David Trask, National Director at ARC Facilities, sheds light on the crucial aspects of preventative and deferred equipment maintenance. He delves into the challenges organizations face, such as budget constraints, accurate information management, labor shortages, and the snowball effect of deferred maintenance.
Today's episode features one of our World Workplace speakers, David Trask, National Director at ARC Facilities. David sheds light on the crucial aspects of preventative and deferred equipment maintenance. He delves into the challenges organizations face, such as budget constraints, accurate information management, labor shortages, and the snowball effect of deferred maintenance. If you find today's episode intriguing, you won't want to miss his expertise at this year's World Workplace event in Denver, Colorado, taking place on September 27-29.
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David Trask: [00:00:00] Hello, my name is David Trask. I'm National Director over at ARC Facilities, and today we're going to talk about the challenges of preventative and deferred equipment maintenance. So, why is this topic so important right now? I have yet to talk to one organization, and I've had hundreds of these discussions over the last year, two years, and everybody's got this challenges.
I can't keep up with my PMS. I'm shoving things into deferred maintenance because I just don't have time or the money to really take action on these particular things. But this is a global struggle. This isn't just you. You're not alone. But most orgs put themselves into one of two categories. We're either in the proactive, Yeah, Or I'm in the reactive category, which category are you in the proactive where I'm planning ahead or are you in that, that where I'm just putting out fires nonstop.
So, again, I got [00:01:00] news for you, you're not alone, but even the proactive or still run into issues and there's just so many factors that can really play into that. But I call those the X factors or the unexpected things that happen. What that comes down to is like a fire or a a water leak or even more importantly, when a piece of a major equipment, piece of equipment fails or the entire system fails and it cascades on down.
Well, what are some of the biggest challenges when looking at preventative and deferred maintenance? Well, number one is budget. Budgets are under the microscope every year. And I got news for you. Your leadership is not in facilities and they don't understand facilities. You know, they're not a plumber.
They don't know the first thing about HVAC. They just know when something breaks, somebody's writing a check. But it's important for you to partner with your leadership so that when things happen, it's not a shock. They're, they, you've got to educate them on what systems [00:02:00] do what. And more importantly, if something happens, this is what that long term impact is.
Well, BOMA estimates that the repair and maintenance accounts for about 12% of the total budgets and estimates that preventative maintenance represents 30 to 50% of that cost. So, I also saw a report that said between 2 and 6% of an annual operating budget should be spent on preventative maintenance.
What's your number? What percentage are you spending on PMs? And also, how's that current deferred maintenance budget for you? Is it thousands, tens of thousands, or more like I hear most often, millions of dollars? Take a hard look at that. The second thing is acknowledging your information is a mess. And I hear this all the time, crap in, crap out, but it's time for us all to look in the mirror.
So [00:03:00] how many pieces of equipment are in your equipment list? How often do you field verify that information is accurate? How many times are you swapping something out in the field? Or one of your team goes up on a roof because something breaks and they pop an exhaust fan, they put a new one in and it's never documented, or they replace a motor someplace and it's never documented or a pump.
All right. How old is all of your equipment? Did you assign a date to that? An end of life date to that? Or did things move? Your buildings constantly change. So, how often are you going in and verifying that? And also, have you done a facilities condition assessment? I was talking to somebody just yesterday, actually, and they were telling me that they do them every five years.
And the challenge is that the information changes. It just changes. Okay. Stuff moves stuff gets replaced. [00:04:00] What do you do when that happens? How are you updating that? So one of the orgs that I spoke with the other day was a hospital. They moved eight exhaust fans and replaced one r t u on a roof in four months.
Not one of those items was updated in their C M S or into their BAS or into any other system. You know where it was? It was written down on a notepad in a guy's pocket. The guy who worked on that project. No one else had any of that information. So again, your buildings are a moving target.
Things are moving all the time. Things are changing all the time. But the problem is now pieces and parts of that information is all over the place. It may be in your work order system. It might be written into that spiral notebook in that guy's shirt pocket. Or maybe it's in a plan room. Or maybe it's in a binder someplace.
Or even in some cases I hear it's in a vendor's database someplace that you have a link that you click [00:05:00] on that goes to a vendor portal. There, there's some other issues with that too because that means the information's not yours. You're not in control of that information. We'll talk about that a little bit later but again, it's a moving target when things change.
But then there's also communication breakdowns within many orgs. Design, construction, facilities, space planning, all the different departments, in many cases, they don't communicate. So when facilities move something or facilities change something in the building, that's not. Traditionally distributed to all those other areas that could be impacted.
So what happens is the next project comes out. Facilities has changed some stuff. It was never relayed back to the design construction team. So now what happens is when they come out and they start breaking ground, ripping out walls, they find stuff that was moved that no one ever reported to the other side of the house.
That's a problem. So what those mean are [00:06:00] unforeseen condition change orders. But again, they don't talk, so also processes are often broken, but they can be fixed when we admit there's a problem in the first place. Right? We're all human, but the days of keeping cards to our department's vest are over.
Communication is the key. Then there's the other challenge of people. Many orgs are down 20 30% in headcount. And good luck trying to find HVAC techs or find an electrician. People are job hopping more than ever right now. Less people means less time to fix and maintain things. So the labor shortage, and again, I've heard people have open positions for two years, especially HVAC.
So everybody's doing more with less. Less people, less everything. And that's compounded with, you know, retirements, people leaving or people just take another job down the [00:07:00] street. They get a better paying job down the street. You know, people aren't as loyal as they used to be. And again, especially some of the folks coming into the industry, it's the next dollar an hour that they're chasing.
But again, you've got to make your system and your organization attractive for people to come. So, the other factor that we take into consideration when it comes to deferred maintenance and preventative maintenance is time, okay? If you're kicking the can down the road it can oftentimes just create a snowball effect.
You know, one, we're kicking that down. So we're not going to do anything. We're not going to replace that thing for a while. So what happens is when it fails, there's that cascade effect. Okay. And we all know that, you know, 80% on average of our calls are for hot, cold or water incidences, most places.
What's your average response time when something happens? Okay, somebody calls and says the air is not working in our building or the heat's not working in our [00:08:00] building and you go out there and that's one of the units that's on your pm or I'm sorry that's all you have a pm for it but it's actually on your deferred maintenance schedule and it fails.
All right, can you find parts? What's the lead time to get parts? Again, is that piece in your deferred maintenance? Or is that something you're just I often say these are the pieces of equipment that are just rusted out. They're rotting. They're held together by duct tape. All right. How much longer does it take to repair when your main plumber or your electricians out?
All right. You've got the new person that just started your electrician. Bob is on vacation. So the next guy is trying to go out there and fix something. How long does that take? What's that increased time? There's always an increase in time. Okay. But how much more time, again, does it take to repair or even do that PM?
Because those new people don't know where everything is in your building. All right they're hunting. Right. But again, they're [00:09:00] trying to find stuff to do their job. And also, what's that ramp up time? Again, you're seeing, it's all the, I keep saying time, but that's a factor in facilities. And when you're short staffed and you can't find stuff to do your job, That's a time suck.
Then there's the supply chain issues. We've got, everybody's got this, you know, equipment material costs are just through the roof. Look at your project costs. I've talked to a guy the other day that said he's paying right now about 40% over what they original budgeted for their project.
And good luck trying to find all the windows. I mean, it's crazy right now trying to find certain things. You know, some of the lead times on getting a VFD are 18 months, a chiller, 2 years, generators, 12 to 24 months. What are you seeing in your backyard? I know it varies from area to area but more importantly, everybody's trying to get the same stuff as you.
So again, It's a compounded challenge, but many orgs are also looking [00:10:00] at alternative things, like how can I refurbish some of my equipment? I talked to a lady the other day that said they're looking at refurbishing their chiller. And I said, well, what's that additional extended life going to be?
And there wasn't a solid answer but they can't get the new one for two years. So if that fails, if they either go down the refurb or it fails, they're going to have to rent something to bring it in for how long. And again, they can't even order it until, you know, until it fails. So it's a challenge, but other orgs I've talked to have said that they're actually looking for old units that they can part out, you know, and they're pulling it in.
They put it in a little in a warehouse or they put it next to the buildings. Now they've got this thing that's all rusted out, but it's got parts on it. Because they can't get new parts. Then there's the challenge with vendors. Okay. And again, a lot of people outsource a lot of different things in their org.
And there's nothing wrong with that. But keep in mind, there's a [00:11:00] couple of factors with that. Those vendors, in many cases, are trying to hire the same people you are. You know, again, trying to find people right now. Your vendors are in the same boat. So, what does that mean when you hire a third party vendor?
Well, today, I've got John. John may have been with me for a year, but John got another job down the road. So, now the vendor brings in the new guy or gal on that on their team. And again, it's they're in the same turnover issue that you've got those are also the people that traditionally will know where for instance Your babs are all at if you outsource that in health care i've talked to many orgs that are outsourcing different pieces and parts for their For their services, the service requests and their PM.
But the other thing I've heard too is outsourcing HVAC to the third party companies and think about all your locations. If you're spread out, how long does it take them to respond? How long does it take them to get there? Some of the benefits of preventative maintenance are Yeah, It [00:12:00] maximizes the lifespan of your equipment.
Get the full life you can. Even though it says, you know, five years, get, if you can get seven, that's a win. All right. You also have less equipment downtime and fewer interruptions. But that also helps you increase your response times, right? You, if the equipment's maintained well, you can go out there.
It's not usually going to be the major stuff that, that fails. And any little stuff you can fix it quickly because you've been maintaining that equipment. Improve deficiency and maximize. the operation of your equipment. You can also catch warning signs. I was actually in a penthouse on a hospital.
This is last year. I was in a penthouse on a hospital. I opened the door and it's dark. I'm looking for the light switch. I literally step over the ledge down into this room and my foot was about six inches underwater. All right. There's six HUs up there. There's electrical panels up there. Nobody had been up there [00:13:00] in a while because the guy who actually does maintain that was on vacation.
He'd been on vacation for two weeks, and that's what happened. Right now, thank God it's all in concrete. It didn't leak, but that's a safety thing too. Again, the challenges here are all the same. It's where is the stuff? Who's maintaining it? How is it maintained? Can you catch things when things happen?
Because you're doing that, that regularly scheduled maintenance, but you can also potentially by doing your PMs, you can potentially decrease the number of work orders for those hot cold calls for those water incidences because you're checking more often, but some of the impacts of deferred maintenance are you did decreases the life of that equipment and the potential increase costs of failures.
Okay, it always costs more when you kick that can down the road because one just the simple fact that it doesn't [00:14:00] cost It's going to cost more down the road than it does today costs are not going down long term extended costs I've heard on deferred maintenance compounds every year as much as seven percent All right.
It's a snowball that's increased everything associated with kicking that can down the road, but it can also cause complete system failures. It's again, that one thing goes down. The next thing goes down. It's that snowball. It's the domino effect. It can happen quickly.
Emergency repairs always cost more than those planned failures. Okay. They always cost more and there's also other potential risks with that potential regulatory fines, especially in health care, where it's so stringently regulated that if something isn't being maintained. And you keep kicking it down the road, you get written up for that.
What times are increased when [00:15:00] unexpected things break? Okay, that again, go back to the supply chain. How long does it take me to get the things to fix that? So, let's take a look at also, you know, what do we do? What is a move forward plan? You've got to start today. If you don't start today, every day that you wait is one day closer to those key people walking out the door and also one day closer to those failures in your equipment or your systems.
We got to take a hard look in the mirror, look at ourselves in the mirror and be honest. Okay, it's okay to say, listen, we got to change some things. Analyze your internal procedures. and identify those gaps. How are you updating systems? How are you documenting changes in your building every day? Is that being done?
If it's not, you've got to look at a process change. Stop and stay on top of your processes and your team. [00:16:00] Your buildings are not static and you shouldn't be either. Your feet are not in quicksand, all right? As your building changes and as your processes need to change, you've got to be flexible. Right.
Schedule quarterly reviews and really look at what you got on that deferred maintenance list. Make adjustments and really to minimize those surprises so that those aren't the unexpected things. Really take a hard look at that. Also, take custody of your building information. I cannot stress this enough.
You are the owner of your information. It shouldn't be in somebody's head. It shouldn't be only in a vendor's portal. It shouldn't be in Bob or Betty or whoever on your team's head. Alright? All your information should stay with the building, not with the person. The information, remember what I said earlier, is crap in, crap out.
You've got to maintain that information. What's that policy? What's that procedure that you're going to [00:17:00] constantly be updating that information? Update that equipment list, but more importantly than that too, not just the updating. Okay, field verify spot check what's inside and out of your building on a regular basis double check.
There's nothing wrong with double checking and make sure somebody updated something that happened on a project or you had a failure of a piece of equipment. You replaced it. Get somebody to go double check that create an environment for success. Using industry best practices and more importantly, lean on your neighbors who are doing similar things in your network or other people that you know in the industry and leverage those tools and processes that other people are doing.
Everybody's in the same boat. I said this earlier. Okay. Everybody's looking to try and figure out different ways and methods. Okay. Lean on your industry partners. Lean on your trade organizations. Okay. They [00:18:00] share information nonstop. And most importantly here, celebrate your wins. If you celebrate your team, lift your team up.
Everybody wins and your entire organization wins. Again, thank you so much for joining me today. My name is David Trask I'm with Arc Facilities and I look forward to seeing you again really soon. Thank you