The maintenance paradox

This research will spot main features of servitization in real estate, placing main emphasis to current and future development of the trend. In manufacturing the servitization process has already been studied since the late 1980’s, whereas in real estate is a phenomenon not yet been clearly defined yet. Despite being a market characterised by low speed innovation, currently some changings in management of the built environment can be noticed: with new business models and financing structures, a shifting from a product-oriented market to a service-oriented one can be spotted. Therefore, through this research will be investigated the servitization process, with regard to maintenance management, no longer conceived as an optional non-core activity, after the transaction of the asset, but as part of the services included in the purchasing of the building and its facilities. Accordingly, the building is conceived more and more as a complex tangible and intangible entity, not only characterised by its production and location value, but also by its capability to offer provide users with a wide array of services to users. Thus, after a phase featured by the willingness to acquire legitimacy in the building process by the maintenance operators, we are witnessing to the maintenance paradox: the servitization of business model in real estate, leading to performing “the maintenance without maintenance”. The paper concludes with some considerations on future developments of the research and trends in the real estate market