Author: MaintenX

Double-Check These 7 Areas In Your Office While Cleaning

The office space is a second home to many. It’s where we make friends, can find meaningful work, and where most Americans spend nearly 20% of their waking adult life. And just like home, it’s a place where bacteria and germs can easily spread if regular cleaning and maintenance don’t happen. 

 

Research shows that the average office desk hosts over 10 million bacteria on a typical day — that’s over 400 times more bacteria than found on the average toilet seat. While most offices have a janitorial staff or different staff members who take responsibility for cleaning, it’s easy to miss several key areas where germs, dust, and mold collect. 

 

If you own or operate a commercial facility, be sure to clean these seven commonly missed areas of your space: 

 

Behind desks and large appliances

Dust will easily collect behind the printer, your desk, the breakroom refrigerator, and other dark closed spaces. If a water leak occurs behind one of these spaces, you could find mold damage in a matter of weeks. By periodically moving these appliances and sweeping behind them, you can create a cleaner work environment and better indoor air quality. 

 

Curtains

Very few people ever clean their curtains, but they collect dust easily and will become an eyesore over time. Make sure you dust your curtains at least once a week to prevent particles from getting stuck to the curtains over time. 

 

Air vents

Air vents are the perfect place for dust to collect. If not regularly dusted they can also become hiding places for spiders and small bugs which will quickly make clients and employees unhappy. 

 

Kitchen appliance handles

Sink faucet levers, microwave door handles, and refrigerator handles are all used multiple times per day by everyone in the office. If not wiped down when you clean the kitchen, they will be covered with microorganisms that spread disease to your staff. Spray them with disinfectant once daily if possible to keep your kitchen cleaner. 

 

Windows and glass on doors 

Windows and glass may not be ideal living places for bacteria, but they get dirty very easily and won’t look great if you don’t wipe them down frequently. This is especially true for glass doors that are touched often, as you can likely see the fingerprints over time. Wipe with a glass cleaner to make your office look cleaner at first sight. 

 

Doorknobs and light switches

These areas get touched every single day and can host millions of bacteria if not cleaned. Wipe down all door knobs and light switches every day, especially those near the bathrooms.

 

Trash cans 

You probably take the trash out everyday, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t get dirty. When food or liquids leak from the bags, they will pool at the bottom creating a sticky residue with a foul odor. Wash out your trash cans once a month to prevent unwanted odors in your office space. 

 

Office maintenance doesn’t have to be complicated if you stick to a plan and ensure these commonly missed areas are included. TO learn more about how you can make your office space a great place to work, contact MaintenX about our cleaning and preventative maintenance services.

How Preventative Maintenance Can Raise Your CSI Scores

If you manage a retail store, dealership, or other customer-oriented business, customer satisfaction index scores are essential to measuring performance. These measurements can help you determine how well your sales, marketing, and yes, even how your maintenance department is performing. Every element of your business operations is scrutinized by the customer, so it’s important to make the right impression every single time. 

 

Maintenance is one of the often underlooked elements of the CSI score that you should rethink if you’re receiving customer complaints. Out-of-order bathrooms, dirty floors, low-performing air conditioning, and a disheveled landscape can all contribute to your business’ overall low CSI score, even if you have a stellar sales team and marketing plan. 

 

If you want to improve the look and functionality of your business, these three maintenance services can exponentially raise your overall CSI performance: 

 

Plan seasonal landscaping.

Customers like to see landscaping that looks inviting and lush, especially if you have an outdoor showroom. By investing in a landscaping service that will change plants with the season and keep grass looking bright and trim, you can impress customers as soon as they drive into the lot.

 

Invest in an energy-efficient HVAC system. 

No matter what type of commercial facility you operate, you want customers and employees to be comfortable year-round. A facility that is too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter will leave a bad impression on customers and deter them from taking their time shopping. By investing in a quality HVAC system you can improve CSI scores and save money on your power bill. 

 

Schedule regular restroom maintenance. 

Restrooms can make a strong impression on guests, either in a positive or negative way. If you have leaky faucets, clogged pipes, dim lighting, or the scent of mildew due to water damage, you can guarantee CSI scores will be lower than if you have a clean, fully functional, and aesthetically pleasing restroom. Schedule plumbing and electrical maintenance frequently and make bathroom cleaning a priority to ensure you never make a bad impression with guests. 

 

Better customer relationships lead to better business. If you want to make your facility more impressive to guests, more energy-efficient, and more functional for employees, partner with MaintenX for preventative maintenance care. We work hard to ensure your facility is in peak condition no matter what. Contact your local team today to learn more about your options with us.

Winter Break Maintenance Checklist for Your School

School campuses take a significant beating during the fall and spring, and with a lack of general funding for many public institutions, infrastructure maintenance can be difficult to manage. However, the buildings on campus need proper care and maintenance in order to foster a welcoming learning environment. This is especially true if you have an older campus with aging HVAC, plumbing, and electrical systems. 

 

MaintenX helps schools and commercial facilities prepare for high volume with routine maintenance services and preventative care. If you are typically too swamped during the school for maintenance scheduling, knock out these simple tasks during the upcoming winter break: 

 

HVAC cleaning and heater maintenance

By the time you’re back from winter break, you’ll be using the heating system on a regular basis (if you’re not already). Prepare for this on winter break by giving your HVAC system a thorough cleaning and scheduling a routine tune-up for your heaters. 

 

Check for leaks, cracks, and other minor damages to your interior and roof. 

Fixing cracked sheetrock, leaky faucets, and minor mildew spots in the ceiling can be a pain when school is in session. It often disrupts classrooms and can be difficult to schedule before normal hours end. However, winter break is the perfect time to make these minor repairs all at once. 

 

Hydro jetting service

School campuses often experience clogged drains, either from young students flushing down non-flushable products or from root growth in outdoor areas of the campus. Therefore, it’s important to schedule regular hydro jetting services to ensure you don’t have a pipe burst or a major blockage during school hours. 

 

Kitchen deep clean

Your campus kitchen is one of the most chaotic areas of the campus during school hours. It can be difficult to schedule routine cleaning during regular hours, so winter break is the perfect time to get in there and clean all of your appliances. A thorough cleaning of the floors and ventilation system will also greatly improve the look and functionality of your kitchen and cafeteria.

Steps To Commercial Floor Care

Your facility’s floor is one of the most underappreciated parts of its design. The right flooring can create the mood for a restaurant, improve functionality for a manufacturer, or impress customers in an office space. Without the right floor, your facility would not be quite the same. 

 

If you want to extend the longevity of your flooring and keep it looking great for customers, proper maintenance is essential. Follow these four tips to improve your floor care plan and help you facility look better every day: 

 

Choose the right cleaner.

Not all flooring cleaners are built the same. Different chemicals are used for hardwood, carpet, stone, and vinyl, and these differences will impact your floor’s longevity and appearance. If you’re using a multi-purpose cleaner or something made for a different material, you are likely causing damage to your floor. Talk with your MaintenX team to receive recommendations on commercial cleaners for your specific flooring type. 

 

Invest in quality equipment.

Flooring requires a lot of maintenance as it takes the majority of the impact on your facility. In order to keep it clean, you need the right equipment that is user-friendly and effective. A vacuum, deep cleaner for carpet, and high-quality mopping set make daily cleaning much easier for your staff. With some advanced deep cleaners, you can do most of your flooring maintenance yourself with the occasional repair outsourced to MaintenX. 

 

Clean floor mats first. 

The mats at your building’s entrances are the dirtiest and most weathered parts of your flooring system. Regular cleaning will make these more effective and will extend their service life so you don’t have to replace them every few years. Cleaning your flooring mats will also leave a positive impression on customers and tenants as their shoes will stay dry and clean when they walk in. 

 

Don’t coat or polish unless recommended by the manufacturer or your maintenance team. 

While you may want your flooring to have a nice and polished shine, some coatings can leave a waxy residue when dried. This can not only make your floors look worse than before, but can cause long-term damage to the surface. Before you polish or coat your floors, check with the manufacturer’s website or your MaintenX team to ensure the product is safe. 

 

MaintenX specializes in all types of facility cleaning from curb to roof and coast to coast. To learn more about our floor care and repair services, contact us today.

Tips for Maintenance Management of Multi-Tenant Commercial Facilities

At MaintenX, we serve many multi-tenant facilities with routine maintenance and emergency care services. From malls and shopping outlets to hotels and other rental spaces, we make maintenance easy when you’re managing multiple spaces. However, we can’t always be there and want you to be prepared with a maintenance plan that is self-sufficient and easy to implement across multiple tenant buildings. 

 

If you are managing multiple buildings or multiple tenants in a large commercial space, follow these tips to ensure your maintenance planning never gets out of hand: 

 

Communicate with your tenants.

Communication is essential for any maintenance team to function properly. Without a clear strategy and communication system for service requests and preventative care scheduling, your maintenance system will quickly unravel. In order to prevent emergency repairs and a backlog of preventative maintenance service requests, create a simplified process for tenants and maintenance to communicate effectively. 

 

MaintenX uses a cutting-edge work order management and dispatch system to help you achieve this. We can dispatch teams for emergency repairs in a matter of hours, and keep a detailed log of preventative maintenance schedules so you never miss a tuneup. To learn more, contact your local MaintenX team. 

 

Create a schedule and stick to it. 

Scheduling is essential to ensure preventative repairs like HVAC cleaning and electrical safety maintenance get handled in a timely manner. Without a schedule for each tenant or section of your multi-tenant building, you can easily lose track of who needs what. A schedule based on communicated needs from each department will ensure you’re on time with repairs without the hassle. 

 

Prioritize shared utilities. 

Shared utilities such as the HVAC, electrical, and plumbing systems should take first priority or individual units or areas of the building. This ensures that you don’t lose productivity with multiple tenants and that in the event of emergencies you can easily move people to operational parts of the building. MaintenX works on large-scale buildings and is happy to make a custom preventative care plan for all of your shared utilities. 

 

MaintenX helps commercial facilities of all sizes run smoothly and perform better through preventative care. To learn more about how you can aid multiple tenants with a streamlined maintenance process, contact us.

Five Reasons To Prioritize Preventative Care

At MaintenX, we always prioritize preventative maintenance for our clients. In a commercial facility, continuity is key. Any disruption in the normal function of your business can cause loss of profits and customer dissatisfaction. This includes not only your essential equipment but systems like your HVAC machines and plumbing. By investing in preventative care, you avoid common problems that lead to serious and expensive emergency services. 

 

Below are five reasons to prioritize preventative care in your maintenance plan:

 

Avoid unplanned downtime

Emergency repairs cause unplanned downtime in one way or another. EMployees may have to relocate to allow the maintenance team to reach a certain area, or in severe cases, your entire facility could be shut down due to maintenance. THis affects your customers and bottom line, so don’t let it happen!

 

Budget repairs

Planned repairs are typically less expensive than emergency ones, and can be budgeted well in advance. You don’t want to have to pay for the higher labor costs and potentially more pricey repairs during an emergency, so make a preventative maintenance schedule and stick to it. 

 

Extend the service life of systems

Systems that are maintained will inevitably last longer than those that run to fail. With a little extra TLC now, you can extend the service life of HVAC equipment, electrical systems, and pipes by five to ten years in some cases. 

 

Avoid safety hazards

Electrical maintenance is essential to prevent fires and power outages that can be detrimental to employee and customer safety. With regular preventative maintenance checks, you can replace frayed wires and identify potential issues before they become emergencies. 

 

Prevent sick building syndrome

An HVAC system that goes uncleaned for long periods of time may cause sick building syndrome — where germs and bacteria in the air ducts circulate and cause airborne illness for all employees and staff. This has become an increasing concern during COVID-19, but should always be addressed to prevent the spread of colds, flu, and bacteria-related respiratory diseases. 

 

Preventative maintenance is our specialty at MaintenX. To learn more about what preventative care can do for your business, contact us today.

The Most Important Preventative Maintenance Services for Medical Facilities

MaintenX specialized in preventative maintenance for medical facilities across the United States. These essential clinics, hospitals, and outpatient facilities require a greater level of preventative maintenance in order to create a safe and welcoming patient environment. The best medical facilities take this responsibility seriously and invest in regular preventative maintenance checks for every inch of their building. 

 

While some medical facilities may not need intensive preventative care, there are certain services that should never be skipped. Below are some of the services we emphasize with medical facilities:

 

Backup generator maintenance

Your backup generator is very literally a lifesaver in the event of a power outage or major storm. Without a proper backup generator or UPS system, your medical facility may not be able to perform essential services and keep employees safe. In Tampa, Florida, where MaintenX is headquartered, this is essential during hurricane season when hospitals are often the only shelter available for those stuck in the storm. Perform regular maintenance on your generator or UPS system to prevent any issues in times of emergency. 

 

Plumbing maintenance

Cleanliness is essential in any medical facility, which is why your plumbing system should always be in peak condition. If you fail to perform plumbing maintenance you could be causing sewage backup or cause leaks that could lead to mold and mildew growth. Prevent these sanitary hazards by performing regular plumbing maintenance and pipe cleaning at your facility. 

 

Electrical maintenance

Most medical facilities use oxygen and flammable chemicals for cleaning, which means that a small electrical spark could spell disaster. You can prevent electrical fires or internal outages by investing in regular electrical maintenance for your entire facility. Replacing frayed wires and other electrical hazards often will keep your medical facility safer. 

 

If you manage or own a medical facility, contact MaintenX to partner with us on preventative maintenance. We offer specialized plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and roofing repair for commercial facilities of all sizes and industries. To learn more about our medical facility services, contact your local MaintenX today!

Tips for Preparing Your Electrical System for Winter

Winter is here, and it’s time to prepare your facility for the first snowfalls and freezing temperatures of the season. In Tampa, Florida, where MaintenX is headquartered, we often don’t face too many electrical problems in the wintertime. However, our locations across the northern and central United States often face electrical outages and other issues in the wintertime. If you want your facility to be prepared, you should start scheduling preventative maintenance services soon. 

 

The Department of Energy estimates that facilities can decrease costs by 25-30%, reduce the chance of breakdowns by 70%, and decrease facility downtime by 35% by investing in preventative electrician maintenance. Over time, these cost savings add up to thousands of dollars saved through careful preventative care. If you want your facility to save, here’s what you need to do in the wintertime: 

 

Schedule a preventative maintenance tune-up on your entire electrical system.

Electricity is the backbone of any commercial facility, and therefore needs to be given proper attention when it comes to preventative care. With increased power outages this time of year, you want to make sure your system is functioning properly and won’t face any unexpected outages not coming from the grid. 

 

Check for electrical hazards.

Safety is of the utmost importance, not only for your employees but for your facility as a whole. Electrical fires are one of the most common workplace hazards in the U.S., and result from broken wires, excess moisture, and overloaded breakers. With your heater and electrical system working overtime, you want to look out for these dangers in the wintertime. 

 

Perform preventative care on your backup generator.

In the event of a snowstorm, you’ll want to have a properly working backup generator to keep your business open and safe for anyone onsite. This can also help you provide essential services, or solely stay in business during snow days. Backup generators are not often in use so it is recommended to perform preventative care on them once a year.

 

Schedule heater testing and maintenance if necessary.

Your heater hasn’t been in use since last spring, and likely will need cleaning and maintenance in order to perform well. A simple tune-up can help your heater run more efficiently and prevent potential fire hazards. 

 

MaintenX takes preventative care seriously, and we want to help you make your facility safer in the winter. If you would like to schedule a preventative maintenance tune-up with our electrical team, contact your local MaintenX today!

Reviewing Your Maintenance Plan and Budget For 2022

As 2021 comes to a close, it’s important to take time to update your maintenance plan and prepare to budget for next year. In most commercial settings, the maintenance budget either stays the same or decreases by a certain percentage each year. However, at MaintenX we believe that proper maintenance planning and a thorough analysis of your preventative repair budget yields better results in the short and long term. 

 

Your maintenance department is a complex system that requires careful attention to detail in order to actually eliminate costs from within. In order to better equip your maintenance department for next year, ask these five questions about your 2021 progress and performance: 

 

Did costs go up or down in 2021?

Understanding the overall trend of your maintenance spending can help you identify issues and areas for potential cost savings. For example, if your overall spending went down but one piece of equipment needed several repairs, it may be time for a replacement. However, if costs increase all around, it may be wise to start investing in preventative repairs to improve performance and function across the board. 

 

What new equipment will you need within the year? What about in the next five years?

Planning expenses well in advance will better prepare your maintenance team and allow you to make purchases based on quality instead of price. By saving early, you can upgrade to energy-efficient equipment and replace equipment before it completely malfunctions. 

 

Did you conduct wrench time studies on service this year? If so, what can they tell you?

Wrench time studies help you better understand the efficiency of your maintenance team. For example, if service requests take a long time to process but the actual wrench time is fast, you may need to improve your communication system. However, if you have new maintenance team members who are underperforming, investments in training can improve your team. 

 

What systems needed the most repairs this year? Are these systems reaching the end of their service life, or are they improving in performance?

For some pieces of equipment, it is not worthwhile to run them until they break down. Your HVAC system is a perfect example. More than likely, your facility cannot function without a running HVAC system. Instead of running yours to the ground, watch for signs of deterioration and replace them when they reach the end of their useful service life. 

 

How well do you and your maintenance staff communicate? Are you having issues internally you need to address?

Communication is one of the biggest factors that slow down maintenance teams. Whether staff members are unsure of how to submit service requests or the maintenance team itself has an impossible backlog, these communication problems can severely impact your business’ functionality. Talk with your maintenance team to see if there are problems that can be addressed moving forward in 2022. 

 

MaintenX works hard to improve our services year over year, and we want your feedback as customers. If you want to learn more about our maintenance planning process, give us a call today!

How To Prepare Your Restaurant for The Holidays

The holidays are a time when families come together to celebrate and share in a sense of common joy. As a restaurant, you can be a part of this seasonal celebration by offering delicious meal options for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, and other holiday celebrations in the winter. However, without the right prep work, your restaurant will fall short of customer’s expectations this time of year. 

 

If you want to increase sales and create customer loyalty during the holidays, make sure you prepare with these tips:  

 

Invest in delivery options. 

During the winter delivery sales increase across all foodservice sectors. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, choose a delivery service or create your own to offer hot food options to customers who don’t or can’t leave the house when it starts to snow. 

 

Prepare for power outages.

If you live in a cold climate, you may experience seasonal power outages which can lead to thousands of dollars in lost revenue, depending on how long your restaurant is closed. By investing in a backup generator and performing preventative maintenance on your electrical and HVAC systems, you can prevent unwanted closures during your busiest time. 

 

Set up a cozy outdoor space. 

Just because it’s cold out, it doesn’t mean you can’t still utilize outdoor dining spaces. Transform your outdoor space with fire pits and heaters to create a space that is cozy and relaxed. This is great for bars and other casual eateries where guests can mingle by the firepit and relax no matter the temperature outside. 

 

Schedule a piping check-up.

Pipes can freeze and burst in the winter which can spell disaster for your restaurant. Schedule plumbing maintenance checks to ensure your pipe insulation is still intact to prevent unwanted problems in the kitchen later. 

 

MaintenX can help you prepare your interior and exterior building for holiday rushes and more. If you’re interested in scheduling heater, plumbing, or other preventative maintenance services, contact us today.