The Sociology of Housing Market Intermediaries

The housing market is replete with intermediaries—individuals whose work constructs, maintains, or expands a market. A sociology of housing requires analytic attention to these myriad housing market intermediaries since they affect whether and under what conditions individuals and households can access and maintain access to housing as well as help determine the affordability and quality of that housing. In this chapter we aim to show the utility of intermediaries as a wide category of analysis, particularly for understanding how housing inequality interacts with other forms of social stratification across axes such as gender, class, and race and ethnicity. We summarize recent research and unpack how the work of public and private-sector intermediaries—such as housing developers, building inspectors, real estate agents, mortgage lenders, appraisers, landlords, housing authority case workers, mobile home park operators, and property managers—leads to more or less stratification in the housing market.

Collapse of public buildings, stability checks and the roles of facility managers in Ghana

PurposeThe study investigated the perceived causes of structural failure of public buildings, frequency of stability checks, stability checking procedures, measures to enhance public building stability checks and the roles of facility managers in the Accra Metropolis of Ghana.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a comprehensive literature review, the study employed a structured questionnaire survey and gathered the opinions of sixty-seven facility managers on the facility management practices. Following statistical pretesting of the dataset for reliability, distribution and agreement among the responses, the study analysed the dataset using mean scoring and weighted analysis.FindingsThe analysis showed that external building inspectors rarely inspect stability checks of the studied public buildings in Accra. It is also found that both reactive and proactive stability checking protocols are implemented in public buildings in Accra, but inadequate knowledge of facility managers limits technical stability checks. The study further revealed that stability checks of public buildings can be enhanced through incorporating site and location conditions into the design early upfront, active engagement of facility managers in the design and construction of public buildings, adequate budgetary provisioning for planned maintenance of public buildings, and encouraging appropriate use of public buildings.Originality/valueThis paper, to the best of the authors' knowledge, represents the first attempt to comprehensively examine the causes of structural failure of public buildings, frequency of stability checks, stability checking procedures, measures to enhance public building stability checks and the roles of facility managers in Ghana, from the perspective facility management.

Factors Associated with Structure Loss in the 2013–2018 California Wildfires

Tens of thousands of structures and hundreds of human lives have been lost in recent fire events throughout California. Given the potential for these types of wildfires to continue, the need to understand why and how structures are being destroyed has taken on a new level of urgency. We compiled and analyzed an extensive dataset of building inspectors’ reports documenting homeowner mitigation practices for more than 40,000 wildfire-exposed structures from 2013–2018. Comparing homes that survived fires to homes that were destroyed, we investigated the role of defensible space distance, defensive actions, and building structural characteristics, statewide and parsed into three broad regions. Overall, structural characteristics explained more of a difference between survived and destroyed structures than defensible space distance. The most consistently important structural characteristics—having enclosed eaves, vent screens, and multi-pane windows—were those that potentially prevented wind-born ember penetration into structures, although multi-pane windows are also known to protect against radiant heat. In the North-Interior part of the state, active firefighting was the most important reason for structure survival. Overall, the deviance explained for any given variable was relatively low, suggesting that other factors need to be accounted for to understand the full spectrum of structure loss contributors. Furthermore, while destroyed homes were preferentially included in the study, many “fire-safe” structures, having > 30 m defensible space or fire-resistant building materials, were destroyed. Thus, while mitigation may play an important role in structure survival, additional strategies should be considered to reduce future structure loss.

BIM MIXED REALITY TOOL FOR THE INSPECTION OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Historical and cultural building conservation is often limited to high value buildings and only receives financial support when serious issues arise. Modern technologies are able to support and encourage a preventive approach, diminishing costs and avoiding possibly irreparable damage. One way of doing so is by improving the work-flow of building inspectors during their inspection r outines. In that regard, mixed reality presents itself as an attractive framework for easing maintenance tasks. This paper describes our current implementation of such a solution, levering the spatial capabilities of Microsoft’s HoloLens glasses. </p>

Going Easy and Going After: Building Inspections and the Selective Allocation of Code Violations

Sociologists have demonstrated how public and private actors reproduce economic and racial inequality, by protecting the values of lucrative real estate, enforcing the tastes of elite and middle–class populations, and unfavorably sorting low–income and minority residents. Building inspections and code violations affect each of these processes. Yet, we know remarkably little about how decisions about building code violations are made. Drawing on fieldwork with building inspectors and statistical analysis of data on building violations in Chicago, I find that building inspectors allocate code violations in surprising ways: They go easy on low– and moderate–income property owners and go after professional landlords and wealthy homeowners. I join others in urging sociologists to look beyond assumptions about the unified logic of the growth machine and fully unpack the relationship—in terms of potential and parameters—between frontline agents of the state and inequality.

Key stakeholders’ perspectives towards UK new-build housing defects

Purpose Research on housing defects has limited its enquiry to the classifications of defects, potential impact of defects, and their detection and remediation during construction and the builder’s liability period, without considering the warranty period. The purpose of this paper is to better understand which impacts of defects are perceived as important by the key stakeholders involved in their detection and remediation over the construction, builder’s liability and insurer’s warranty periods. Design/methodology/approach The questionnaire survey approach was used. The questionnaire distribution list was drawn from the UK’s largest warranty provider (WP) and approved inspector’s records. The questionnaire was distributed to 2003 people, receiving 292 responses, a response rate of 15 per cent. Findings This research challenges the assertion that the house building industry (i.e. house builders (HBs), building inspectors and WPs) is predominantly cost focussed and finds that the potential impact of defects on home occupants (HOs) are their primary concern. In contrast, the HOs’ appear solely focussed on the disruption defects caused on their daily lives and perceive a lack customer focus in the house building industry. Originality/value This study provides empirical evidence of the contrasting view of the house building industry and HOs with respect to the prioritisation of the impacts of defects. Further, this research offers HBs an alternative approach to determine which defects should be targeted for reduction purposes which may lead to improved levels of customer satisfaction.

BUILDING CONTROL AND REGULATORY BALANCE: PERSPECTIVES OF BUILDING PROFESSIONALS

The New Zealand government proposed a new control regime to streamline the process of building approval by introducing risk-based inspections for certain types of building works. With this regulatory balance could be proportioned to stakeholders involved in the building process. A review of the Building Act in 2010 had indicated that a more balanced approach to building control is required to more appropriately allocate responsibility, accountability and liability between construction stakeholders. A larger study on which the current study is based, evaluates stakeholders perception of the newly introduced risk-based building inspection scheme and on regulatory balance issues. Building inspectors expressed concern in the shift in balance, as current regulatory inspections had a high proportion rate of failures involving competent building practitioners. However the scheme provides building regulators a tool to accelerate building processes without compromising cost and quality.

Post-earthquake building safety evaluation procedures

The primary aim of this document is to provide Territorial Authorities with an outline response plan so that safety evaluations of damaged buildings can be activated efficiently and effectively following a major earthquake (or any other disaster which affects buildings). Services such as drainage, water supply and roading are not included within the scope of this document. Territorial Authorities have the responsibility for providing the planning framework, within which a range of professional groups can operate. These include structural and civil engineers, building inspectors, and loss adjusters. It is intended that these Building Safety Evaluation Procedures will be adopted by all New Zealand Territorial Authorities to avoid the need for each to formulate their own. National acceptance of these procedures will also mean that only one set of forms, placards, information management systems, training resources etc. need be prepared. A common standard also makes the use of external inspection resources more practicable. This document confines its scope to Territorial Authority planning for building damage assessment during the emergency phase of a disaster. Further plans for activities arising in the restoration phase are also required. They include: definition of structural standards for the repair of damaged buildings streamlined procedures for building consents streamlined procedures for resource consents, including debris disposal and land use transfer of information to insurance firms

The Organizational Imperative and Supervisory Control: Their Effects on Managerial Ethics

Tom Reynolds is in charge of a group of building inspectors. Generally, his policy is to allow the inspectors to make their own decisions as to whether a building violates local codes, a policy they strongly support. Two inspectors have reported to Tom that they have found a number of slum buildings in their jurisdiction to be in serious violation of the law. This afternoon, Tom has been informed by an aide to the Mayor that the buildings are owned by one of the Mayor's strongest supporters in the last election. The Mayor's office views the owner's support as critical in the coming election. However, the owner has threatened to withdraw his support if his buildings are found to be in violation. It is suggested to Tom that he knows what to tell his inspectors. Tom is wondering what to do and has decided to approach his supervisor.