Proactive for your property – What you should expect from a facilities manager?

When you’re in charge of an entire building, including its systems, equipment, grounds, infrastructure, and equipment, there are a wide variety of tasks to tackle each day. If you have a full-time job as a practice manager, school bursar or office manager then adding facilities manager to your tasks may be one thing too many, and appointing a company to assist you may well answer some problems.

Facilities managers need to know more than how to spot problems or maintain the office grounds. They also need to have a view of the big picture. That should include an understanding of how staff or tenants use the building, and how they are regulated by local communities. Facilities managers must also understand how to manage the time available to make sure everything continues to work properly. The end goal for any business is to control costs, provide an efficient working environment and pleasant living spaces. An effective facilities management process is vital; it is seen as an integral part of the strategic and day-to-day operation of businesses, and not as an add-on. For a business to operate successfully and achieve objectives there must be processes in place that support your facilities management:

Health and Safety

By law, companies are required to assess workplace risks and take preventative action. As a business, to avoid a significant fine or possible prosecution, you should have a robust health and safety management system in place that protects your employees, visitors and the general public.

Maintenance

To keep a building looking its best and operating efficiently, being up to date with maintenance is vital. Property upkeep and maintenance is often part of the terms within an office building lease. It is therefore the duty of your business to oversee this maintenance process, whilst also making sure that conditions do not decline.

Planning

Managing facilities efficiently and effectively requires that a robust strategy is developed within the context of your organisation’s business plan. These should involve development of strategic objectives and a plan for facilities management.

Budgeting

Establishing a budget covering short term needs and best value over the long term is key to providing a basis for effective control of facilities management. Having a clear view of the expected costs of maintenance, and then including a contingency is essential to ensure that unexpected expenses don’t impact your potential business performance.

Express Property Services can provide a professional facilities management service for your site. We work with businesses of all sizes from single shops to multi-site companies. Our work covers Housing Associations, schools, medical practices and multi occupancy housing. Get in touch to learn how we can help you relieve the problems of managing your buildings.

Categorised in: Property Management

This post was written by Express Property Services