How proactive maintenance strategies maintain the building value, assist the management team and benefit the residence.

Summary:

• What is a Planned Preventative Maintenance schedule?
• What are the downsides to a reactive approach to maintenance?
• What are the benefits of a detailed PPM schedule?
• How to get the most out of the PPM schedule

What is a Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) schedule?

Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) is a proven way to maintain your buildings by scheduling maintenance tasks ahead of time, taking place on a regular basis. These tasks are typically booked in for a 12 month period, and are undertaken regardless if the asset is failing or not often dealing with any problems on site before they occurs or develops. This way of maintaining assets also significantly reduces the chances of an unexpected breakdown.

The scheduling of the works is carefully planned to reflect the manufacturers recommendations as well as legal obligations the building has.

What are the risks of not having a PPM strategy?

A building without a scheduled PPM strategy will typically be maintaining the building on a reactive basis only. This essentially means running all assets until failure, where they will then be either repaired or replaced.

This strategy, can potentially save on some initial financial commitments however after a very short period of time that saving has been wiped out. Waiting for assets to fail before replacing them will almost always end up costing more than maintaining them in the first place. PPM creates savings against reactive repairs, for example a building could have a roof leak. Over a period of time this leak can start to damage the roof, the insulation or even the supporting structure – If there was no PPM in place this could develop into a much larger problem.

The impact of unscheduled works, can also reflect in having unsightly reactive works going ahead at very late, or no notice to the residence. Waiting for an asset to fail could mean that there are intrusive, emergency works that are forced to go ahead, that ultimately disappoint or cause an inconvenience for the residents which can affect the buildings reputation and potential renewals of rental contracts.

What are the benefits of a detailed PPM schedule?

There are two main benefits in having PPM contracts, one of which is budget certainty – Ahead of time management knows what the annual cost of running the building is, you can accurately create a budget and know where you stand for the year. Unfortunately, there are always times when reactive works will have to take place, parts can fail, there can be elements that need to be repaired that are identified from the PPM works. While these are an “additional” cost to the PPM they will often be cheaper Vs leaving the asset to fail rather than repairing it as the issues are identified.

The other benefit comes in the form of peace of mind. Having a PPM schedule that properly manages the building means that the staff, and residents know the building is being maintained correctly. No one is waiting for an asset to fail, knowing that it could be a huge issue for the site (for example a boiler system breaking in an BtR apartment block) This could mean that residents have no access to hot water for days while emergency work is being undertaken.

We also see other benefits, such as the overall visual impact that PPM has on the façade of the building ensuring that the high standards that are on the inside of the building are kept for the outside too. With the PPM having a direct impact on the building integrity as a whole it’s vital that it’s kept on top of to increase the lifespan of the building as long as possible, while simultaneously keeping it as attractive to potential residents for as long as possible.

How to get the most out of the PPM schedule

The best PPM schedule is a comprehensive one, that covers all elements of the building management. There isn’t much sense in only including half the assets as you don’t know which ones could fail, or start to fail. When partnering with a Facilities Management/PPM company it’s important to have a clear understanding of what assets need to be managed, this should be a two way conversation, with the FM company using their experience to recommend what needs maintaining (and how often) and the input from the on site staff who can guide the FM company through the site letting them know any problem areas, as well as giving them an idea of the site as a whole.

The communication between the FM company and the on site staff is key to making the PPM schedule work as smoothly as possible, there will be times where the FM company may be trusted on site alone to complete works, raise issues, and even be dealing with residence on site. There should be a close working relationship between the two parties, with work dates booked in advance for the PPM works so there are no nasty surprises on site.