It’s a new year. How many of your company’s 2021’s facility maintenance goals weren’t achieved or even attempted?

When allowed to openly exist for an extended period, bad R&M habits gain a foothold and unknowingly will transform themselves into your company’s everyday standards. Conditions that were once unacceptable and requiring prompt resolution are now common and allowed without any regard. Diminishing the investment in your facility, retail location, office, etc. and sending the wrong message to employees and/or customers about your brand.

What is holding your company back from improving your building maintenance program in 2022? Are you or your company’s leadership taking the steps to correct its inefficiencies, eliminate wasteful spending and stop bad habits? Or are you starting to allow ‘comfort’ and a lack of pressure from above to eliminate facilities maintenance complacency?

If change is needed, here are some suggestions to start your business down the path towards improving.

• What are your company’s goals as it relates to brick-and-mortar real estate assets?
  • Maybe separate them based on what is realistic in the short term versus long term.
• Establish a plan that is achievable and sustainable.
  • How many times are repairs ignored not because of a budget restriction, but because the process is just too time-consuming or challenging?
  • Ask for feedback from those responsible for initiating service requests. Their input can only help to best understand the real experience of resolving break/fix repair matters.
• Source good contractor partners.
  • Don’t just focus on the internal part of the formula. Creating an effective work order request system is great if you have the right people to send those work orders to.
  • Work to form partnerships with external facility maintenance companies that provide real value and truly fit within your facility’s ecosystem.

Building out a building maintenance program is never as easy as it seems it should be. Take small steps and if your plan isn’t working, make the necessary adjustments. There are a lot of moving parts, especially if you have a widespread portfolio of sites to manage. Don’t let 2022 pass by without at least trying to improve. Once it’s up and running successfully, you’ll be so glad you did.