Tricks Of The Trade: Training Facility Infrastructure

By James C. Elledge, IFMA Fellow, CFM, FMA, RPA, RIAQM
Published in the September 2005 issue of Today’s Facility Manager

Q Where can I find some kind of facility survey that shows staffing levels for departments (maintenance, housekeeping, etc.)?

Nolan Smith
Facility Manager
Mall 205
Portland, OR

A IFMA has a publication entitled Benchmarks IV: Research Report #25. This 60-page report provides facility management costs on a per square foot basis for a variety of industry and facility types.

More than 400 facilities participated in the study. The data was collected in 2003 and 2004. The report covers operating costs—housekeeping, maintenance and utilities—along with support costs, project costs, health environment, and safety costs.

In addition, the report contains staffing data for housekeeping and maintenance functions. New areas covered include disaster planning costs and facility management IT costs. All of the FM costs are rolled up and provided on a per employee basis and per square foot basis.

To order this publication, visit www.ifma.org and go to the bookstore. The publication goes by the ID number 157221; it costs $120 (non-IFMA members; $60 for members).

Elledge,facility/office services manager for Dallas, TX-based Summit AllianceCompanies, is the recipient of the Distinguished Author Award from theInternational Facility Management Association (IFMA), is an IFMA Fellow, and isa member of TFM’sEditorial Advisory Board. All questions have been submitted via the “Ask TheExpert” portion of the magazine’s Web site. To pose a question, visit this link.