Monthly Building Maintenance Checklist: A Walk-Round for Committees and Caretakers

In a fourteen-storey RUAP building, six flats share every floor, so 84 households depend on one set of pumps, lifts, stairs and drains. This checklist is written for that kind of building but suits any apartment block with shared services. Longer-term planning, such as the asset register, annual work and contracts, is covered in how to plan a preventive maintenance schedule.

Why a monthly round matters: the warning signs it catches

Most breakdowns in shared services give warning weeks ahead, but nobody looks at the pump room or the roof until something stops. Early signs include:

• A pump that runs longer than usual, cycles rapidly or grinds; one pump maker's manual treats grinding, arcing and excessive vibration as needing immediate service.^[7]
• Water on the pump-room floor, dripping valves, or rust under pipework.
• A lift that stops above or below the landing, or doors that hesitate or slam.
• A generator with low fuel, fresh oil or coolant stains, or a warning on its panel.
• Missing or discharged extinguishers, dark exit signs, and stairs used as storage.
• Leaves, plastic and silt at roof outlets and compound drains, especially around the monsoon.

Caught early, each of these is cheap to fix. Left alone, it becomes a burnt-out pump, a stalled lift or a generator that fails during load-shedding.

Who does what: caretaker, committee and contractor

The round is observation only: no opening panels, adjusting lift or generator controls, or entering confined spaces. UK guidance for blocks of flats draws the same line: trained in-house staff can do simple checks, but most testing and servicing of fire safety systems needs competent contractors.^[4] For lifts, the UK safety regulator allows trained in-house inspections between formal examinations, while the thorough examination is for an independent, competent person.^[1]

For how committees share these duties and answer to residents, see our older page on running a building committee.

Tools and records you need

• The checklist on paper or a phone, one line per item with space for notes.
• A torch, and a phone camera to photograph each fault with its date and place.
• Phone numbers for the lift, generator, fire-equipment and pump contractors, the electrician and the plumber.
• Keys to the pump room, generator room, roof door and tank covers.
• The contractors' service sheets or logbooks, and a notice board for residents.

Step by step: the monthly walk-round

Use the same route every month so nothing is skipped and one month can be compared with the next:

1. Pump room and the top of the underground reservoir.
2. Generator room or enclosure.
3. Meter and main switch rooms, from the doorway only.
4. Lift lobby, then a ride in each lift.
5. Stairs, floor by floor: fire equipment, doors and lights.
6. Roof: tank and outlets, well away from the edge.
7. Compound drains and gully pits.
8. Write up the findings and post a summary the same day.

Pumps and water tanks

Stand by a running pump. A booster-set manual from the pump maker Xylem treats rubbing or grinding sounds, arcing and vibration as needing immediate service, and says a pump should not be run with excessive vibration.^[7] Look for drips at seals, pipes and valves, rust and loose fixings, and note any fault the panel shows.^[7] Never let the pumps run with the reservoir empty: starting a pump dry can seriously damage it.^[7]

At the reservoir and rooftop tank, check from outside that covers are closed and locked and that vents and overflows are screened. Cleaning is covered in our water tank maintenance guide; for weak supply on upper floors, see low water pressure in apartment buildings.

Lifts: observe and report

Ride each lift to several floors. Check that it stops level with each landing, that the doors move smoothly and reopen when obstructed, and that the light, fan and alarm work; agree the alarm test with the contractor first. UK guidance gives checks like these, including that landing doors cannot be opened from the landing side, as inspections a trained person can do.^[1] Never open a landing door yourself.

Then read the service record. In the UK, lifts that carry people need a thorough examination at least every six months by a competent person who is independent of the maintenance firm.^[1] Ask your contractor what the lift's maker and local rules require, and insist that every visit is written down.

Generator

Check the fuel, look for fresh oil, fuel or coolant under the set, and note panel warnings and running hours. Generac's manual for its stationary diesel sets describes an automatic weekly exercise of about 12 minutes without transferring the load, and makes the owner responsible for routine checks of fluids, hoses and the radiator and for periodic inspection by an authorised dealer.^[6] Record whether the exercise is happening; servicing, batteries and the changeover switch are for the contractor.

Extinguishers, alarms and escape routes

On every landing, check that each extinguisher is in place and unblocked, its gauge needle is in the green, its pin and seal are intact, the hose is sound and the service label is in date. Carbon dioxide (CO2) extinguishers have no gauge, so check the seal and label. US workplace rules require a monthly visual inspection and an annual maintenance check,^[5] and UK guidance for flats has trained specialists maintain extinguishers every 12 months while others report missing or damaged ones.^[4]

Where emergency lights have a test switch, the same UK guidance recommends a monthly functional test and an annual full-duration test, without leaving escape routes unlit while batteries recharge.^[4] It also suggests a weekly fire alarm test at a call point, servicing every six months, and six-monthly checks that fire main (dry riser) outlets are undamaged and still strapped or padlocked.^[4] Stairs and corridors should be kept free of stored and combustible items.^[4] Fire doors should close fully by themselves; UK rules for buildings over 11 metres require quarterly checks of closers, gaps, seals, hinges and damage.^[3]

UK rules also require monthly checks of firefighting lifts and essential firefighting equipment in residential buildings at least 18 metres or seven storeys high, with the results shown to residents.^[2] That is English law, not Bangladeshi, but it is a useful benchmark; ask your contractor and the Bangladesh Fire Service and Civil Defence what applies to your building.

Drains, roof and standing water

On the roof, clear loose leaves and plastic from outlets if you can do so safely, and note ponding and blocked downpipes for the pre-monsoon roof inspection. Check compound gullies for silt; a blocked main drain or stack is a plumber's job, as our guide to blocked drains explains. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises emptying, scrubbing or covering anything that holds water once a week and tightly covering stored water.^[8] In 2020, during an anti-dengue drive, Bangladesh's local government minister told Dhaka building owners to clear stagnant water from roofs.^[9]

Common lights and electrical rooms

Note dead or flickering lamps in stairs, corridors and the compound. Look into the meter and switch rooms from the doorway: they should be dry, locked and clear, with no burning smell, buzzing or scorch marks. Report anything odd to the electrician; electrical warning signs explains what each sign can mean.

The monthly checklist

For a detailed check of supply pipes, valves, traps and fixtures, use our plumbing inspection checklist alongside this one.

Prevention through the year: adjusting the routine

The list stays the same, but the emphasis shifts with Dhaka's seasons:

• Before the monsoon (roughly April and May): give roof outlets and drains extra attention and book the full roof inspection.
• During the monsoon (June to October): after heavy rain, check the roof and pump room for water, and look for standing water every week.^[8]
• In months of heavy load-shedding: confirm that generator runs and fuel deliveries are logged, and listen for pumps restarting repeatedly.
• Once a year: file each contractor's annual service report with the monthly sheets.

Planning and budgeting for annual and quarterly jobs belongs in the committee's preventive maintenance schedule.

Recording findings and following up

Give every fault a line in a running log: date, place, what was seen, photo, who was told and when it was fixed. Decide at once whether it endangers people. If it does, close off the area or take the lift out of use and call the contractor that day; if not, report it to the committee.

Post a summary for residents every month. UK rules require this for fire-equipment checks in high-rise blocks,^[2] and it shows residents that reporting a problem leads to action.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Ticking boxes at a desk without looking, which gives false confidence.
• Changing the route or the form each month, so months cannot be compared.
• Letting the caretaker reset pump or generator controls, or 'fix' a lift door.
• Accepting a contractor's visit without a written service sheet.
• Leaving a missing or discharged extinguisher until the next service; UK guidance says report it for action as soon as it is found.^[4]
• Using the stairs or the roof as storage.

When to call a professional straight away

• Lift: someone trapped, doors opening with no car behind them, stopping off-level, jerks or odd noises. Take it out of use and call the lift contractor.
• Generator: fuel or oil leaks, failing its exercise run, or exhaust getting into the building.^[6]
• Pumps: grinding, arcing, heavy vibration, a pouring seal or non-stop running; electrical faults need a qualified electrician.^[7]
• Electrics: a burning smell, scorch marks, buzzing or water near boards; see when to call a qualified electrician.
• Fire equipment: an alarm that will not reset, damaged fire main outlets, or a fire door that will not close.^[4]

Budgeting and what drives the cost

The round costs little beyond a caretaker's time; the real costs lie in the contractor work it triggers. We found no reliable published prices for lift, generator, fire-equipment or pump service contracts in Bangladesh, so no figures are given. Costs depend on:

• The number and age of lifts, pumps and generators, and whether spare parts are available.
• Whether contracts include parts as well as labour, and how fast the contractor must respond.
• Generator fuel, which rises as load-shedding gets longer.
• Delay: a leaking seal replaced early costs far less than a burnt-out pump motor.

Compare written quotes with our guide to getting repair quotes; service charge and building management covers how buildings fund shared costs.

Next steps

1. Agree who does the round, on which day of the month, and who receives the results.
2. Adapt the checklist to your building's equipment and fix the route.
3. Collect the contractors' phone numbers and their latest service records.
4. Do the first round, photograph everything and treat it as your baseline.
5. Report dangers the same day and post a monthly summary for residents.^[2]