Does your facilities program choose its partners based on cost or value? There is a BIG difference.

We are fortunate to meet with a diverse group of property managers and facility managers who are exploring solutions to their R&M pain points. Whether they are long-term, established companies or early stage start-ups, very few feel they have the perfect system. What exactly dictates their ability to inch closer to their ‘perfection’ could all be in their priorities.

More often than not, we meet with potential customers who have reached out to us due to their recognition of the failures in their company’s general repair structure. We’ll discuss the lack of responsiveness, poor quality and/or wasteful spending. Take it a step further and more often than not, they’ll identify that one of their major faults is that service requests are made by managers that have little to zero building maintenance experience. How do they know the questions that’ll confirm all available options have been presented? Are they expected to know fair labor rates and materials charges? And if they do, can they afford the time spent away from their core responsibilities to vet these concerns every time a repair is needed.

When you take all of that into consideration, and trust us, there’s more, does just choosing a maintenance company with the lowest hourly rates make sense? Don’t you want to understand the character of the team and leadership that you are partnering with? What kind of response times can you expect and what level of counsel can they provide? What’s their customer service like – especially when there’s a problem? Is there a sincere commitment to delivering proactive communications and quality assurance? If you factor in all phases of what it takes to successfully run a single maintenance request, including the aspects that can’t be quantified, the cheapest option most likely cannot consistently deliver the best experience and benefit. Especially where volume and variables are present.

If it’s just a matter of finding the cheapest, there is no shortage of people promising low hourly rates. However, odds are that if they are busy selling you on low rates, that’s all you’ll be getting. Focus on the whole package and that’s where you’ll find long-term, sustainable value and company savings.