Are you searching for the right facility maintenance partner for your business? If you need to complete critical maintenance duties for your commercial facility, you need a trustworthy and reliable facility maintenance partner.
The question is, how do you find one? You could conduct a Google search and find dozens of different companies claiming to provide facility maintenance services. The problem is that you won’t know which one is the best unless you conduct extensive research and make several important considerations.
Would you like to learn more about the research process of choosing a partner? Below are the top 6 tips for evaluating and selecting the ideal maintenance partner for your facility.
1) Check and Compare the Services Offered
The first thing that you’ll want to do is visit the websites of prospective facility maintenance partners to learn more about the services they offer. After all, some service providers won’t perform every type of facility maintenance.
For instance, some providers only perform grounds maintenance, while others only do commercial cleanings. Many providers certainly don’t offer security services in addition to cleaning and grounds maintenance work. So, what you’ll want to do is check and compare the facility maintenance services provided by each of your prospective partners to see which ones offer the most services that you need.
If you can find one that offers preventative maintenance, landscaping, security, electrical work, plumbing repairs, HVAC inspections, commercial cleanings, and consultations, then you should put that provider on the top of your list of potential candidates to hire.
2) Check the Certifications and Credentials
The next thing you’ll want to do is check and verify the partner’s credentials. These credentials should include a business license, liability insurance coverage, and any relevant contractor certifications.
Here are some certifications to watch for:
- Safe Contractor Approved Seal
- Facility Management Professional (FMP)
- Sustainability Facility Professional
- Certified Facility Manager
- Professional Facility Management Institute Certified
The partner doesn’t need to possess all these certifications. However, if they have at least one, it will show that their services have undergone quality control evaluations to ensure their compliance with local quality and safety standards.
3) Ask Questions
When you have narrowed down your list of potential partners, you may have specific questions to ask them regarding their services. These will be questions aimed at verifying their ability to perform the kinds of maintenance services that need to be done at your facility.
Here are some examples of questions to ask:
- Which specific facility maintenance services do you provide?
- Which certifications and licenses do you possess?
- Is your staff well trained and skilled in the services offered?
- What kinds of maintenance services do you NOT offer, if any?
- How much do your services cost?
- Can you provide routine maintenance services for my facility?
- Do you offer complete transparency on all work performed?
- Do you offer tailored maintenance services to accommodate my service needs?
- Do your maintenance services comply with all federal, state, and local regulations?
- Do you have proof of insurance?
You don’t have to use these same questions when communicating with prospective partners, but you get the idea. So, you’ll need to contact them via the phone or email to ask them your important questions.
4) Look at Customer Reviews
The Internet makes it easy to assess the level of customer satisfaction that other business owners have had after hiring various facility maintenance service providers. You can visit popular business review websites like Yelp or Google Reviews to look up the prospective facility maintenance service providers that you researched to see if other customers were happy with their services.
The general rule of thumb is to choose a business with at least four or more stars and around 97% or higher of positive feedback and comments. Positive customer reviews can give you confidence in hiring a service provider if they have a long history of satisfying other customers.
5) Estimated Price Comparisons
One of the most important steps in the search for the right facility maintenance partner is comparing prices. After you identify several potential candidates to hire, you’ll want to request estimated prices from them after discussing the maintenance services that you need to do.
Compare the various estimated prices to see which ones fall within your budget. You shouldn’t necessarily choose the cheapest service because it might not be of the best quality. Instead, try to find a balance between the price and all the other factors you researched about the prospects, such as their credentials, reviews, and services offered.
6) Review Contract Terms Carefully
When you are on the verge of hiring a new facility maintenance partner, they will send you a contract with all the terms and conditions of the services listed. Make sure you take the time to review all the provisions of the contract to ensure you agree with the service fees, cancellation policies, dispute resolution clauses, and anything else you think is important for your side of the agreement.
If the contract terms meet the needs of your business, then you can sign the contract and return it to the partner. After that, they will become your business’s official facility maintenance partner. All you must do from that point forward is sit back and allow the partner’s facility maintenance team to perform the services on the scheduled dates and times.
Streamline the Search Process Today
How would you like to have a qualified facility maintenance partner on standby to serve all your company’s maintenance needs? Tier1 Facilities Management is the premier provider of facility maintenance services for commercial businesses of all types. We possess all the necessary credentials and skills to offer your facility routine, comprehensive maintenance services at affordable rates.
Contact Tier1 today for more information about how your facility can benefit from our services.
