Facility Maintenance Guides
Clear, practical answers on what is due, what it costs and who to hire.
Where Should You Start with Facility Maintenance?
Start by listing every building system and its age, then mark the inspections the law or your insurer requires, such as fire protection, elevators and backflow tests. Turn that into a dated schedule with an owner for each task, set a yearly budget with the 2–4% guideline, and line up contractors before something fails.
Maintenance Budget Calculator
Estimate a yearly budget from replacement value and building condition.
Preventive Maintenance Checklist
A printable schedule by building type, with the standard behind each task.
What Is Facility Maintenance?
What facility maintenance covers, the difference between reactive, preventive and predictive work, and how to decide who should do it for your building.
Commercial Building Preventive Maintenance Schedule
A monthly, quarterly, twice-yearly and annual preventive maintenance schedule for commercial buildings, with the standard behind each compliance task.
How Much Should You Budget for Building Maintenance?
The 2–4% of replacement value guideline for building maintenance budgets, how to apply it, what it leaves out and how to refine it with your own numbers.
In-House vs Outsourced Facility Maintenance
How to decide between in-house technicians, individual contractors and a full-service facility maintenance company, with the questions and costs to compare.
Fire Protection Inspection Requirements
How often extinguishers, sprinklers, fire alarms and emergency lights need inspection under NFPA standards, and how to keep records ready for the fire marshal.
Emergency Lighting Testing Requirements
The monthly 30-second and annual 90-minute emergency light tests, how to run them safely and how to record the results for your fire inspection.
Elevator Maintenance and Inspection Requirements
Annual and five-year elevator tests, maintenance control programs, contract types and what building owners should check under ASME A17.1 and local rules.
Commercial Roof Maintenance Checklist
What to check on a flat or low-slope commercial roof each spring and fall, why drains matter most, and how to keep your roof warranty valid.
Commercial HVAC Maintenance Checklist
A commercial HVAC maintenance checklist for rooftop units and split systems: monthly filters, quarterly service, seasonal start-up and what to ask for in a service agreement.
Backflow Testing Requirements
How often backflow preventers must be tested, who can test them, what happens if you miss the deadline and how to keep the reports for your water utility.
How to Verify a Contractor License and Insurance
How to check a contractor license with your state board, read a certificate of insurance, and which limits and endorsements to ask for before work starts.
Facility Maintenance Contract Checklist
The terms to check in any facility maintenance or service contract: scope, response times, markups, reporting, insurance, renewal and termination.
Questions to Ask Before You Hire
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Facility Maintenance
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: HVAC
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Plumbing
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Electrical
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Roofing
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Fire Protection
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Elevators
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Pest Control
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Locks & Doors
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Handyman
- Questions to Ask Before Hiring: Parking Lots