A facility manager is responsible for maintaining a commercial or industrial facility’s cleanliness, aesthetics, and functionality. They must also ensure the environment is suitable for workers to stay healthy, safe, and productive while on the job. This improves employee morale and creates a positive first impression on guests and other stakeholders who visit the facility. 

Below are a facility manager’s top four key responsibilities to create a fully functional and productive building. 

1) Commercial Cleaning

A facility manager’s first big responsibility is maintaining a clean facility. That means the floors, furniture, machinery, tables, bathrooms, cafeterias, carpeting, windows, and walls need to be spotless. Maintaining a clean facility keeps your employees healthy by preventing them from getting sick, infected, or injured. 

A professional facility manager will use advanced cleaning tools and techniques to provide a commercial-quality cleaning service. They will also create customized cleaning plans to schedule different cleaning tasks over the course of days, weeks, and months. If your facility is used almost every day, you will likely need to keep it clean every day due to the dust, debris, and potential waste hazards in your environment. 

Some examples of commercial cleaning tasks include:

• Office cleaning
• Bathroom sanitation
• Carpet cleaning
• Upholstery cleaning
• Hard floor maintenance 
• Window cleaning
• Specializing cleaning for specific industries

A facility manager’s specialized cleaning services will ensure your facility complies with health and safety standards to prevent the spread of disease or hazardous waste contamination. 

2) Planned Preventative Maintenance

Planned preventative maintenance is another critical job of a facility manager. It involves taking a proactive approach to building maintenance duties by conducting regular inspections of the machinery, equipment, lighting, HVAC, and all other systems in the building. Regular inspections are the best way to spot a problem before it worsens and requires costly repairs. 

Major breakdowns of machines and equipment can cost several thousands of dollars. Preventative maintenance works to prevent these kinds of major breakdowns by replacing worn components and conducting minor repairs to extend the lifespan of your machinery as long as possible. That is what a facility manager will do for you. 

A bonus to planned preventative maintenance is improved energy efficiency. After all, well-maintained equipment works better and operates more efficiently, so it doesn’t consume as much electricity. That is how your machinery will save energy and keep your monthly utility bill as low as possible. Plus, all the light bulbs can be upgraded to LED for additional energy savings. 

The most crucial benefit of planned preventative maintenance is preventing accidents and injuries in your building. Poorly functioning equipment and machines can become a safety risk for employees who use them. On the other hand, a facility manager performing regular maintenance on the equipment and machines will ensure they remain safe for your employees to use, which will go a long way toward reducing workplace accidents. 

3) Grounds Maintenance

A facility manager does not only concern themselves with the building itself. They also maintain the exterior of the property. Grounds maintenance involves upkeeping the cleanliness and aesthetics of the landscaping, such as the lawns, gardens, trees, bushes, and all other greenery and plant life. These tasks involve mowing, trimming, clipping, and planting where needed. 

Another grounds maintenance job is to keep the parking lots, driveways, and walkways clean. Since employees and stakeholders actively drive and walk in these areas, they must be kept clean for health and safety reasons. It also creates a great first impression when people come to your facility and see that everything is clean on the outside. It could be a long-lasting first impression that earns you more customers and happier employees. 

A facility manager has the following grounds maintenance duties:

• Lawn care
• Tree care
• Shrub care
• Seasonal clean-up
• Hardscape maintenance
• Weed control
• Pest control

Removing debris and leaves from the grounds is a common job of a facility manager. In some cases, they will have to practice pest control if there is a threat of harmful insects and vermin infesting the property grounds. Pest control will prevent and eliminate pests to promote better sanitation for the facility. 

4) Security Services

A facility manager oversees the security and safety of the building. It is their job to protect the premises and employees from trespassers and unauthorized access to the inside of the building. That way, they can prevent theft, vandalism, and other adverse impacts on the building or grounds. 

A facility manager knows how to customize a security plan to benefit your business and address its security needs. These tailored security solutions will match your specific security requirements to maximize protection for your business operations. 

Some of these security management services include the following:

• Coordinating with on-site security guards
• Monitoring CCTV surveillance
• Managing alarm systems
• Preparing emergency evacuation plans and protocols
• Hiring qualified security staff
• Stopping all potential criminal activity on the property
• Regulating access control systems

A facility manager’s security services will give you peace of mind that your building will remain secure 24 hours a day. Everything from the security guards to the alarm and access control systems will prevent anyone from disturbing your business. 

Hire a Facility Manager

Companies don’t usually use their own employees to serve as facility managers. The reason is that a facility manager’s job requires a particular type of skill and expertise that only a trained professional possesses. That is why you should turn to a facilities management company to find a qualified facility manager.  

Do you need a professional facility manager to manage your commercial or industrial facility? Tier1FM offers comprehensive facilities management services to execute critical tasks, such as grounds maintenance, security, cleaning, preventative maintenance, and consultancy. They will care for all your facility management needs so you can focus on running your company.