What is facility maintenance?
You probably want to increase or at least maintain the value of a building you own by making sure the property, its capital assets, infrastructure and appliances are all in good running order. This is what facility maintenance is all about.
Your building’s capital assets include heavy and light machinery, robotics, maintenance equipment, production tools, medical devices and commercial tools, among other types of business-related equipment. They also include the building’s HVAC systems.
The building itself is also a capital asset as a whole, which means its hallways, garages, structural elements and external spaces, such as parking lots, should all also be kept in good repair. Facility maintenance covers all of the above.
It’s important to distinguish between facility maintenance, industrial maintenance and property maintenance. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but they mean different things to some extent.
Facility maintenance applies only to commercial buildings where manufacturing isn’t taking place, while industrial maintenance applies to buildings that also serve as manufacturing centers. Residential maintenance is for strictly residential buildings.
Types of facility maintenance staff
Just as there are different aspects to facility maintenance, there are also different types of maintenance workers in a building that’s being kept in good repair. The first of these is the maintenance technician, and the second is the facility manager.
The maintenance technician handles the dirty details of building upkeep. Their job involves engaging in regular walkthroughs and inspections of your building and its internal equipment, as well as the building’s external components and overall property.
Following their inspections, maintenance technicians repair and replace any capital assets that are defective or broken down. They might also have plumbing and electrical expertise or certification.
The facility manager occupies a facility maintenance management role in a building, just as their title implies. This individual’s job is to supervise the building’s maintenance, so everything is in good working order, safe and being used correctly.
Facility managers often use software to create schedules for the maintenance staff, schedule the upkeep of capital assets and delegate specific repair jobs to professionals.
Types of buildings that use facility maintenance
As mentioned earlier, facility maintenance applies only to specific types of buildings that don’t handle manufacturing on-site. Most commonly, these include:
Medical and scientific facilities: Very strict sanitation, inspection and biohazard control rules are enforced by OSHA in these types of facilities. The maintenance of these buildings is strictly enforced based on specific rules, regulations and procedures. This especially applies to preventative upkeep of crucial capital assets.
Offices: Large commercial or industrial office spaces have all sorts of internal capital assets and equipment that needs to be maintained. Some of these assets include their HVAC systems, plumbing structure, electrical systems, elevators, parking structures, rooms and hallways. These need to be kept in working order for the sake of staff safety and comfort.
Academic institutions: Universities and other schools need to be kept to the same standards as commercial or industrial offices. As they also often contain medical and laboratory facilities, special OSHA procedures for facility maintenance often apply. These may offer a hybrid mix of maintenance needs.
The cost of facility maintenance
The costs of facility maintenance can be extremely variable depending on the size and type of building being cared for. These costs can also depend on the type of equipment being kept in working order. For example, the maintenance costs in a highly specialized facility, such as a major hospital or laboratory, will usually be much higher than those of a conventional commercial office lot. You need to keep these factors in mind when calculating maintenance needs and costs.
