Is Planned Preventative Property Maintenance Better than Reactive Maintenance

Posted on February 17, 2017 in Building Maintenance

Planned Preventative Property Maintenance

The maintenance of complex buildings and portfolios can be a major and unpredictable cost headache for property and facilities managers. Here we look at the benefits of planned preventative property maintenance.

Taking control of the process to secure adequate funds in advance, and then directing them to the optimum effect in meeting property needs, calls for a strategic and systematic approach.

However, when it comes to choosing which method of maintenance you should perform, it is hard to choose between reactive and planned preventative property maintenance.

There are many different factors that come into play. Here we discuss the pros and cons of planned preventative property maintenance. To find out more about reactive maintenance benefits and disadvantages click here.

Planned Preventative Property Maintenance is used to maximise an assets useful lifetime and minimise cost. Its purpose is to avoid unscheduled or un-planned breakdowns, where reactive maintenance is used.

Advantages:

  • Adds value to preserve and enhance property assets
  • Prevents large scale failure: A £500,000 roof timber replacement could have been prevented by a planned gutter cleaning regime of £500 a year
  • Less risk factor- Because the equipment and your building are being regularly checked, they are at less risk to breaking down without notice. Therefore creating a safer working environment for employees.
  • Follows a schedule- By following a schedule, you are able to keep to a budget while maintaining your building. Also you will be able to keep track of all your equipment and pin point times when you will need to replace your equipment.
  • Longer equipment/building life- When equipment is being checked and maintained, it will be kept in its best shape, therefore extending its lifetime. With routine check-ups on building parts such as pipes, boilers, and roofing you’ll extend the life of your building as well.
  • Money saving-Over time, you will see that less money is being spend because you will not have to replace equipment as much, as well as dealing with last minute break downs. While there still may be some unplanned maintenance needed, the likely hood will go down when the building and equipment are regularly checked. Property wise, you’ll be able to catch roof leaks before they escalate and quickly repair them before mould and debris occur.
  • Less energy wasting- In general when equipment is not kept in the best conditions possible, it will drain more energy, hiking up your utilities bill. With properly maintained equipment, it will be saving you energy and money. While regularly kept lighting and cooling/heating systems will also help reduce the energy bill.
  • Less disruptions- With regular checks, you won’t be surprised when something goes wrong. It will be a quick fix because you will know what needs to be done. There will not be problems when it comes to closing down your property and disrupting your workers, if a large problem were to occur.

Disadvantages:

  • More money upfront- When initially starting a preventative maintenance plan, it will cost you more to regularly maintain equipment and the building, than it would be if you waited for things to simply break down.
  • Over maintenance- Because there is a regular plan, sometimes items may not need to be checked as often as planned. If this is the case, you can change your maintenance plan to checking the specific equipment or areas less often, while still maintaining a schedule.
  • More workers- Preventative maintenance require more workers because regular checks are a must. When compared to reactive maintenance, you simply need to call someone in for a onetime fix. Instead this method requires workers to always be on site and perform daily works.

Find out more on why you should invest in preventative maintenance here or telephone 0845 604 1288 during normal office hours.