Book excerpt: This book focuses on spearheading the integration of maintainability, starting right from the design stage. To enable such integration, improving the knowledge of maintainability and setting maintainability benchmarks are two key issues. These objectives are fulfilled with the development of a comprehensive defect library, a material manual and a maintainability scoring system. These tools serve to define acceptable standards in design and construction practices, thus enhancing long-term maintainability of facilities.Maintainability of Facilities: For Building Professionals aims to improve the standard and quality of design, construction and maintenance practices to produce efficient facilities that require minimum maintenance. The text covers technical issues related to maintainability of major components of a facility, and discusses the implications and selection of materials for high maintainability.The target readers are practitioners and students in architecture, engineering, building, real estate, construction, project management, facilities management, quantity and building surveying.