Facilities Management Best Practices: How To Identify Where To Spend And Save

It is possible to achieve cost savings while continuing to provide well-maintained and efficient organizational environments.

By Chris Barns

Balancing budgets while ensuring the smooth operation of facilities can be challenging, especially when money is tight. Facility management executives face the dilemma of determining where to strategically allocate their limited resources to maximize efficiency. This is especially challenging when prioritizing where to spend available funds for property investment during a recession.

To accomplish this, it’s essential to prioritize the most critical facilities without compromising the overall effectiveness of the organization.

facility management budgets
(Photo: Adobe Stock / PX Media)

Strategic Spending To Mitigate Risks

When budget constraints arise, it becomes crucial to manage portfolios proactively, not reactively. This is one of the most important facilities management best practices.

Organizations that fail in this aspect of property management budget planning will leave management scrambling for funds and compromise their ability to effectively manage their budgets. By selectively pre-allocating funds, organizations can mitigate risks and avoid unforeseen expenses.

To better illustrate this, imagine a deteriorated roof. It will be expensive to fix. With proactive budget management, the owner will be able to foresee this expense and plan accordingly. Conversely, with reactive budget management, this expense is not predicted, and the situation disrupts operations and strains the budget. It is crucial to stay ahead by leveraging expertise and using data-driven insights preemptively to identify potential costs.

Managing facility-related tasks internally without expert assistance can expose facility managers to negative personal accountability. Unforeseen issues can always occur, and the blame for them will often fall on the facility manager. By leveraging expert consultants, tools, and processes, facility executives can ensure better outcomes and protect their reputations within their organizations.

Prioritizing Critical Assets And Cutting Back

When there are financial constraints, organizations must prioritize assets that require immediate attention. By allocating budgets to focus on the most essential functions, the ongoing mission of the business is ensured.

If management is overseeing a larger portfolio, it may not be feasible to inspect every facility in detail. In such cases, it’s necessary to pinpoint the properties that are most crucial to business operations and then plan accordingly. This process can be very tedious for larger portfolios.

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On the other hand, organizations that partner with experts can help identify facilities or assets in poor condition, allowing management to concentrate on those locations and save on unnecessary assessments and services. Streamlining assessments and focusing on key areas will enable teams to allocate resources more efficiently.

It’s always important to identify facilities management strategic objectives. By prioritizing critical assets and leveraging expert insights, management can make informed choices about where to spend and where to save. Remember, maintaining a proactive approach to facility management will yield long-term cost savings and ensure the smooth operation of properties.

Navigating these challenges is never easy, but with the right strategies and systems in place, it’s possible to achieve cost savings while continuing to provide well-maintained and efficient organizational environments.

Barns is the director of implementation at R&K Solutions, an employee-owned small business specializing in real property consulting support and automated solutions for managers of some of the world’s largest commercial and government facilities portfolios.

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