an FCI begins with a facility condition assessment, considering the individual asset’s condition and its cost to repair or replace it.

The benefit of knowing the building condition score for the whole facility and individual assets is obvious: items with scores closer to one need faster replacement than others, notes Facility Executive. However, those with low-performance scores mean proactive maintenance practices and current operations are optimal. Of course, any asset with a lower value in the score that is newer will naturally indicate the asset is newer in relation to other assets. As a result, any assets with a lower score benefit the most from the implementation of proactive maintenance strategies. Meanwhile, those with higher scores need replacement, requiring greater investment costs for such replacement.

Get Started With Your Assessment to Determine Your Building Condition Score Now

Facilities Managers need a way to judge the current costs of repair versus replacement for their assets. Knowing your building condition score forms the basis for creating an asset management playbook to make these decisions, and it helps your team members prioritize maintenance needs. Learn more about how a building condition score can add value to your facilities management department by contacting Entouch online today.