The importance of the Facility Management sector lies in its ability to create safe, comfortable, and productive environments for people, as well as to ensure the sustainability and optimal performance of company facilities. On International Facility Management Day, it is essential to recognize the essential role that this sector plays in the efficiency and functionality of the spaces we inhabit and use daily. However, the pursuit and achievement of these objectives can sometimes collide with reality: the multiple costs that must be assumed to achieve them.
Facility Management is a lever that allows companies to optimize expenses, maximize profitability, and achieve their sustainability or employee comfort goals. In fact, companies that choose professional FM services have the advantage of having one of the best formulas for cost containment, in other words, a comprehensive and professionalized facility management strategy that takes into account all the factors involved in a building to achieve savings and success.
We cannot forget that building maintenance costs can represent between 10% and 30% of a company’s total expenses. Of these, FM can represent between 20% and 40%, depending on factors such as whether the company owns its properties or if these assets are an essential part of the production process or not, among other variables. Considering that a facility manager’s good work can reduce this bill by between 20% and 30%, the total positive impact on a company’s bottom line could result in a total cost reduction of between 6% and 9%.
The cost of facility maintenance is one of those factors that a building must incur and is a priority in an FM strategy, both in its fixed and variable parts. The variable part corresponds to the amount of necessary repairs due to circumstances like building age, facility condition, usage, and of course, average occupancy. However, fixed costs are unlikely to decrease, meaning they do not depend on the same factors. Within these fixed costs, we can find maintenance of elements such as elevators, escalators, centralized heating and cooling production, or fire detection and extinguishing.
Likewise, within maintenance costs, we may find those corresponding to on-site maintenance personnel. A rapid response time to any breakdown requires on-site personnel or, alternatively, an alliance with an FM provider with enough mobile staff available near the building to act within agreed response times. In this case, an effective alternative to reducing these costs by decreasing staff presence is remote maintenance, control, and operation through advanced technological solutions.
As for other services that require physical presence, we find reception or security services, which represent a fixed expense regardless of occupancy levels. Conversely, cleaning carried out by human staff contains a much greater variable component than the previous ones. In this case, cleaning can be adjusted to building occupancy levels quickly and without offering practically any additional costs.
Finally, one of the items that must undoubtedly be considered when estimating facility costs is energy. This crucial factor requires the maintenance manager to know if there is any type of sectorized or zone-based energy consumption measurement in the building, a fundamental but not always implemented practice. Measurement is key.
On the other hand, it is often believed that optimizing a large building will be much more difficult and expensive than a smaller one. However, the size of the facilities is not an indicator in Facility Management. Large buildings require a commissioning, that is, the performance of a series of start-up and monitoring tasks, which are not as necessary in a smaller building. In this aspect, digitalization becomes essential.
Large recently constructed buildings have control and facility monitoring systems that make the presence of staff not as necessary, reducing costs and debunking the myth that size is synonymous with expensive. Conversely, it is also commonly thought that large buildings have much more foot traffic than smaller ones and therefore have a greater need for physical staff dedicated to tasks such as reception or security.
Regarding cleaning, different elements such as occupancy or building height must also be balanced. The latter is crucial, as the higher the building, the more difficult it is to clean the facade. There are several methods for this depending on the existence of mechanical systems such as gondolas or systems adapted to the facade’s shape. As for the rest of the cleaning, its cost per square meter is not necessarily higher than in smaller buildings. The key lies in the ratio of common areas, as the greater their weight relative to the total space, the greater the impact of expenses on the tenant.
In conclusion, the implementation of an integrated Facility Management is crucial not only for large companies with facilities of thousands of square meters but also for small and medium-sized enterprises. By adopting a 360º focused FM strategy, organizations can not only optimize their operational costs but also improve the well-being and productivity of those who occupy their spaces. Investing in a solid Facility Management program is not only a business decision aligned with the company strategically, but also a commitment to creating environments that promote the success and sustainability of organizations as a whole.
