While colleges and universities have faced maintenance challenges for decades, recent trends have combined to elevate maintenance to a strategic imperative for senior leaders. Beyond tighter budgets and widening funding gaps, most institutions face the dual challenge of replacing or renovating aging buildings while maintaining newer “smart” buildings that require more frequent and complex upgrades.
Most significantly, the relationship among deferred, reactive, and preventive maintenance (PM) creates a multifaceted problem. As deferred maintenance backlogs grow and building systems begin to fail, Facilities must divert resources to reactive maintenance activities, which in turn leaves fewer resources for preventive maintenance.
This resource is part of The Essential Guide to Cost Containment Strategies for Higher Education. Access this guide for 500+ critical tactics for immediate and long-term cost savings.
Fortunately, preventive maintenance offers a clear and compelling return on investment. One organization found that for every $1 invested in PM, institutions save $2.73 in future reactive needs. To help Facilities leaders shift the balance from reactive to preventive maintenance, this report provides 11 executive-level best practices to improve the allocation of limited staff, data, and financial resources for preventive tasks.
Three themes central to maintenance challenge“It’s a whole lot better to get $10 million a year for 10 years than to get nothing for nine years and then have $100 million dumped on you all at once.”
Dennis Bailey, Senior Associate VP, Facilities Florida State University
As senior leaders in higher…