Post-Occupancy & Asset Support
A building’s story does not end at handover. Post occupancy evaluation and asset support ensure that buildings perform as intended and continue to meet user needs over time. At Dadirri Architects, our post occupancy evaluation service revisits completed buildings to assess what is working, identify what could be improved, and gather lessons that inform future projects.
Combined with asset management advice and maintenance planning, our post-occupancy service helps Melbourne homeowners and building owners tune their properties for comfort, efficiency, and longevity.
What Is Post-Occupancy Evaluation?
Post occupancy evaluation (POE) is the process of revisiting a building after it has been occupied to assess whether design intentions have been achieved. A post occupancy evaluation involves reviewing energy and building performance against design predictions, gathering feedback from occupants about comfort, functionality, and satisfaction, inspecting building fabric for defects, wear, or maintenance issues, and identifying opportunities to improve operational building performance.
Post occupancy evaluation is not about grading the building. It is a learning process that improves outcomes for the people who live or work in the space and informs better design decisions on future projects.
When You Need Post-Occupancy Evaluation
A post occupancy evaluation is valuable when your building has been occupied for six months or more and you want to assess building performance, you are experiencing issues with comfort, energy use, or maintenance and need expert diagnosis, you want to gather occupant feedback and implement improvements, you are planning future building projects and want to apply lessons from completed ones, you want a maintenance planning framework that extends the life of your building, or you need asset management guidance for a property portfolio.
What Is Included
Our post occupancy evaluation and asset support service includes an occupant satisfaction survey covering comfort, functionality, and amenity, energy and water building performance review comparing actual consumption against design targets, building fabric inspection identifying defects, maintenance needs, and building performance issues, a post occupancy evaluation report with prioritised recommendations, a maintenance planning schedule for ongoing building care, and asset management advice covering lifecycle costs, replacement planning, and building performance monitoring.
Documents and Deliverables
Our post occupancy evaluation produces a post occupancy evaluation report with findings and recommendations, an occupant satisfaction summary, energy and water building performance comparison (predicted vs actual), a building fabric condition report with photographs, a maintenance planning schedule covering routine and lifecycle maintenance, and asset management recommendations including replacement forecasts and budget guidance.
Building Performance and Maintenance Planning
Maintenance planning is essential to protecting your investment. We provide guidance on routine maintenance planning schedules for building fabric, finishes, and services, lifecycle replacement planning for major items such as roofing, cladding, windows, and mechanical systems, energy building performance monitoring and adjustment, and warranty tracking and defect rectification follow-up.
Good maintenance planning reduces long-term costs and ensures your building continues to deliver the building performance it was designed for. Our asset management advice helps you budget for maintenance and replacement over the life of the building.
Typical Timelines
A post occupancy evaluation typically takes four to six weeks from initial inspection to final report. The process involves a site visit and building fabric inspection (one to two days), an occupant survey (one to two weeks for responses), energy and building performance data collection and analysis (one to two weeks), and report preparation and presentation (one to two weeks).
We recommend an initial post occupancy evaluation six to twelve months after occupation, allowing the building to go through at least one heating and cooling cycle. Follow-up reviews can be scheduled annually or as needed.
For ongoing asset management and maintenance planning, we can provide an annual review service that monitors building performance and updates the maintenance planning schedule.
Frequently Asked Questions
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We recommend an initial post occupancy evaluation six to twelve months after occupation, allowing at least one full seasonal cycle.
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No. We can conduct post occupancy evaluation on any residential or multi-residential building, regardless of who designed it.
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Asset management covers lifecycle cost planning, replacement scheduling, and strategies for maintaining or improving building performance over time.
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Yes. Our inspections identify defects and maintenance planning needs. Where items are covered by builder warranties, we advise on the rectification process.
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Post occupancy evaluation reveals what works and what does not in a completed building. These lessons inform design decisions on future projects, improving building performance outcomes.
Book a Post-Occupancy Review
If you want to ensure your building is performing as intended, or you need maintenance planning and asset management guidance, get in touch. Our post occupancy evaluation service provides the insights you need to optimise building performance and protect your investment.