Critical contractual issues of outsourced operation and maintenance service for commercial buildings
International Journal of Service Industry Management
ISSN: 0956-4233
Article publication date: 1 August 2006
Abstract
Purpose
Building operation and maintenance (O&M) service, which embraces a wide range of specialist trades, has been increasingly outsourced through discrete contracts. This paper aims to study the issues critical to outsourced O&M contracts for commercial buildings.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a transaction cost approach to analyse the findings from face‐to‐face interviews with 22 O&M practitioners in Hong Kong.
Findings
The analysis revealed that they practitioners generally had limited understanding about the concepts of contract. Lacking a standard form for O&M contracts, some contracts were formed rather loosely and irregularities in contract conditions are common. Disputes frequently arise from the scope of work although the practitioners considered well defined work scope is paramount to a successful contract.
Research limitations/implications
Besides the need to study how to improve practitioners' knowledge about O&M service contracts, further studies are required to investigate which or which combination of the contract concepts would be suitable for particular types of O&M contracts where their scale and complexity are dependent on the trade of work required to serve the building.
Originality/value
This paper uncovers a number of contractual issues that are critical to the performance of outsourced O&M service for commercial buildings.
Keywords
Citation
Lai, J.H.K., Yik, F.W.H. and Jones, P. (2006), "Critical contractual issues of outsourced operation and maintenance service for commercial buildings", International Journal of Service Industry Management, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 320-343. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564230610680640
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2006, Emerald Group Publishing Limited