Category: Facilities Management

New Year’s Resolutions are a touchy subject for many. Most of us fail to implement them past January or have trouble coming up with ones that are truly meaningful. As a business, it can be even more difficult to decide what to keep and what to change about your company’s culture and operations as the new year rolls around. 

 

At MaintenX, we are always striving to improve upon our practices every year. Our maintenance strategy is all about preventing emergency repairs and reducing costs, which helps you create a better working environment for all. If you’re looking to improve your maintenance program this year, follow these tips we use with our teams to streamline your efforts in 2022:

 

Clear out your backlog

How often do you actually address the maintenance requests in your backlog? If you’re like most companies, you only do it when you have an overflow of service requests or when someone from the maintenance department asks you repeatedly. Instead of waiting, why not clear out the backlog this January to make things easier all year long?

 

Meet with your maintenance team more regularly

Preventative maintenance can get lost in the sea of daily to-dos if you don’t make time to meet regularly with your maintenance team. Instead of hoping your preventative care schedule falls into place, make time for it now by scheduling regular meetings with your MaintenX team. If you plan them early, you can make it easier for yourself to stick to the plan throughout the year. 

 

Invest in one energy-efficient upgrade this year

Making room in the budget for nicer upgrades can be difficult, especially if you have more pressing repairs and expenses to take care of. However, by investing in energy-efficient upgrades, you can help save your company money in the long term by reducing energy costs and improving the service life of your equipment.

 

Creating good maintenance habits starts with the right mindset at the beginning of the year. MaintenX can help make it easier for you by scheduling preventative repairs based on past services, and help guide you toward a more manageable maintenance schedule.

Requesting funding for maintenance repairs is one of the more difficult tasks for the facility manager to accomplish. As part of the management team, they need to advocate for their maintenance team’s needs. However, upper management rarely wants to shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars on things like new plumbing or an energy-efficient HVAC system. 

 

These unglamorous purchases are essential to business function but don’t present the flashy ROI or sales numbers of other investments. Therefore, as the facility manager, you need to create a convincing case for your facility upgrade. If you’re struggling to create a convincing proposal, here’s what you can do: 

 

Highlight the cost savings vs. initial investment. 

A pricey energy-efficient upgrade to your facility can seem like an unnecessary expense in the eyes of upper management. However, if you can prove that this new repair will pay for itself in cost-savings, you make it much more difficult for them to say no. 

 

Gain employee or customer support. 

Upgrading to a new HVAC system may seem unnecessary, that is until you have an army of employees who can attest to the poor indoor air quality or climate control experienced throughout your facility. Upper management may say no to a plumbing upgrade until you point out our bad online reviews linked to a leaky faucet or backed up toilet. By showing the human impact of your new maintenance upgrade, you can make a more convincing case for the financial investment. 

 

Highlight environmental benefits. 

If you’re pushing for solar panel roofing, an energy-efficient HVAC system, or smart lighting, show how your proposed investment will improve the reputation of your business for its commitment to sustainability. Even the smallest upgrades to environmentally-conscious appliances matter to consumers, and they can make your business stand out from the rest. 

 

Pitch in advance.

As the facility manager, you should have a plan in place for when you need to replace different pieces of facility equipment. Rather than pitching the upgrades when they’re needed, ask for them well in advance. This allows the decision-maker to plan the upgrade into next year’s budget rather than subtracting from their current needs and demands. 

 

Maintenance upgrades can be made glamorous with the right mindset. If you are looking to upgrade some of your facility equipment, contact MaintenX today to consult with a professional on your options.

At MaintenX, we talk a lot about preventative maintenance as the best way to keep your facility in good health. However, preventative care is not the only viable maintenance strategy, nor is it the right one for all facilities. In this guide, we’ll discuss some of the different types of maintenance strategies you can employ at your facility, and how to determine which is right for you. 

 

Why Maintenance Isn’t a One-Size-Fits-All Solution

 

In general, it’s safe to say that being proactive with your maintenance strategy is better than reactive maintenance. It can save you on expensive emergency repairs and ensure your equipment reaches its maximum service life. However, preventative maintenance isn’t always right for certain pieces of equipment or facility operations. 

 

In some cases, run-to-fail maintenance can be most efficient for non-critical or older equipment. Prescriptive maintenance, which differs slightly from preventative maintenance, can also be implemented in order to streamline your preventative care. Below are descriptions of the three primary maintenance strategies, and when they are most beneficial to businesses: 

 

• Run-to-fail (reactive) maintenance – This is a “no strategy” strategy, where the maintenance team is called only when a breakdown occurs. This is the cheapest option in the short term, but costs will accrue over time. Reactive repairs are typically more expensive, which makes this a poor long-term strategy. However, some pieces of equipment are not important enough to perform preventative care (light switches, for example, do not need preventative care — lights can be switched when they go out). 

 

• Preventative maintenance – Preventative maintenance is the most popular maintenance strategy. It incorporates cost-saving strategies that are easy to turn into routines, and reliably prevents unexpected breakdowns. However, it takes time to build a comprehensive maintenance strategy. Working with your MaintenX team you can continually improve preventative care for your facility’s specific needs. 

 

• Predictive/prescriptive maintenance – Predictive maintenance is similar to preventative maintenance, but relies on machine learning and sensory output to predict when machines will fail, and what preventative measures can be prescribed to extend service life. This strategy is the most advanced and effective but is not always practical for smaller facilities. Unless you operate an extensive manufacturing site or have a business that operates 24/7, this level of preventative care is often not necessary in order to keep your equipment in good shape. 

 

Most companies graduate” from reactive to preventative to predictive and prescriptive maintenance. These strategies increase in cost and complexity, which is why new maintenance teams can’t jump straight into prescriptive strategies. They must first learn the needs of the facility through reactive and then preventative maintenance before they can begin to predict and resolve solutions before they happen. 

 

The more MaintenX works with your facility, the better prescriptive solutions we can create for your business. However, we always start with preventative maintenance to get you on track to your overall company goals.

Every commercial facility needs a detailed and strategically designed maintenance policy for their outsourced contractors and in-house janitorial staff. This policy covers not only “big picture” goals and strategies but rules for safety and maintenance practice. It instills the company values from the ground up by ensuring that maintenance services are performed in alignment with your greater goals. However, your maintenance policy can’t do these things if it has been created for regulation compliance and cost-savings only. 

 

Your maintenance policy should not be a stagnant document that is only read once a year. It should be a living, breathing document that is referenced often to determine the best strategies for your maintenance team. It should also be used when trying to set and accomplish maintenance goals for the year, such as reducing costs or purchasing new equipment. 

 

Six Necessary Elements of Your Maintenance Policy

When writing or updating your maintenance plan, your primary focus should be the six elements below. They will outline all the necessary protocols for your maintenance team. Plus, they can be used by upper management for strategy, budgeting, and risk management for facility assets. 

• Risk analysis – Risk analysis in maintenance includes risk descriptions, assessments, and acceptance of certain maintenance strategies and equipment chosen for your facility. The analysis should be the primary guiding factor in choosing different maintenance strategies as well as bigger-picture goals for your maintenance team. 

 

• Regulatory compliance and safety protocols – These should be at the forefront of your maintenance policy, as safety protocols and regulatory compliance policies are the ones that prevent injuries, reduce costs, and keep your business in check. 

 

• Maintenance costs – Defining your maintenance costs — both reactive and preventative — can give you a better understanding of why a specific maintenance budget is needed, and when funds should be allocated for equipment upgrades. 

 

• Management protocols – Your upper management within the organization is equally involved in the maintenance department as the maintenance staff. They should be involved in ground-floor decisions, and be educated on the needs of the maintenance team in order to integrate their work into the business’ overall direction. 

 

• Performance monitoring – Performance monitoring should be a required part of maintenance review and protocols. It can help you understand what’s lacking in your maintenance plan, and what needs to be changed in the upcoming year as you adjust your preventative care services. 

 

• Contracting and procurement of service – Employees need to know who to call and how to submit service requests when maintenance services are needed. By outlining what contractors you use, and what services are required from them can streamline your maintenance outsourcing for better results. 

 

MaintenX can help you improve your maintenance policies by providing a comprehensive preventative care plan for your facility. To learn more about our preventative maintenance services, contact us today!

In almost every commercial application, the success of the facility depends on the reliability of equipment. Without a properly functioning kitchen system, a restaurant cannot create a worthwhile customer experience. Without a highly functional warehouse, a retail outlet cannot maintain inventory and keep its sales evergreen. And, no commercial facility can function without a properly maintained HVAC, plumbing, electrical, or roofing system. 

 

Proper functionality and performance start with the right preventative care. If you want to reduce downtime and extend the service life of your facility equipment, here’s what you need to do: 

 

Write manufacturer recommendations into your maintenance plan. 

We often think we know best when it comes to the maintenance of our facility. However, the manufacturer of your equipment should be the authority for preventative maintenance required for certain assets. By incorporating these recommendations into your facility’s maintenance schedule you can make preventative care simpler to stick to. 

 

Don’t over- or underuse assets. 

Most facilities either run their machinery to the ground or fail to utilize or maintain it properly. For example, some areas of your facility will be in use on a daily basis, leaving very little time for maintenance and repairs. The areas of your facility that are underused are often neglected in the maintenance plan because they are seen as unimportant. Both actions, however, will affect your facility as a whole. Total facility maintenance instead, should be conducted on a regular basis to ensure everything is in working condition whenever it is used. 

 

Choose the right equipment and upgrades. 

Maintenance services will only go so far on poor or outdated appliances. If you want your facility to improve the longer you’re in business, be mindful of opportune times to invest in upgrades for your HVAC system, electrical system, and plumbing. 

 

Communicate with your MaintenX team. 

Communication is most often the missing ingredient to a high-performing maintenance team. By addressing issues immediately and building rapport with your local MaintenX, you can avoid costly downtime and improve your asset performance incrementally. MaintenX is here to serve your facility for the long haul, so never hesitate to call us to see what more we can do for your building. 

 

To learn more about ways you can improve asset performance with preventative care, visit our Resource Center or contact us today.

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.