Businesses need to keep their premises running to continue with their operations. This can involve a lot of different maintenance tasks, from keeping bathrooms stocked to changing light bulbs and making repairs. Depending on the size of your facilities, you could spend a lot of time and money maintaining everything. You might have a dedicated maintenance person or company, as well as cleaners to keep everything clean and hygienic. But you could still be spending a lot of money on getting these things done and keeping your business in good condition. If you want to save both time and money, there could be a number of ways for you to do it.
By Team Savant
Image: Jean-Philippe Delberghe
Use Facilities Management Services
If you want to make business maintenance more organised and save time and money at the same time, using a facilities management service is a good way to do it. Facilities management companies take care of all of the maintenance issues that your premises have so that you don't have to think about it. They can cover plumbing, electrics, hygiene, and other maintenance issues that you need to take care of for your business. These services can save you time and money, giving you all of the things that you need and removing the need to do your own planning and management.
Plan Preventative Maintenance
Whenever you need to keep something in good condition, it's always better to carry out preventative maintenance. This type of maintenance aims to keep everything running with regular checkups, servicing, and minor repairs so that you don't have to do major repairs later. The cost of preventative maintenance is much lower than having to carry out larger repairs when things go really wrong. If you have to do major repairs, it's not just the repairs themselves that cost money. You may also be unable to use equipment or space because it's out of commission while repairs are being carried out.
Carry Out Regular Inspections
Part of preventative maintenance is carrying out inspections of different parts of your business. When you inspect things for any faults or problems, you can correct them as quickly as possible. How often you inspect certain aspects of your business will depend on just what it is. Some things might need annual inspections, while other inspections need to be carried out more or less frequently. Make sure you have a schedule for inspections, as well as a plan in place for the steps to be triggered if any issues are raised.
Improve Access to Hard-to-Reach Places
One of the unexpected things that may make maintenance more expensive is when it's difficult to access certain areas. When access is tricky, it can make everything more time-consuming and expensive. Fortunately, there are ways to improve access and make it cheaper and quicker to get the job done. One option is to use drone surveys, which can allow you to access difficult areas while keeping everyone safe. Drones can be operated at a distance, so there's no need to get too close to any areas that might be dangerous. They can save you time and money.
Make It Easy to Report Problems
Even if you have official inspections carried out, sometimes your employees might spot problems before the next inspection is scheduled. When this happens, it should be easy for them to report the problem. The issue should then be logged and tracked until it is dealt with so that there is a clear process for dealing with any problems. Make sure that your employees know what they should do if they discover a problem, whether it's a piece of equipment not working or a light bulb that needs to be replaced. It should be quick and easy to report it.
Be Sure to Budget for Repairs and Maintenance
Image: Callum Hill
Money matters when it comes to maintenance and repairs for your business. If you don't budget for it, you could find a huge chunk of your money missing. And, of course, that will affect other areas of your business because the money you need is no longer there. When you're budgeting for your business, consider all aspects of maintenance, from the small to the large things. Regular maintenance and less frequent repairs are all equally important.
Manage Inventory of Items Carefully
Your business needs various items for maintenance, from cleaning products to toilet paper, light bulbs, and tools for making repairs. It's important to manage your inventory of items properly so that you always have what you need, but you don't have too much. Keep track of what you have and regularly check, so you know when to buy more supplies. You can even use software that gives you reminders or automatically reorders what you need when you need it.
Don't Forget About Equipment
The maintenance of your building and any structures is important, but you also need to remember any important equipment. Whether you have computers and office equipment or larger machinery, you need everything to keep working so that you can keep your business going. Your business equipment needs to have a servicing and maintenance schedule to prevent problems from occurring and catch issues before they get too expensive and time-consuming to fix. It's also useful if your employees can do some basic troubleshooting without help.
Make Use of Tech
You might also find that there are some types of technology that help with the maintenance of your business premises. Using the Internet of Things (IoT) and analytics, you can track and automate things to save time and money. It will make it easier to track the usage of certain utilities and automate things like lighting and HVAC so that you can increase energy efficiency and manage your budget more easily. To start with, you might find that management software makes it easier to keep track of how to effectively use and maintain your premises.
You can maintain your business while saving time and money on essential tasks. Look at your current costs and consider how they could be reduced.