PurposeQuality failures in the design and construction process can entail significant delays and costs. Databases of building defects have proven to be useful for drawing conclusions on underlying causes of building defects and for identifying potential improvement actions to reduce the occurrence of building defects.Design/methodology/approachThe database comprising 27,074 cases from a Belgian insurance company was studied, and it was found that moisture problems account for 48% of all building defects, and stability problems 23%. To better analyse the geographical variability, the data were enriched with demographical, geographical and climatological factors of the municipality the concerned buildings were located in. This combined information was used to determine underlying external factors that impact the probability that specific types of building defects occur.FindingsThe analysis of the data shows that external factors do indeed have a statistically significant impact. The factor with the highest impact is the number of walls the building has in common with its neighbours. The most significant climatological factor is the wind speed.Originality/valueA better understanding of the frequency of building defects and factors that contribute to the likelihood are important variables to consider in quality control and prevention.
The lack of systematization in the collection of building defects leads to a wide range of data that is not used to its full potential. Unfortunately, this opportunity is missed since lessons could be drawn from analyzing this data by systematically mapping and investigating building defects. This paper presents the results of a statistical analysis on 27074 cases of building defects provided by a Belgian insurance company, ranging from 1991 up to 2019. This analysis focuses on the types of damage, the occurrence in relation to the construction time and the typology of the claims. Spearman correlation tests, X² tests, and Kruskal-Wallis tests are performed to assess the significance of correlations. Moisture problems constitute 49% of all technical defects, followed by structural issues (19%), and cracking (17%). Within the category of moisture problems, the roof is the dominant location for problems to occur, followed by basements, façades, windows, and rising damp. 50% of the judicial cases were closed after 3 years, whereas cases without lawsuit are typically settled after 1-2 years.
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