What an annual maintenance contract covers

What is an annual maintenance contract?

It is an agreement, normally for twelve months, under which one maintenance company looks after the working systems of a property. There are two halves to it. Planned maintenance is the servicing done to a calendar, to stop faults developing. Reactive maintenance is attendance when something breaks, at agreed response times. The contract turns a string of separate call outs into one arrangement with a known scope, a known team and a record of what was done.

In Dubai the heart of any contract is the air conditioning, because it runs for most of the year and fails at the worst moment. Plumbing and electrical systems follow. Around that core, contracts vary a great deal, and two documents with the same title can describe very different levels of cover.

What does a contract usually cover?

The scope is written against a list of the equipment in the property. A typical one for a villa includes the following.

• AC units: scheduled services with filters, coils, drain trays and drain lines cleaned, and electrical and refrigerant checks.
• Plumbing: inspection of water heaters, pressure pumps, tanks, float valves, mixers, flush valves and visible pipework, with minor leaks and adjustments dealt with on the visit.
• Electrical: inspection of the distribution board, testing of the earth leakage devices, and checks on sockets, switches, lighting circuits and outdoor fittings.
• Call outs: attendance for faults between visits, with one response time for emergencies such as a burst pipe or loss of power and another for routine faults.
• Reporting: a record of each visit with findings, readings and photographs.

Some contracts add handyman hours, water tank cleaning, drain line cleaning or pest control visits. If they are not written in, assume they are not there.

What is usually excluded?

Exclusions cause most disputes, so read this part of any contract first.

• Major spare parts such as compressors, fan motors, pumps, circuit boards and water heaters. Labour to fit them may be covered while the part is quoted separately.
• Equipment that needs a specialist: swimming pools, lifts, gate and garage motors, generators, home automation and kitchen appliances.
• Building fabric: roofs, waterproofing, structural cracks, tiling, painting and joinery.
• Faults that existed before the contract started, and damage from misuse, alterations by others, storms or flooding.
• Anything on the far side of the meter or inside common areas, which belongs to the utility, the building or the community.

How is the planned work spread through the year?

A sound schedule follows the Dubai seasons, and the table above shows the pattern. The heavy AC service goes in before the heat. A check in the middle of summer catches drains and capacitors under their worst load. The cooler months are used for the jobs that need systems switched off or work outdoors: water heaters, tanks, external lights and roof drains.

Homes left empty in July and August need a visit arranged for that period, with someone authorised to give access. A blocked AC drain in an empty house is otherwise found weeks later, on the ceiling and the floor below it.

What should I check before signing?

• An equipment list. Every AC unit, heater and pump should be counted and named by location, so that nobody argues later about what was included.
• The number of planned visits and what is done on each, in writing.
• Response times, the hours they apply, and what the contract calls an emergency.
• How parts and materials are handled: which are included, and how the rest are quoted and approved.
• Who actually attends. Ask if the technicians are employed by the company or sent by a subcontractor.
• A condition survey at the start, listing existing defects, so that old faults are separated from new ones.
• The report you receive after each visit, and who signs it.
• Terms for renewal, for ending the contract early, and for adding or removing equipment during the year.

Is a contract worth having, or should I call when something breaks?

It depends on the property. A large villa with many AC units, pumps, tanks and outdoor electrics has enough equipment that something needs attention every few weeks, and planned servicing plainly beats waiting. The same goes for landlords, for owners who live abroad, and for anyone who closes the house for the summer. A small apartment in a building whose management maintains the chilled water, the risers and the common systems has far less to look after, and a yearly AC service with call outs as needed can be enough.

With The MELLS the property is surveyed at a site visit, the scope and schedule are set out in a written quotation, and each visit is checked by a supervisor who sends photographs. Book a site visit to have the equipment counted before you compare contracts.