Prompt Response Of Service Providers In Commercial Office Buildings In Tanzania: Impediments And Motivations

Investment in real estate has been growing from time to time in the developing countries like Tanzania radiating from both capital and business cities like Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, Kampala and Kigali among others from Eastern Africa. Such development is accompanied by new invention in the building design, appearance, materials and services. Citing building services like mechanical, electrical and plumbing services (MEP) which includes elevation services are very complex. This calls for standard maintenance both regular and ad-hoc which in returns has necessitated the reliable service provision. The service provision to most of these services has experienced the blame of being late, ineffective and inefficient. To whom is the blame, whether the service provider, property management or owner is a dilemma to consumers and payers like tenants. The study aimed at identifying the key impediments to prompt response in service provision and possible ways to motivate service providers towards prompt response in view of both property managers and service providers. A total of 28 respondents were reached composing 10 service providers and 18 property managers in commercial properties in Dar es Salaam. Relative Importance Index (RII) and thematic analysis were used for analysis. The results show that complains from occupiers are sometimes genuine whereas in other cases, they result from unawareness of maintenance and repairing procedures. Unavailability of spare parts locally for some systems, delayed payments and lack of strong technical team are among the key reasons for such late response. The presence of professional property management, early and easy payments arrangements to service providers added to the influence of the type of building ownership has emerged as key factors influencing the prompt responses.