Onsite Staff Handling Building Maintenance?

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Tasking local managers to handle commercial maintenance requirements can seem like a good way to save money. However, there are a number of risks associated with this approach and in many cases the costs far exceed the savings.

We have collected feedback and experiences from our clients that are worth considering.

1. Local managers may not have the expertise or experience to properly handle commercial maintenance requirements. This can lead to problems such as equipment downtime, safety hazards, and costly repairs.

2. Site managers may be under pressure to cut costs, which can lead to deferred maintenance. This can lead to more serious and costly problems down the road.

3. When facility maintenance is handled locally, it makes it more difficult to collect data that can be used to manage sites more efficiently and track spends.

4. By vetting and approving maintenance vendors at the corporate level, it ensures the maintenance company is properly insured and licensed. Local managers typically are not obtaining a firm’s qualifications leading to costly litigation in the case of accidents or disputes.

5. Handling maintenance at the corporate level, or at least providing an approved list of vendors the sites may use, reduces or eliminates local conflicts of interest and fraudulent practices.

Providing a trustworthy resource for your facility managers to rely on when maintenance or repair is necessary can ease the stress of site managers and allow them to focus on increasing efficiency and operations of the company. This not only helps the site personnel, but supports the corporate team in their efforts to achieve maximum ROI while protecting the company assets and minimizing risk exposure.