STRATEGIES FOR THE COST-EFFECTIVE TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT OF HOUSING STOCKS

misbe2011 Tracking Number 192

By focusing on the existing residential buildings, the technical management of the housing stock has become the most important duty of the technical departments in German housing companies. As a research field, the existing residential buildings are underestimated so far. There are no scientific studies that use the experience of activities (e.g. repair, maintenance, alternations, additions) on existing residential buildings and their influence factors for the rational, costeffective and systematic selection of future activities. That’s why the objective of the study is to provide strategies for the cost-effective technical management of the housing stock. This research is based on the empirical study of 2939 activities carried out from 2003 to 2007 on a typical housing stock in western Germany. The housing stock includes 2164 dwellings with a total living space of 152.755m2. The apartments are located in 251 multi-family houses of different ages in large cities in western Germany. The housing stock is managed by a strategically attractive housing company, which has adapted her business to changing market conditions through diversification. Using the methods of descriptive statistics, costs and cost key values of the activities are presented in accordance with the management concepts renting, privatization or condominium. The cost key values are calculated separately for the dwelling areas (units) and common areas of the housing stock. The largest costs and cost key values occur when the management concept privatization is applied. In the common areas, the cost key values of the investigated activities are e.g. 8.7 times higher when applying the management concept privatization then renting. The cost key values of the management concept condominium are 15 times less than the cost key values of the management concept renting. When comparing the calculated cost key values with appropriate literature values of other German housing companies, the calculated cost key values are well above the benchmark. Overall, the studied housing company is investing twice as much in its housing stock as the comparison companies on average. The high level of investment is mainly due to the management concept privatization. This raises the question of which activities must be carried out on the existing housing stock and which not? With the implementation of the activities the duties of the technical management of the housing stock will be met. The duties of the technical management are divided into the maintenance and adaptation requirements. Cost reduction potentials have those activities that go beyond the responsibilities of technical management. In compliance with the obligations of the technical management, based on the causes of the activities, strategic recommendations are derived to reduce costs. The benefits of the strategic recommendations will be evaluated with the identification of potential cost savings. The cost reduction potentials are different for dwelling and common areas of the studied housing stock. The investigation shows the cost reduction focus on the common areas. 40 % of the cost in the common areas of housing stock can be saved from a technical point of view. Looking for management concepts, in the management concepts renting and privatization arise similar costs savings of 40 % while in the management concept condominium reveals no cost savings. The identified potential cost reductions are the final opportunity to derive a concept for the rational selection of activities on the housing stock. The general omission of the not technically necessary activities is deemed critical for the long-term user-oriented operation. It is proposed that the not technically necessary activities are evaluated by using a multi-criteria decision making model (AHP and cost-effectiveness analysis). With the help of the model, the activities with the best cost-benefit ratios are proposed for implementation.