We all prefer preventative maintenance whether we realize it or not, after all, that is why we go to the dentist for check-ups, right? Yet, sometimes we find Facility Managers that skimp on maintenance on expensive company assets because they are trying to manage costs. It can be summed up in a scenario most of us have been in before: it's the hottest day in July and just when you need your HVAC system the most, it stops working. Getting your AC fixed in the middle of summer is expensive, time consuming and you don’t have it when you actually need it. Fortunately, this problem can be avoided with some regularly scheduled preventative maintenance. It can be easy to disregard such maintenance as costly because you have to factor it in to your budget and can overlook the price of emergency repairs. In the long run, however, maintaining before a failure can save you a lot of money and help make sure you have the things you need, when you need them.
Of course any type of maintenance is going to cost money, but in the long run, reactive maintenance is always going to cost more. In fact, there are three common types of maintenance and each of them has a time and place to be used: reactive maintenance, predictive maintenance and preventative facility maintenance. Preventative maintenance should be the most prevalent in any facility, not only does it help keep expensive assets running longer, it helps avoid some of the enormous bills that come with broken equipment. Regular inspections help spot problems and tune up issues before they spiral out of control. Predictive maintenance uses your buildings history and idiosyncrasies to attempt to predict when problems are going to happen so that you can schedule repairs before peak season. Not only does this help give you a better sense of what you need to budget for, it also helps reduce the costs of emergency visits. Finally, we have reactive maintenance. Of course, things are going to break when you need them and no amount of preventative maintenance can completely eliminate problems. While necessary, however, reactive maintenance should never be your go to as it is expensive, ill-times and often problematic. Taking advantage of predictive and preventative maintenance will give you a smoother experience and keep costs manageable.
It can be difficult to get over the idea that preventative and predictive maintenance means changing your budget and scheduling, but in the long run, there are clear cost savings. Not only does it save money be reducing the amount of emergency fixes that need to be made, it allows you to schedule repairs during convenient, less costly times. This also gives you more flexibility in scheduling repairs in a way that best fits your buildings patterns and usage. Instead of getting emergency service when something breaks, you can work with your commercial handyman service to build a schedule that best fits your work flow.
There are a couple of assets that benefit a lot from preventative maintenance: lighting, carpets, flooring and HVAC. For instance, carpet and flooring often need to be replaced every couple of years depending on the quality and the amount of traffic that goes through your building. With a little preventative maintenance, however, you can add up to five extra years to its lifespan. Allowing carpet and flooring to get dirty will rapidly decrease how long it will last. Grit will strip away the top layer of your flooring to score and damage the floor itself. In the same way, dirt will cut the strands that hold your carpet together making it fray and break apart significantly faster. Likewise, lighting benefits a lot from some regular care as well. Especially in large buildings, you can spend a lot more time than you think switching bulbs as they go out. Instead of keeping your standard incandescent bulbs, switching to LEDs can help reduce energy costs and have a much longer lifespan so you can spend less time swapping them out. In fact, LEDs use fifty times less energy than your standard bulb! In larger buildings, you can save a lot of money and time by making a simple switch. Any effective handyman service can help you build a preventative maintenance plan so that you can reduce expensive repairs and make cost-saving fixes. This is especially important with HVAC units. If it happens to break on a particularly hot or cold day, or in the worst case, on a weekend, you can shell out a ton of money trying to get it fixed. With just a little care and regular check-ups, you can help keep your HVAC unit running longer and with far fewer problems. In a perfect world, it should be inspected bi-yearly so that it can be cleaned and tuned. Talk with your janitorial services team and see how preventative maintenance can be implemented in your building.
The right maintenance and repair service can go a long way to helping you build a preventative maintenance plan that fits your budget and the needs of your building. While it isn’t realistic to completely eliminate reactive maintenance, working with your handyman janitorial service to keep track of what needs maintenance when can allow you to budget and plan around the repair needs of your expensive assets. The more preventative and predictive maintenance you can do, the more money, time and headaches you’ll save later. Unplanned expenses are always going to be more expensive than quick and easy tune ups and cleaning. If you don’t have a preventative maintenance schedule, now is a good a time as any to make the switch.