The most revealing indication to the care and maintenance that a building receives can be found by walking through its mechanical rooms.  While some properties maintain their refrigeration plant with almost the same level of care and dedication as they do their main lobby, most mechanical rooms provide evidence that the corrosion problems experienced should of come as no surprise.  Rusty water stains on the floor, moldy pipe insulation, multiple pipe repairs made of gasket material and hose clamps, and burnt out motors piled in the corner provide obvious indication that maintenance has been lacking.

Given its obvious presence, a lack of maintenance is often tolerated at top management levels.  It may also be induced by a lack of maintenance funds, or by a work ethic favoring minimal effort.    Almost always, a maintenance deficiency is only addressed after some issue gains public and often critical notice.

In one of the photographs below, meticulously painting around a 5 gallon pail likely took greater effort than moving it.  An example only outdistanced by finding a skeletonized dead cat in a mechanical room while conducting a UT investigation of the domestic water system, and being handed a shovel by the building engineer in case we wanted it removed.

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