Correlation between temperature satisfaction and unsolicited complaint rates in commercial buildings

Copyright O Blackwell Munksgaard 2004 Indoor Air 2005; 15: 13–18 www.blackwellpublishing.com/ina Printed in Denmark. All rights reserved INDOOR AIR doi:10.1111/j.1600-0668.2004.00265.x Correlation between temperature satisfaction and unsolicited complaint rates in commercial buildings Abstract This paper analyzes the relation between temperature satisfaction rat- ings expressed on a questionnaire and unsolicited complaint rates recorded in a maintenance database. The key ﬁndings are as follows: (i) the satisfaction ratings and complaint rates are negatively correlated with a moderate magnitude (r s ¼ )0.31 to )0.36), and the correlation is statistically signiﬁcant (P ¼ 0.01–0.005), and (ii) the percent dissatisﬁed with temperature and the complaint rate are positively correlated with moderate magnitude (r s ¼ 0.31–0.36), and the corre- lation is statistically signiﬁcant (P ¼ 0.01–0.004). Both data sets contain Oreal- worldO measures of temperature satisfaction, with the complaints contributing directly to the cost of operations and maintenance. The relationship between two validates a new method of assessing the economic cost of thermal discomfort in commercial buildings. D. Wang, C. C. Federspiel, E. Arens Center for Environmental Design Research, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA Key words: Thermal comfort; Satisfaction; Complaints; Correlation; Economic cost; Commercial buildings. Danni Wang Center for Environmental Design Research, University of California, 390 Wurster Hall, #1839, Berkeley, CA 94720-1839, USA Tel.: +1 510 642 2720 Fax: +1 510 643 5571 e-mail: wangdn@berkeley.edu Received for review 26 November 2003. Accepted for publication 3 May 2004. O Indoor Air (2004) Practical Implications Complaints in commercial buildings indicate occupantsO dissatisfaction to their environments. It not only deteriorates occupantsO performance and organization productivity, but also increases building maintenance and operating cost. Nailing economic consequences of complaints will enable monetary comparison of discomfort cost with building and operating costs. This comparison may be desirable for building owners and tenants to make well-informed decisions on construction, rental, and retroﬁt. It may also be used to evaluate complaint diagnostic and eliminating techniques. Introduction In commercial buildings, when occupants become too hot or cold and have exhausted all coping behaviors, they sometimes complain to the facility manager. A technician is typically dispatched to the complaint location to investigate the cause and resolve the problem. Sometimes the technician must adjust the air-conditioning systems to meet the occupantsO requirements. According to Federspiel (1998, 2001), Otoo hotO and Otoo coldO are the overwhelming majority of unsolicited complaints (77%) in buildings. Hot or cold complaints are rarely due to inter-individual diﬀerences in preferred temperature. They are usually due to HVAC faults or poor control performance. Most actions taken in response to thermal complaints involve adjusting control system set points or changing the status of equipment. Indoor Air, May 2004 At a minimum, the cost of an individual complaint is equal to the labor cost of the technician. It is estimated that the labor costs alone amount to millions of dollars annually in the US. It is likely that there are other costs associated with complaints such as productivity loss. According to Fisk and Rosefeld (1997), productivity loss due to thermal conditions is $12–125 billion annually in the US. Thus, reducing the frequency of hot and cold complaints has a signiﬁcant economical inﬂuence on reducing the labor cost and improving worker productivity. Thermal comfort research has been one of the major eﬀorts of HVAC engineers since the early twentieth century. It has been widely accepted that there are multiple factors that inﬂuence an occupant’s thermal sensation, including air temperature, humidity, air velocity, mean radiant temperature, and individual factors such as metabolic rate and clothing level https://escholarship.org/uc/item/91x7d9ws