SEDL / STP / STP691-EB / STP36049S

The Owner/Tenants Interest in Unifying Durability Data

Van Court, DP
Senior engineer, Western Electric Co., Inc., New York, N.Y.

Pages: 6    Published: Jan 1980

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Abstract

This paper classifies Owner/Tenants as a sub-category of the performance concept's “User” and gives some of the characteristics of the types of buildings involved. The attractiveness of the performance concept to the Owner/Tenant is reduced by the scarcity of numerical data for decision making. The information format suggested, unified durability data, would allow comparative evaluation of unlike but functionally competitive materials or components. This would facilitate designing for either the most building within a rigid budget or the least costly building fully adequate for a specialized program. However, for durability data to be of value to the Owner/Tenant, the present compartmentalization of the building industry by product groups must be overcome. Additionally, the practice of obtaining the durability data only on an “as built” basis must be revised to give proper consideration to the benefits of corrective or preventive maintenance.