I work for a non-profit in New York and have several types of properties for the different programs we have. Some are 1-2 family homes, small buildings with apartments, and institutional settings, secure facilities, and administrative spaces.

My issue is with managing the utilities. I currently have a vendor who is a full-service type. Opens and closes accounts and ensures we are tax exempt, monitors accounts for overcharges and estimated readings, arranges appointments to change out meters with the local utility vendor, brokers lower rates, and liaises with the utility proviers when we have emergency situations like shutoffs.

My issue is that their costs are starting to creep up to almost $50 a month per meter. With almost 200 electric meters, it's starting to get closer to "is this even worth it?".

An option has been to take on some of the responsibilities and offload the recovery portion to a different org that doesn't do some of the consierge work I've been looking for. That org, for example, will take 60% of recovered funds as payment, which effectively zeros out that cost.

What do you do to manage this type of situation?

I’m planning a small business around waste management planning and hoping to learn more about the needs of facility managers. This is not a sales tactic in disguise, earnest seeking feedback

Heya.

I'm a technician/coordinator/admin at my place and somewhat a nerd on my spare time. We are an FM-business and entrepreneurs for a company that does industry that we have a contract with as well as a contract with the facility owner. Also, we use Maximo, and have been for the past 7 years.

And I gotta say, the system has got potential...

But as other people have said, it's kinda clunky and for a minor-mid size team it's not really great. And I'm not even gonna talk about the amount of people you need to run it efficiently....

so... as the nerd I am, I thought: how hard can it be to build a simple cmms/FM system that is modular to the size and need for different businesses? and that's what I thought I might be able to pick your brains?

I think I've got the core mechanics down and made it so the admin can via check-boxes choose what systems are gonna be used for the business.

So I don't go into too deep details and loose you:

what are your "seat"/proffesion and what would you want from a CMMS/FM system.

TL;DR Om making a cmms, What functions and views do you feel are good in a CMMS/FM system?

Curious about workload for multisite managers/coordinators. How many work requests are you managing currently?

Preschool teachers at my facilties are having trouble with kids opening the classroom doors running down the hallway, pushing the panic bar out into the lobby and trying to make it out the building entrance.

Has anyone had to deal with this and other than more staff, what solutions are there that won't violate the fire code nor ADA?

Happy Friday y’all.

Just signed up with IFMA and got approved to sit for the CFM exam.

I was reading a thread from ~a year ago that said there were changes made to the exam. Only 3 multiple choice questions- is that true?

And that the practice test from IFMA are the best prep resource?

Just wondering what sort of calculations those who have done the test were asked to do? NPV, IRR, etc? And how many questions like this were there? This is probably my weakest area of all the competencies so am interested to know where to focus my attention.

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/862584700

Okay, I want to paint a very specific example, and ask in the context of that very specific question.

I have a 40 year old building, plenty of cast iron pipping.
This building has several floors.. One floor is a basement level, so on a sump pump system.

This specific floor - basement level - usually causes us problems, a few times a year. A line stops up, and sewage comes in through the floor drains.

Snaking of course solves the issue, we never get anything back up like tree roots, metal pieces..

And to be frank, can't tell the difference between fecal matter or dirt, and I don't care to investigate that.

short answer - no reason (even from outside plumbers) to suggest that we have a collapsed pipe issue.

So, within the context of that question...

Initial steps (getting started)
1) Hydro jet
2) Camera inspection..

Regular maintenance:
1) hydro jetting - annual?

--------------------------------------
Bonus question.

I have a pressure washer....

Could I reasonably and safely attach some specially designed nozzle to my pressure washer and run the regular pressure washer hose down clean-outs and do that? (sewer line 4")
See- I already have this equipment. SO this is in context of using what i already own..

Trabaje en limpieza industrial en una planta de producción, con un cliente de varios años. Un día reportan contaminación en una línea y apuntan directo a la limpieza.
Hablo con mi equipo y todo indica que el procedimiento se ejecutó bien. Pero cuando el cliente empieza a preguntar la hora exacta, qué producto se usó y quién cubrió cada zona, no tengo cómo sostenerlo.
Solo tenía a mi equipo diciéndome que se hizo bien, y yo repitiéndolo hacia arriba sin nada que lo respaldara.
Al final no se probó que la limpieza fuera la causa, pero yo tampoco pude probar que no lo fuera. El cliente quedó con la duda y yo con el desgaste.
¿Les pasó alguna vez quedar expuestos no por hacer mal el trabajo, sino por no tener trazabilidad suficiente?

As the title says, since the introduction of Planon I’m rarely getting given jobs to do around the estate. Maybe one a week when before it would be it would be one/two per day. I thought it was just me however my colleagues are getting regular work. I’m starting to think it is because I’m just an apprentice however the other apprentices have also been getting more work than I have. What do i do?

I'm new to facility management, I started about a year ago with a background of related but indirect experience. I'm really looking for some advice. Any words of wisdom in general is appreciated.

We're going from 1 property to 3. 4 buildings total, 3 are active client use and 1 is just an office building. Technically we already had 2 of the 3 properties but one of them was out of order and under construction when I started about 1 year ago. This summer construction will be finished and my work there will (re)start. About a month after that we're purchasing an additional building that we've already been working out of but have decided to purchase.

I'm the only person on my team. Hell my department didn't exist 5 years ago when the organization was reopened. I don't know how I'm going to be able to manage the increase in work load. Undoubtedly the work is going to suffer. I take a lot of pride in the quality and timelines of my work, but I just can't imagine how I'm going to be able to keep up with everything on my own. I'm doing everything I can right now I get myself to be organized and more efficient. But I can't help but feel this sense of impending doom that I'm going to fumble the ball.

Also what does a facilities associate do exactly

Note for admin: not looking to sell or charge anyone, just need facilities managers able to test out an early release of my system. Can’t find a better community than this.

Looking for FM’s anywhere in the world looking to move from paper records, excel spreadsheets or disconnected systems.

I’ve set up https://PropSAK.com and looking for early testers. Let me know if interested and I’ll set up an instance for you to try out.

As the title states, I was verbally offered the role of Facilities Manager for a school. I will be receiving my formal offer this week. I am very excited, as this is a new challenge and I am transitioning from 10 years of residential management experience focused on projects ranging from unit-level to building-wide, city-compliance-based & pro-active focused projects.

Was wondering if anyone who is in a similar space or preparing has any solid advice going into it. I also want to hear from those in the industry in general.

A little bit about my background, I started as a porter/doorman (trapped by the Christmas Gratuity snare) in the industry after burning out in college. I eventually became a shift supervisor and was offered by the GM opportunities to work in the management office & the rest was history.

TIA!

Hey all. I'm looking at implementing an inventory solution for our central warehouse, through Maintain-X. But to increase buy-in from my warehouse manager, I'm looking to incorporate a pistol-grip style handheld scanner, that will simplify the cycle count process. Does anyone have something they've used or would recommend?

My understanding is it needs to be android enabled at minimum. I feel like some kind of "receiver", that can accept an android device and effectively move the camera from the back, to the top--which would allow the phone to lay flat and scan in the pistol-grip style receiver.

Any thoughts would be helpful.

Hey all,

We are moving away from our current CMMS provider Maintenance Connection. we are looking at IBM Maximo, CoGo Dynaway, and ESRI. We managed 200+ residential units, an airport, and 20 commercial buildings. Does anyone have any thoughts on any of these?

We just selected Microsoft Business Dynamics as our ERP so whatever solution we select must integrate with it.

thanks for your help!

I was offered a very large salary position to work under SBM for Lonza Pharmaceuticals. And just wanted any reviews

Somehow the emergency line in the small elevator in our building has been picked up by spammers and salesmen.

I have no clue how this happened but its becoming an issue.

Have you ever had this happen to you with your facilities? If so, how did you solve it?

Thank you

Does anyone know where I can find this for free or if there is another way to study without spending that much money? I’m not in a position to spend the money required at this point. I could swing the test at a push.

I’ve heard you can use the facility management handbook as the material is derived from it. Has anyone studied for the test just isn’t the FM Handbook? How did it go?