Book excerpt: Maintaining a building is expensive: it costs many times more to run a building than to build it, yet maintenance is often accorded a low priority. Building Maintenance covers the technical aspects of maintenance for undergraduate students on built environment courses, particularly building surveying and facilities management. It addresses the major questions regarding maintenance activities and shows that maintenance should be considered seriously at the design stage. Extensive case studies illustrate what can go wrong, how to put matters right and how to get it right first time.