An Investigation of Building Maintenance Culture in Selected Residential Neighbourhoods in Ilesa, Osun State, Nigeria

Abstract

The rapid pace of urbanization experienced in most Nigerian cities has contributed immensely to the quantitative and qualitative problem of housing. Most residential units either public or private are characterized by a poor state of maintenance and a major part needing various degrees of repairs. Two specific residential neighbourhoods in Ilesa were selected for the study, 455 questionnaires were successfully administered and analysed with descriptive analysis. The study was able to establish that maintenance culture was lacking among the residents, (20.2%) of the respondents adopts preventive building maintenance while the others performed corrective maintenance after the building has reached a state of failure. The maintenance of building was done majorly by homeowners (73.2%) and the tenants (20.7%), although the frequency of maintenance is poor. The study recommends that government should review its housing maintenance policy to ensure effective housing maintenance.

Keywords: Residential building, maintenance, culture, infrastructure