TIPS

  “Controlling costs sometimes means not planning too far in advance of your operation.” Did you buy more facilities than you needed? Do you have a ton of dead space in your office? Wasted space is wasted energy. If you have an office that could house 70 employees and you presently have only 5, you are air conditioning (HVAC) entirely too much space for such a small group. Controlling costs sometimes means not planning too far in advance of your operation. Having the space, you will need in ten years during the first year means for nine years you will waste money on too much space. Get what you need, not what you desire. The other option when you have too much space is to create leasable space for someone else that can help you afford your energy costs. "Industrial Lines" by musiquedecor is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 Think like owners, and to make decision that will ultimately benefit the owners. Unknown

  “If you are not ready to fail, then you are not ready to succeed.” What do you do when your equipment breaks, and you do not have another one that can replace the broken one? You panic. You jump on the internet and try to find the Jack-of-all-trades who might have another or who may be able to repair your broken equipment. The underlying problem is you technically do not have a back-up plan to keep your business running and making money. If something breaks and you do not have a quick solution to repair it, then you’re likely going to be faced with a problem that will cost you money and potentially lead to making no money. For your business to continue even when things break, you need to have extra parts and equipment and/or partnerships with people who can quickly repair your things. Being prepared means being ready to fail. If you are not ready to fail, then you are not ready to succeed. "The story continues..." by SomeDriftwood is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

  Facilities Management’s Success Formula: Right Service + Right Time + Right User Experience Unknown

  “Make the investment to protect those who matter.” Keeping people alive is the number one rule for any business. Placing your employees and customers in a dangerous situation is unethical and criminal, so having in place the appropriate measure to have the fire and life safety system of your business evaluated and tested regularly will provide reassurance to you and those you employ that all measures are being taken to prevent casualties. Do not leave fire and life safety up to chance! Make the investment to protect those who matter. "Wigan Tyre Fire" by Manchesterfire is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

 If we do not know how to define our practice, others will define us. The future of facilities management depends on what we do, today. Unknown

  “If people perceive they are safe, then they will likely return to your business.” Safety is a perception. If people perceive they are safe, then they will likely return to your business. On the other hand, if they feel fearful, it will be hard for you to grow your customer base. Of course, locating the appropriate security partner for your business may be a requirement of the environment in which you operate, and determining who or what of all the available options will provide the best service with the greatest value in way of service and cost can be difficult. Leveraging a facility partner who has done the research and potentially has the relationship with the one provider who can help will save you a lot of time and money. "Security" by Got Credit is licensed under CC BY 2.0

  Find time to listen to your stakeholders to understand what facilities services really matter most to them. Unknown

“Hire someone who knows when and where to invest. As a result, the process will become more valuable.” Managing vendors and supplies, and reviewing invoices for accuracy, and running other parts of your business can be challenging, to say the least, but having facilities support and guidance to help you focus directly on managing your business operations could help you a lot. Making money is sometimes the easy part, while learning when and how to spend money can be the confusing part. In addition, taking too long to make the correct decision could mean the correct decision will cost more, while making the wrong decision could mean you will spend money twice on the same problem. What is the solution? Hire someone who knows when and where to invest. As a result, the process will become more valuable. "Juggling Things In Life!" by ☼The Beautiful Sun "IS" Shining☼ is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0  

For facilities management to be effective and efficient, it must align its activities to support and facilitate the organization’s business operations. Unknown

“…the more cohesive the relationship between operations and facilities is, the better their support of one another will be.” Strategic and tactical planning between the operational and facilities departments of your business is a must-have. Understanding each other's function and purpose make the whole team more effective. Communication breakdowns and misunderstandings between the two departments will inevitably cost money, so the more cohesive the relationship between operations and facilities is, the better their support of one another will be. When a group of people cannot see eye to eye, cooperation and profit are affected. Communication is key. "STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES" by jasondowns1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Continual facilities improvement is the new critical driver of competitive advantage. Unknown

“Hiring the company that claims to be professional but only knows enough to be amateurs, while pricing its service like the pro, will only leave you disappointed.” Hiring the company that claims to be professional but only knows enough to be amateurs, while pricing its service like the pro, will only leave you disappointed. Bhlurt FMMC works with vendors to get secure pricing that will drive down the overall cost of the service you need by leveraging our industry expertise. We know what a service should cost, and we spend time in the field to determine who has the knowledge and skills to accomplish it for a fair price. Bhlurt is here to save you time, money, and disappointment. Give us a call for more information on how we can help. "Old Arlesford Map" by Studio Mothership is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Value-Based Facilities Management emphasizes the integration of management expertise on an engineering practice for a holistic approach. Unknown

“Doing projects in conjunction with the proper incentive can be just the discount you need for the solution you were planning to do anyway.” It sounds simple, but few ever bother looking. The federal, state, and local governments often have programs in place to convince business owners and would-be business owners to convert/buy something for a tax advantage or another sort of financial incentive. Talk to other business owners and see what they may know about incentives, and speak to your banker to see what they may have heard from another business owner. Also review information on governmental websites. In other words, start digging and see whether there’s an incentive for you to upgrade your lighting to LED or install high efficiency HVAC equipment or whether there is any program in place that will help you invest in your business. Doing projects in conjunction with the proper incentive can be just the discount you need for the solution you were planning to do anyway. "Free...

"Facilities management values determine its profession’s distinctiveness." Unknown

“Observing behavior and understanding what your employees and customers need for your business to operate effectively can save you money.” LED light bulbs, reduce flow faucet aerators, time controls, and operations hours that match consumer demand, if utilized properly, can reduce operation expenses in their own way. Utility expenses are necessary services that you will not avoid in business, but there is no need to spend more money than you must spend. The best solution to these required expenses is to manage them down to the bare minimum. LED light bulbs will reduce electrical costs, and reducing flow faucet aerators will lessen water usage. In addition, time controlling just about anything that can be time controlled will reduce its utility expense. Observing behavior and understanding what your employees and customers need for your business to operate effectively can save you money. If you only serve two customers after 10:00 pm on average, then why are you open until 11:00 pm? S...

The key objective of Value-Based Facilities Management is to facilitate organization’s business operations success. Unknown

“Repairing things as soon as possible just makes more sense. Get it done!” Allowing the repair and maintenance projects at your business to build up and progressively become worse will only create larger problems. Repairing or replacing things when they first break can reduce downtime, and that reduction in downtime could potentially increase revenue and result in greater profits. Waiting until you are forced to repair and replace things sometimes actually costs more. A great example would be waiting to replace your HVAC in a cooler month instead of a warmer month. HVAC vendors will understand you are hot and really need that A/C system to work. If I were betting, I would put my money on the vendor charging a little bit more because the weather is nice and toasty outside. Repairing things as soon as possible just makes more sense. Get it done! "Broken Window" by Ryan Policky is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

“Never leave warranty money on the table.” Do you remember that thing you bought has a warranty? Did you bother trying to utilize it the last time it failed? If you answered “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second question, then here is another question: Do you like wasting your money? I bet you answered “no” that question. Here is a simple thing to remember: Everything breaks eventually. In fact, some things break well before the manufacturer planned for it to break. If your item broke and it just happened to be within the warranty period, it would make sense to let the manufacturer fix it. Never leave warranty money on the table. Always verify if the broken item still has a warranty. "Warranty Void if Seal Broken" by eirikso is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0