5 Ways Facilities Managers Can Make a Building More Efficient

No matter how careful you are with purchasing and hiring, you’ll still likely have some inefficiencies in your facility — and those inefficiencies can be costly. When you make the effort to track down these building management inefficiencies you can find savings each month and ensure your facility operates as smoothly as possible. Review the following points to see if you can find some places to save time and money each month — even small savings will add up over time and help your bottom line. Here’s what we’ve discovered in our years of service as Sydney’s premiere facilities management company. 

Audit your HVAC

According to the US Department of Energy, a commercial building’s HVAC system can be a significant point of inefficiency; since this system has to work incredibly hard to heat and cool the building and runs virtually all the time, even small inconsistencies add up. A property inspection or assessment can reveal if you are spending too much on your heating and cooling and can also help you determine if you are heating and cooling areas that no one is actively using. The following signs should trigger more investigation from you: 

• Your energy bills spike or have been rising every month without explanation
• Your system is labouring or sounds overly loud
• You smell mildew or moisture in the air
• You see mould, condensation or water around the unit or on the ceiling
• Despite running all the time, your building is never cool enough in summer or warm enough in winter. 

You should also examine the settings of your thermostats to see if you are heating and cooling areas where no one is working or that are usually empty. Closing these areas off can help you conserve energy and save. Look for rooms that are not in use but that have thermostats set to comfortable temperatures; changing these settings can help you save. Consider investing in automated thermostats if you are not already using them, so you are not paying to heat or cool rooms overnight or in parts of the facility that are vacant. 

Indoor Air Quality

Your indoor air quality will impact not only the amount of work your HVAC system has to do, it will impact the comfort and health of your employees, too. Regular duct cleaning can help improve your IAQ and keep allergens and dust at bay. According to a study by NASA, incorporating even a few plants into your indoor environment can have a dramatic impact on your air quality. This will keep employees healthier and give you a cleaner, more comfortable workspace.  Palms, ferns and spider plants do well indoors and are particularly adept air cleaners, according to NASA.

Bundle Services

If you’re paying someone to clean your building, someone else to remove waste, and yet another party to take care of the outside of your facility, then you are likely paying too much for your services in total. When you have to use a different provider for each process needed for your building management, each one is charging you for their time and to come to your facility. Using a single provider that can bundle your services ensures you are able to get the best quality services for the lowest overall prices. 

Choosing a professional building management team ensures you can bundle the services you need and not pay for any things your facility does not require; it also makes it easier to scale up when you need to. Best of all, when you have multiple services from one provider, you can have a single contact point when you need assistance and for reporting purposes, so you can access all of your data and information in one secure place. Bundling services with a single professional integrated facility management company ensures you save both time and money and offers you the most efficient way to maintain one or more buildings. 

Use Proactive Planning and Replacement

Careful assessment and management of your assets, from your HVAC system to your security systems and workplace sustainability ensures you can take proactive steps to protect your investments and to keep operations running. Creating a regular maintenance and testing program and replacing pieces before they can become obsolete or fail prevents these pieces from breaking down unexpectedly or causing your business to have unneeded downtime. Take a proactive approach to your systems that you rely on most and create a plan of care for each that includes eventual replacement and you’ll never have to worry about losing time at work. 

 Get Help with Boosting your Building’s Efficiency

Not sure where to start, or need help creating a solid plan of integrated facility management? We can help you assess and spot troublesome areas that are costing you money every month or that are preventing you from running as efficiently as you could. 

Once identified, we can help you come up with a lasting plan that will address these issues and ensure that you are not spending more time or money than you need to in order to operate your business. Get in touch today to discover what we can do for you and how easy it is to take charge of your facility and operations.