Since the start of the pandemic, cost reduction initiatives have been a big trend. The pandemic has had a drastic impact on building operations and maintenance, leaving many owners struggling to make ends meet. For this month’s blog, we will be discussing a list of strategies to help you save money on your facility maintenance services.
Facility maintenance and repairs will always be an inevitable aspect of caring for a facility. That said, the costs that are associated with maintenance and repairs can be unpredictable and will vary depending on a variety of factors. For example, you might be well under your maintenance budget for the year when *BOOM* a pipe breaks, flooding happens, and you have to replace an entire floor’s worth of carpet (at least). A situation like this can be extremely stressful and costly for a business.
Before diving into some of the specific strategies to save money on facility maintenance services, we want to quickly discuss the difference between preventative and reactive maintenance.
- Proactive (or Preventative) Maintenance
- Repairing and maintaining equipment before breakage occurs
- Can prevent costly issues, like the one mentioned above, from occurring
- Reactive Maintenance
- Fixing after breakage occurs
- Can create costly issues, like the one mentioned above
Omni Facility Maintenance Services strongly recommends taking on a proactive maintenance strategy. Although the visits will be more frequent, preventative maintenance is the best way to keep your equipment running efficiently and to help avoid the costly devastation of reactive maintenance. The cost to replace/repair broken equipment can add up to thousands of dollars and cause extensive production downtime. The best way to take on a preventative maintenance strategy is to retain a professional team like Omni Facility Maintenance. With our property inspection services, proactive maintenance becomes a breeze.
While preventative maintenance is one way to passively save money on repairs for your facility, there are other proactive actions to take to help reduce costs.
Lighting
You may find that you are often changing light bulbs in your facility, which can take a lot of time, especially in a large building with many bulbs. It may not seem like much, but the cost of the light bulbs combined with the time it takes to install them adds up over time. One of the best investments you can make is to make the switch to LED lighting. Many LED light bulbs have an estimated life of 50,000 hours. This is about 50 times longer than incandescent bulbs, 10 times longer than CFL bulbs, and 25 times longer than halogen bulbs. Although LED light bulbs are more expensive, you will have lower maintenance costs and less frequent purchases, ultimately saving you money in the long run.
Carpet/Flooring
The two most common mistakes that facility managers make with carpet:
- Not cleaning it the right way (each carpet has different fabrics and, thus, different cleaning needs)
- Only cleaning when visibly dirty/not frequently enough
Oftentimes, the flooring or carpet in a facility can be overlooked or deemed not important for maintenance. This is always the case until the cost of replacing the flooring or carpet is presented. The best case of action is to take a preventative maintenance approach to your carpet and flooring. Taking care of your flooring can result in over a 10-year lifespan and save your business thousands.
Maintenance Procedures
Our last tip to help save you money on your facility maintenance services is to create an organized, repeatable maintenance schedule. This might also include eliminating unneeded maintenance procedures. By having a simple and easy-to-follow schedule, you can boost productivity and lower labor costs. If you partner with Omni Facility Maintenance Services, we will take care of all this for you.
Overall, there is no way to avoid facility maintenance services. So, why wouldn’t you want to save the most money possible? With cost-saving initiatives becoming increasingly popular, strategies for saving money have never been easier. With simple concepts like preventative maintenance, you can save thousands on your facility maintenance costs.
Remember: Having a team like Omni Facility Maintenance on your side to perform facility inspections is one of the best ways to keep your facility in the best condition possible while saving you money. If you have questions about our services, check out our website or just call Paul: (630) 465-4074