Purpose – The factors contributing to maintenance cost include the life-long environmental factors that the building is exposed to during its useful life as well as parameters relating to the design, construction and maintenance processes. The performance of risk associated with these factors decides the future maintenance requirements of buildings. Ignoring these risks factors generally result in high maintenance costs. The purpose of this paper is to identify the maintainability risk factors and their implications on maintenance costs. Design/methodology/approach – A survey based methodology was used to establish the risks factors of building maintainability. A sample of high-rise buildings was selected to evaluate these risk factors that were identified through an extensive literature review and survey of substantive experts. Further, these risks factors were applied to a real case study. Findings – A total of ten risk factors of maintainability were identified in relation to high-rise buildings. They were analyzed using a case study and the implications on maintenance cost were evaluated. The results show that there is a considerable reduction in maintenance cost when these risks are minimized. Research limitations/implications – The research was limited to the USA and its six biggest cities. The results presented are predominantly qualitative and the results rely on extensive evaluation. Originality/value – The paper provides useful information to the designers and users on the maintenance problems related to buildings. Also it highlights critical risk conditions that should be considered to minimize maintenance costs