Volume 1 – The $250,000 Faucet Hose
THE PROBLEM - NOT OBSERVABLE BY A VISUAL INSPECTION
The kitchen and bathroom faucet supply lines were failing. Each time they failed, this caused $19,000 to $33,000 in damages per occurrence in this new building. The damage typically impacted 10 units. The damage spanned 4 to 10 floors per occurrence.
The problem was the caused by the faucet supply hoses which failed. The hoses did not have factory installed ends and the hoses “popped” out of the ends causing a flood (see Figures 3 and 4). While people are at work, this quickly floods down 4 floors.
SINK SUPPLY HOSE 101
A supply hose connects the faucet to the wall valve under the sink (see Figure 1). There are 2 types of hoses. Hoses with factory made ends and those without factory ends using compression ends. (see Figure 2). Compression ends are not always problematic, but in this building they were failing.
HOW WAS THE PROBLEM DISCOVERED?
The Work Order Review showed 1 work order every 8 days associated with the Plumbing Fixtures. In addition, the issue occurred 19 more times for this site than for the average site. Further review of each line item in the Plumbing Fixtures category showed that the issue typically involves failure of the faucet supply line under the sink.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND SAVINGS
The issue caused excessive maintenance labor costs, tenant displacement, sheetrock, painting and repair costs with an average cost of over $19,000 per occurrence.
Based upon the extent of the damage, costs per occurrence; We recommended budgeting to replace all sink supply hoses to the type with premanufactured ends that cannot easily pop out.
|
|
Each failure caused $19,000 to $33,000 in damages per occurrence. |
|
| Average cost per failure: | $26,321 |
| Project Failures over 5 Years based on History of Failures (2/year) | 10 (cloud easily be double) |
| 5-Year Cost if not corrected | $260,321 |
| Cost to repair (per apartment) | $20 |
| Cost to repair (all apartment) | $9,700 |
| (5-Year costs) – (Cost to repair) = | SAVINGS |
| ( $260,321 ) – ( $9.700 ) = | $250,621 |
$$$ PROTECTED
THE RESULTS
A simple review of the work orders yielded a quarter million dollars in savings. The problem was not observable by walking the site; therefore, a normal due diligence team would miss it.
For an investment of less than $10,000, $250,621 in repairs can be avoided.
29
FLOORS
$250k
$$$ PROTECTED
3508
WORK ORDERS
435
UNITS
Imagine turning on a small water hose in your kitchen when you leave for work. This is essentially the same.
Jody Massey
Figure 1
What is a Supply Hose
Figure 2
Hose Types
Figure 3
Actual Photo from Site
Figure 4
Floods occur when the Hose pops out
Figure 5
Flooded Kitchen
Figure 6
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