There’s a lot to be said for planning ahead when it comes to stretching your facility maintenance budget. In fact, it’s recommended that you start devising a budget for any given year at least 10 months in advance. That way, you can anticipate maintenance operations costs ahead of time.

Here are five facility maintenance budget planning tips that you should start implementing today!

1. Look at Past Financial Records

The past is one of the best indicators of the future. Look at your past financial records to see what certain services have historically cost your organization. Note if there were any odd fluctuations in price, including sharp increases or decreases. This may indicate you’re paying for services you don’t want (or need), or may be missing out on services you do in fact need. On the other hand, if the price of services has stayed the same or gradually increased little by little over time (due to inflation, add-ons you requested, etc.) you’ll have a good idea of what the price will be in the coming year. Remember, you can always contact your vendor for an estimate of costs for the next cycle.

2. Track Current Operations Conditions

What is it costing you to operate and maintain your facility? Look at all current operations conditions and how much you’re spending on regular, scheduled, reactive, and preventative maintenance. From there you can see if there are any events occurring with some regularity that you can plan for ahead of time next year. For example, maybe there is a piece of equipment that seems to need to be serviced every few months. By keeping that in mind for the following year, you can have it serviced before it shuts down and hinders productivity.

3. Ask Your Team Members

As FacilitiesNet point out that one person can’t take on all aspects of facility maintenance, especially when it comes to budgeting. That’s why it’s incredibly important you ask your team members for their valuable insight into your facility’s various operating departments.

Reach out to supervisors and managers for recommendations on what in their particular department should be prioritized when it comes to the budget. After all, these employees are your eyes and ears; the people on the ground floor monitoring their individual department’s consumption on a daily basis.

4. Shift Your Mindset from Operations to Strategy

Instead of solely focusing on the operations you’ll need to include in your facility maintenance budget, take a step back and look at your overall strategy. Are you spending a lot of money on reactive maintenance, instead of investing more in preventative maintenance programs? Look for areas in which you may be able to decrease your spending by adjusting your overall strategy.

5. Use Tactical Organization

Using tactical organization can help improve facilities management overall. By determining short-term tactical plans, including the prioritization of annual facility-related projects, you’ll be better prepared to budget for them. Some things to consider include operational, building, floor, and stacking plans, maintenance schedules, occupancy charts, architectural configurations and operating budget.

Conclusion

By referencing past financial records, tracking current operations conditions, getting insight from your team members, shifting your mindset from operations to strategy and using tactical organization, you’ll be able to prepare an informed budget plan; a plan you can adjust as the year in question approaches.

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Contact Us for additional budget planning tips.

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