Pros and Cons of Reactive Property Maintenance

Posted on July 12, 2017 in Building Maintenance

Reactive Property Maintenance

Reactive maintenance is the process of reacting to failed, ineffective or damaged equipment. It focuses on restoring the property and equipment to its normal condition, or replacing the equipment all together.

There are many objections to this method, as well as advantages. Here we will discuss the disadvantages and advantages of reactive property maintenance.

Advantages

• Low initial cost – Initially the start-up cost is low because this methods allows you to wait until something is broken before repairing it. This reduces the cost that you would put into regularly maintaining the building.
• Requires less staff – Since you wait until the equipment fails or areas of your property break deteriorate, less man power is needed within your work place. Most reactive maintenance is outsourced to other companies. Also because you do not have planned maintenance, less workers are needed to carry out duties, and therefore you can save on payroll.
• Reduced maintenance – With the “run until it fails” method, there is a large reduction in planned maintenance. You choose to not have regular service checks on your equipment or around your building. Also leading to only spending when necessary.

Disadvantages

• No budget control – When planning a budget, it will be hard to know how much to set aside for reactive maintenance. It could cost more for last minute fixes and companies can charge more because you are desperate for an immediate fix. In some months you may require no fixes, however other months will cost you way more than you could have planned for.
• Shorter equipment life – Because of no planned maintenance, your equipment is working day to day, only being fixed when desperately needed. This causes small fixes to be overlooked and reduce your equipment’s lifetime. Furthermore, due to the bear minimum being done to keep equipment working, the equipment will not return initial capital cost. Along with this, you will occur repeat issues that have been looked over before.
• Energy cost – Equipment that is not well maintenance drains more energy the older it gets. Because you choose to not keep your equipment in the best shape possible always, it will drain more and more energy as it starts to have more and more problems.
• Time consuming – When your equipment breaks down it puts a halt to all of the work being done. There is travel time put into running back and forth to get another piece of equipment, and in the event you do not have a replacement, you will have to stop all work until the equipment is fixed. Therefore sending off equipment to get fixed could take up to a few weeks if parts needed to fix it are missing. Along with this if areas in your building start to fall apart, it takes more time for engineers to come in and fix the structures. For example, without proper roof care, it could lead to water leaks and moulding. Once discovered, you will have to close the premises for the health and safety of your staff, and wait for the leaks to be fixed.
• Indirect cost – If your equipment fails during a vital job, it could have negative effects on your reputation, and safety issues. Also with equipment downtime, you could be losing work and other projects. Building functionality is vital to any professional workspace. Small breaks and mishaps within the infrastructure of any building could lead to problems such as light life or building life, causing small cost here and there. These small cost will start to add up over time, if not taken care of properly.

Alternative

An alternative to reactive property maintenance is to invest in planned and preventative maintenance. Although this method also has its pros and cons, it was created to help prevent last minute fixes. However, you must always factor in reactive maintenance for last minute emergencies on situations that you can not control.

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