Housing company maintenance costs: what you pay for and what you get
In this article
Property maintenance is a significant expense for a housing company, and the maintenance contract often rolls on from year to year without much scrutiny. Even so, the board should know what maintenance costs are made of and why they rise, and should judge the quality of the service rather than just the monthly price.
What maintenance costs are made of
Some maintenance costs are regular contracted services, others are unexpected repairs. Depending on the contract, they can include:
- general property maintenance and an on-call service for faults
- care of outdoor areas, snow clearance and gritting
- inspections of technical spaces
- servicing of ventilation, plumbing and heating, and electrical systems
- lighting maintenance and adjustment of doors and locks
- minor building repairs
- separately invoiced extra work, materials and subcontracting.
This is why the maintenance costs of two housing companies of the same size are not directly comparable unless you know what the service includes. A low monthly price can be misleading if much of the work is invoiced separately. The board should look at the whole picture: the base fee, separate invoicing, on-call charges, materials and subcontracting.
Why costs rise
A building wears with use. Technical systems age and the need for maintenance grows over the years, but this can be anticipated with a long-term maintenance plan.
A less obvious cause is the recurring fault. A leak, a ventilation problem, a dip in the yard or a faulty lock keeps coming back if only the symptom is fixed. Another cause is a lack of anticipation: when inspections are too infrequent, a small defect has time to grow into a major repair. Minor roof damage is quick to fix, but if it goes unnoticed it can spread into the structures. Recurring costs and costs that grow unnoticed are covered in more detail in the article on housing company costs.
Responsibilities of the board and the property manager
Under chapter 7, section 2 of the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act (asunto-osakeyhtiölaki, 1599/2009), the board is responsible for the company’s administration and for the proper organisation of the property’s upkeep. If the company has a property manager, they take care of the upkeep of the property and day-to-day administration in accordance with the board’s instructions (chapter 7, section 17). In practice, the property manager often orders maintenance work, manages contracts and handles invoices.
The board is not the maintenance company’s site supervisor. But when maintenance is a major expense, it is reasonable for the board to know which contract the service is bought under, what it includes and how its performance is monitored. The law does not require the maintenance company to be put out to tender at set intervals, but a diligent board regularly assesses whether the contract still meets the company’s needs. Tendering the maintenance contract is covered in the article on the housing company’s maintenance company.
Staying on budget says nothing about quality
The financial statements may show that maintenance costs stayed within budget. That does not necessarily mean the building has been well maintained. The monthly price can be competitive while deviations in technical spaces go unreported, a drainage problem in the yard goes unnoticed for years and small leaks are fixed one by one without anyone looking for the cause.
Maintenance staff move around the property regularly and see the technical spaces, the yard and the stairwells. The value of maintenance comes not only from closed fault reports but from spotting an emerging problem in time. If the same light fitting keeps failing, good upkeep means that changing the bulb also raises the question of why it keeps happening.
Five questions about the maintenance contract
- What does the monthly price include? The contract should state clearly what is covered by the base fee.
- What is invoiced separately? Costs rise if much of the practical work counts as extra work.
- What does maintenance inspect on its own initiative? Responding to fault reports and proactive property care are two different things.
- How do observations reach the board? If the caretaker notices a recurring problem, who is told, and in what form?
- What did maintenance achieve last year? This question helps you judge whether the service you buy meets the building’s needs.
Practical recommendations
The following are practical recommendations, not legal requirements.
Compare more than price when looking at quotes. Look at what is done, how often, and how the work and any observations are reported. The cheapest quote is not automatically the worst, nor is the most expensive the best.
Make maintenance work visible. Information easily stays buried in a work order system, in emails or in individual people’s memories. Ask for a short, regular summary for the board covering recurring fault reports, significant technical observations and recommended follow-up. One concrete observation, such as “moisture around the basement floor drain three times in two months”, is worth more than a long list of closed work orders.
Track building components, not just invoices. The total of the invoices tells you about the past. When the maintenance company reports its work by building component, you can see which parts of the building generate the most service requests and whether the same problems keep recurring. Checking invoices is worth linking to the same monitoring.
Record the maintenance history. Information is easily lost when the board or the maintenance company changes. Defects found, repairs made and recurring problems belong in the maintenance log (huoltokirja).
Put costs in proportion to the building. An old building, a large yard or complex building services increase the need for maintenance. Simply comparing euro amounts with the housing company next door is easily misleading.
Distinguish reacting from anticipating. The reactive chain runs from fault to report, repair and invoice. The proactive chain starts with an observation and ends with action taken before any damage occurs. Both are needed, but if nearly all costs come from reacting, some of the problems could probably have been identified earlier.
Signs that maintenance deserves a closer look
- The same fault reports come up year after year.
- The board does not know what the maintenance contract includes.
- Costs are rising and nobody can explain why.
- There is a lot of separate invoicing.
- Maintenance provides no regular information on the condition of the building.
- Problems only come to light when residents report them.
Frequently asked questions
How do you know whether maintenance costs are too high?
Comparing euro amounts is not enough. Costs have to be weighed against what the service includes, the size and age of the building, its building services and the actual need for maintenance.
Does the maintenance company have to be put out to tender regularly?
The Limited Liability Housing Companies Act does not set a tendering interval. However, the board must act diligently in the company’s interest, so the content and performance of the contract should be assessed regularly.
Is a building walk-through part of the maintenance contract?
Not automatically; it depends on the contract. The building walk-through is covered in more detail in its own article.
Sources
This article provides general information and does not replace case-specific legal or technical advice.
