ASTM E1334-95(2012)

This practice provides a means of rating the serviceability levels of any building.

This practice provides a method for comparing how well different buildings meet a particular set of requirements for serviceability, despite differences such as location, structure, mechanical systems, age, and building shape.

This practice is not affected by the complexity of the requirements for serviceability.

This practice provides a framework within which design professionals and managers can select the most cost-effective means to achieve a target level of serviceability.

This practice can be used by any individual with sufficient knowledge of buildings to identify the features that are present.

This practice can be applied to many functional types of buildings, provided that an appropriate set of classifications, including rating scales, has been established for each type (see Appendix X1).

This practice can be used to determine (1) the serviceability (present capability) of an existing building for uses other than its present use; (2) the serviceability (potential capability) of a building that has been planned but not yet built; and (3) the serviceability (potential capability) of a building for which a remodeling or rehabilitation has been planned.

This practice can be used to determine how well a building is capable of meeting some social objective and requirement, such as the impact of its location on the transportation needs of its present or future occupants, the need for water and energy conservation, the impact of the building systems, and materials on green building issues.

Use of this practice will help the user understand how various subsystems and materials used in a building interact to provide an overall level of serviceability, and how various combination of features interact to determine the overall serviceability of the building.

Examples of Potential Applications:

Project Feasibility, For example, when the owner of an older building considers remodelling it into apartments, or needs to rehabilitate it to bring it up to current market demand.

Select Option Before Leasing, For example, a corporate real estate and facility manager compares ratings of several office facilities before selecting which to lease.

Compare Serviceability of Design Options, For example, an architect rates various designs to select the most effective way of achieving design objectives within a fixed construction budget.

Marketing, For example, an owner rates a building for several potential uses to identify target markets that would find the building most serviceable in its present condition, or when remodelled for another use.

Suitability of Existing or Proposed Use, For example, a potential buyer assesses the suitability of a facility for multi-tenant office use.

Cost Reduction, For example, the owner rates various design options to select the most cost-effective means for achieving a target serviceability profile.

Financial Analysis, For example, the owner or potential buyer assesses likely benefits of a proposed remodel and conversion from a warehouse to a highly technical manufacturing building.

Energy and Water Conservation, The owner or potential buyer compares the likely relative levels of energy or water consumption of a facility, or the likely cost-effectiveness of options to reduce energy and water consumption, or improve indoor air quality.

This practice is not intended for, and is not suitable for, use for regulatory purposes nor for fire hazard assessment nor for fire risk assessment.

1.1 This practice covers a definitive procedure for rating the serviceability of a building or building-related facility, that is, for ascertaining its capability to perform the functions for which it is designed, used, or required to be used. A separate scale is used for each topic of serviceability. For each topic, a serviceability level is ascertained. Overall serviceability is expressed as a profile of levels (that is, not as a single number), and may be presented as a bar chart.

1.2 This practice is not intended to be used for regulatory purposes.

1.3 This practice can be used to rate the serviceability of a building or building-related facility that has been planned but not yet built, or which is about to be remodelled or rehabilitated, for example, for which single-line drawings and outline specifications have been prepared.

1.4 This practice specifies how to ascertain serviceability levels for a specific building, but not what would cause a building to be rated at a given level. That information is found in standard classifications for specific topics of serviceability that contain a set of requirement and rating scales. This practice and one or more such standard classifications are mutually dependent. Each requires the other. The format of such standard classifications, and of related information, is described in Appendix X1. An example of the scales written for such classifications is given in Appendix X3.

1.5 This practice does not cover building evaluation, building condition reports, nor diagnosis of performance; nor does it cover instruments, tools or quality of measurements for evaluation, condition reports, or diagnosis of performance.

1.6 This practice applies only to facilities that are building constructions, parts thereof, or building-related. While this practice may be useful in rating the serviceability of facilities that are not building constructions, such facilities are outside the scope of this practice.

1.7 The process for creating or adapting a set of classifications for a specific facility type or category is outside the scope of this practice.

1.8 This practice contains the following information:

FIG. 1 Summary Diagram of Procedure for Rating the Serviceability of a Building or Building-Related Facility