Lessons Learned from Information Sources on Building Defect Studies

Building defects are very prevalent and contribute significantly to a building’s economic value. There are numerous information sources on building defects that have significant potential for learning more about building defects. This study aimed to identify the information sources used in previous building defect studies and to identify the motivation for carrying out such studies. To fulfil this aim, a scoping study was carried out. The information sources identified included insurance companies, private databases, questionnaire surveys, lawsuits, building surveys, client complaint forms, and maintenance reports. This study found that insurance company and client complaint forms include the largest collection of real building defect cases, but such databases may lack detailed descriptions of the causes of the defects. The main purposes of the building defects studies identified here included design challenges, identification of defects, building maintenance management, quality management, systematization in data collection, providing an overview of typical defects, and classifying defects. Identification was found to be the most common purpose, indicating that the industry wants to learn more. This study identified research gaps in the climate perspective in relation to building defects. Most of the studies focused on the economical perspective, and none focused on the carbon footprint perspective. This study provides an overview of information sources, which can motivate stakeholders to collaborate in learning about the physical causes of building defects as well as about other key aspects such as fault, finances consequences, and procedural causes.