April 13, 2022
13 Facility Services Solutions to Choose From for Building Maintenance
There are many facility services that building maintenance can require. It is best to do some research in order to select the right company to provide for your needs. We have gathered some tips and insights to guide your decision.
Facility Security Services
Facility security has always been critical and is even moreso at the moment. These issues, along with uncertain times, make it even more important to consider security-related facility services.
There are several elements a security company will have you consider. Here are some elements to help increase your overall security:
- New and updated locks to secure commercial doors
- Modern cameras and alarm systems
- Secure fences around the perimeter
- Quality lighting in strategic places
These measures, when done correctly, may help reduce the insurance costs on your business property. In addition, you may need to ask yourself if you will need additional facility management security. This needs to be worked out directly with the owners of the facility you manage.
Commercial Landscaping Services
One of the first things to study when considering commercial landscaping service companies is if they offer the services you need. It is common to think all commercial landscaping companies offer the same services.
Some of the common services most landscaping companies offer are:
Landscape Design
This is where your site will be evaluated and plans made to create a polished look or “curb appeal”. You may also consider more comprehensive plans, such as amenities with patios and seating areas, outdoor kitchens, fire pits, grilling stations, and more.
Landscape Maintenance
These services are for edging, mowing, weeding, pruning, and trimming your lawn to look better. You will also see ornamental programs, seasonal color and turf suggestions depending on your geographic location.
Landscape Construction
This will cover hydroseeding, planting, water features, turf installations, retaining walls, erosion control, hardscapes, outdoor amenity installation, and drainage evaluation.
Lighting and Irrigation
This can include upgrades and repairs, installation, maintenance, and suggestions for improved lighting and more efficient water usage.
Snow and Ice Removal
This helps with plowing, clearing walkways, and applying ice preventatives.
Landscape Enhancement
This service includes designing the aesthetic and using seasonal color, baskets, or planters for a polished look. This may also include tree removal and tree trimming.
Is the Company Sustainable?
You should also consider if the commercial landscaping company will sustainably provide services. Creating a landscape that is energy-efficient, cost-effective, and water-saving is good for your bottom line as well as the environment.
Your landscaping company should have sustainability in mind, everything from plants to materials. It is also important to consider what they do for their water plans.
What to Ask Your Potential Landscaping Company
- What plants can you recommend to grow on your property?
- Where do your plants come from? Do you have native species?
- What irrigation and light programs help them be more efficient?
- What recycling does the company do? For example, how do they dispose of branches, leaves, and clippings?
Be sure to check on the proper licensing and certification your landscaping company has. What industry qualifications they hold? Do they have affiliations and insurance? Are there any subcontractors used? You also want to know if you’ll have an account manager and an idea of pricing.
Commercial HVAC Services
Heating, ventilation, and cooling are what HVAC stands for. This is one of the most important places to invest in maintenance.
There are basics that every HVAC contractor should have, regardless of commercial or residential HVAC services. These are the key things to look for:
- Consistent customer satisfaction
- Technicians, certified and professional
- Solid HVAC experience
- Free estimates and fair pricing
- Efficient, courteous, and fast service
- Factory training
- Personalized suggestions
- Recognition in the industry and awards
Specific Commercial HVAC Qualities
Commercial HVAC requires specialized skills, expertise, and training. This means the company you hire for facility services must completely understand government and industry standards and how they affect your customer.
A few other things to consider with your commercial HVAC company include:
- Professional affiliations and memberships
- Local reputable business references
- Solid understanding of commercial spaces
- Solid experience with commercial HVAC systems
- Specialized knowledge with commercial HVAC systems
Be sure to work with a company that is skillful and understands quality while maintaining a budget. Don’t skimp on the interview process. You want to work with a competent company.
Commercial Plumbing Services
Commercial plumbing and residential plumbing look fairly similar. The main difference is that commercial plumbing is on a larger scale, with larger potential challenge. Before reaching out to a plumber, you need to know how to select the best for the facility you manage.
Check Their Credentials
Before you hire, verify the extensive commercial plumbing background the company should have. Commercial systems have a higher risk for problems; therefore, you need to check that your company is licensed and insured. A clogged drain in a commercial system means a more complex set of challenges than a clog in a residential home.
If it is new construction, be sure you are working with a professional commercial plumbing company. Ask what businesses they have worked for, including buildings, and call their references. This is important whether dealing with a commercial kitchen in need of grease traps, working through replacing gas lines, or public restroom issues.
Apartment buildings have their own set of challenges. Consider asking local businesses who they recommend and trust with their plumbing issues.
Commercial Handyman Services
Commercial handyman tasks are more than hanging a picture on the wall. It is electrical work, plumbing, spackle, and any of the odds and ends you need to be done. When you manage a property, you always have multiple activities going on. Between inventory, employee management, keeping customers satisfied, and any bookkeeping, there is rarely time left for repairs. That is why you need to have a quality commercial handyman service available. With a comprehensive, qualified facility management team, you can focus on running the business rather than making repairs.
Minor Repairs
You will need to have a company that can easily help with minor repairs such as cracked door framing, vent installation, replacing light bulbs, or any of the other minor fixes that crop up along the way. Even with these minor inconveniences, you need a maintenance specialist who is capable and understands regulations in commercial buildings.
Repairing different wood problems and fixing floors, tables, or windows are common carpentry issues. Be sure to ask what they can handle and what is outside their expertise.
Every facility management plan should include commercial handyman services. These providers generally have some training in electrical, plumbing, carpentry, flooring, appliance repairs, and other problems that crop up in your commercial building.
Finding the right commercial handyman services is another area that begins with looking to local businesses for referrals. This is the best place to start.
Commercial Janitorial Services
Commercial janitorial services have obvious differences from residential cleaning. Research suggests that lower prices are not considered to represent quality in consumers’ eyes. Looking for the cheapest will not get you the results you are after.
Commercial janitorial service providers tend to take great pride in having quality services, being reliable, and meeting your expectations. You can ask questions about their specific provisions, but the best place to start is by asking for references. Getting testimonials from other businesses that have used their services is the best indication of how well they perform.
Be sure to ask about the pricing structure. Your commercial cleaning company should be able to give you a clear and concise estimate with easy-to-understand pricing. If the company you are interviewing doesn’t have clear pricing, they likely do not understand how to price their services accurately. If their prices are unclear, they may be leaving room to hide extra charges.
Clear pricing comes from the following factors:
- Facility types such as hospitality, healthcare, retail, or manufacturing
- Finishes for your floors as this affects whether they need to provide tile brushing, scrubbing, or carpet cleaning
- Clear expectations and what happens to incur upcharges
- How often do you expect the service and how many consumable projects are used? Do you need them weekly or monthly? Will they supply toilet paper, sanitizers, towels, other supplies?
- Check their health and safety procedures. This is another area you want to make sure you and the company have the same expectations.
Commercial Asphalt Services
Choosing the best commercial asphalt services will require some research. Consider the following tips while doing so.
- From parking lot repair to cracks in retainer walls, your company should have references, and you need to follow up and check with them.
- Make sure to check the online reviews when selecting your services. Do not discount them just because there is a poor review; check the rest of the reviews. If the company has responded to the review, read the response.
- Verify certifications and licenses. You should also get a selection of estimates from several contractors. Make sure that when you get referrals, you communicate your expectations well and ask questions about the company’s work.
Commercial Flooring Services
When deciding on a commercial flooring company, you need to check their experience. Secure information on where, when, and how many clients they have worked with and what kind of flooring they have installed and maintained. You should also make sure they have laid floors for companies in your industry. This is because every industry comes with its own set of nuances.
For instance, when companies have laid flooring in the healthcare facility, contractors will know how to help with fall prevention, masking noise, and infection control.
Another set of specific needs comes with therapy rooms or gym floors. You need to work with a company with experience in these areas for their specific subfloor and moisture mitigation needs. If you go with a company that doesn’t have experience here, you may have a poor result.
You will want to check your contractor’s reputation in this area. They should have good reviews backing their experience. Do some research to understand what is needed. Check if your commercial flooring contractor will have the right products and if they are up-to-date on the latest requirements.
Commercial Electrician Services
There are many factors to consider with your commercial electrician services. The first and most important is that the company you are working with is licensed, bonded, and insured.
When you interview your electrician, you should consider these factors:
- Certifications
- Safety protocols
- Experience
- Insurance coverage
Remember that electrocutions are responsible for three hundred fatalities on the job every year. Make sure your contractor has general liability coverage and worker’s compensation. These will protect you from legal and financial liability if technicians are injured on your property.
Emergency Electrician Services
You need to ask what hours their company offers commercial electrical services. If you have an electrical emergency, you will need to react quickly, to avoid injury. Ask to see their hours of operation and if they offer emergency services 24/7. When asking these questions, follow up with the best ways to communicate to get the fastest response.
Reputation
As with other facility services areas, always check their online reputation. Ask what local businesses they work with and follow up by checking their satisfaction ratings. Read through reviews and testimonials. These reviews can help you avoid a serious mistake.
Price Quotes
You need to have clear quotes on what they will charge. Remember that cost depends on the complexity, scope, and nature of the problem. Quotes should have a timeline and cost for the work so that you can compare it to others.
Commercial Roofing Services
You will need a range of commercial roofing services, including installation, inspection, maintenance, and repairs. Ideally, you want to find a facility services company that offers these services. This will save you the hassle of having to hire multiple companies.
Why Roof Inspections Matter
Never underestimate the importance of roof inspections to avoid safety issues.
Inspections allow commercial roofing professionals to spot potential problems early. This gives them the opportunity to fix the issue while it is still minor. It will be more challenging, time-consuming, and expensive to fix if you let the problem get worse.
Roofing is also crucial for the safety and overall functionality of the business. Even if your roof isn’t accessible to most people, damage to it can cause leaks that damage other areas of the building.
Commercial Painting Services
Your commercial painting services will be either interior or exterior. Most commercial painters will also offer related services, such as fixing small holes with drywall, repairing masonry, and power washing.
If you need these additional services, explicitly ask your chosen painting company if they offer them.
Importance of Commercial Painting
The biggest reason to ensure you have a commercial painting company on your list of facility service providers is to ensure the property always looks good. A fresh coat of paint helps create a positive first impression.
This is crucial regardless of the type of company operating in the building. If customers or clients visit the property, a professional paint job indicates an attention to detail and focus on quality. Even if only employees visit the facility, working at a property that looks professional and well-maintained should boost morale and productivity. This reflects well on your ability to manage the facility.
Commercial Signage Services
Commercial signage services help ensure that your facility is easily recognizable. This is important when clients, vendors, or anyone else visits your property. Having quality signage prevents potential customers from leaving due to not finding your location.
It also helps with branding for the business. That, in turn, highlights your abilities as a facilities manager.
When choosing your commercial signage company, you want to look for similar factors as you would for other facility services, such as:
- Range of signs offered, and whether they fit your needs
- Reputation
- Experience
- Pricing
- Customer service
- Licensing
- Insurance
- Handling of permits
Commercial Window Cleaning Services
Like painting, commercial window cleaning services are one of the facility services that help the property make a strong first impression. Buildings with clean windows are better-perceived, and this extends to the business.
Keeping the windows clean will also improve energy efficiency and reduce costs. After all, clean windows let natural sunlight stream in more easily, reducing the need to spend money on lighting.
Window cleaning is one of the services you may feel tempted to handle yourself, especially if your building is only one or two stories and the windows open so you can access both sides. However, it is best left to the professionals for safety reasons. Professionals will already have the gear and know-how to stay safe while cleaning windows regardless of your building’s height.
Conclusion
As a facility manager, you have numerous responsibilities. Hiring companies to handle the various facility services lets you focus on organizational tasks, budgeting, and other crucial tasks. You also get the reassurance that everything will be completed to the high standard that only a professional can deliver.