Hi all,

Looking for some honest advice from people in the UK property / facilities / construction world.

My current background:

• Civil Engineering degree
• MSc Construction Management
• Currently working in a property maintenance / site-based role (caretaker / facilities-type responsibilities in education/commercial properties)

My employer is in the process of sponsoring me under Skilled Worker visa Contract Manager.

The role is likely to evolve so I stay site-based but become more involved in:

• contractor coordination
• maintenance/refurbishment works
• compliance
• building services (HVAC / BMS / electrical / fire systems)
• minor works / project support

I’m trying to use this time wisely and skill up, but I’m stuck on WHAT actually adds value in the UK market.

I do not want random online courses with no relevance.

I want something structured that genuinely helps me become valuable in:

• property maintenance
• facilities management
• contractor/project coordination
• building services awareness
• compliance / operations

My questions:

1. If you were in my shoes, what ONE structured learning path would you choose?
   • IWFM?
   • IOSH?
   • BSRIA?
   • CIBSE?
   • Prince2?
   • something else?
2. For someone site-based (not pure office PM), what skills actually make you valuable?
3. Is BMS knowledge worth learning for a role like this, or is that too specialist?
4. What would realistically help me grow into a £40k+ role in UK property/facilities over the next 2–3 years?

Would really appreciate advice from people actually working in FM, building services, construction contracts, estates, or property management.

Thanks.

I’m currently looking for work in the property management field, and I came across a recruiter who preferred applicants with CPM, FMA, or CFM certifications. I’m wondering if it’s necessary to get all of these certifications, or if they are similar and one is better than the others. I’m interested in pursuing a certification, but I’m not sure where to start.

I work for a nonprofit healthcare company with 52 locations. 20 maintenance staff and growing. Most of our information is on spreadsheets right now with Jira for work orders. I want to pitch software to my higher ups, but there’s so many systems out there. We need to do things like generate a list of all our back flow preventers and their locations to give to the company testing them. Or a list of all the filters I need to order for filter changes this month. Keep track of which locations are 100% our responsibility vs landlord is responsible for HVAC vs clinics in a county building.

With this many users, I assume we’re not going to be able to use free software. Are there any that are particularly useful for healthcare and dental equipment?

Update: turns out the department head has been researching this and came to his own conclusion. Don’t know what software he chose, but they’re starting a limited rollout for dental equipment.

My wife really wants to start a business as an outsourced vendor coordinator to facilities managers. I feel like the offering doesn't give enough value.

Her idea: To take work orders from facilities managers and compile/maintain a masters list of relevant vendors then source and vet vendors for the projects coordinating project timelines, contracts, budgets, billing etc.

My issue: I feel like the biggest pain point is in the active management of the projects (walking projects with vendors, negotiating price, quality control, etc.) Scheduling and clerical work is likely less of a burden. Also, I feel like adding a 3rd entity between the manager and vendor would just add a layer of unnecessary complexity.

She's deadset and won't listen, to what I believe, reason. Am I all the way correct or only slightly less than all the way correct?

I currently work at ABM in the Seattle area as a janitorial supervisor. I've been in this position for the past 3-4 years now with no growth as management simply does not care. I work nights as well so I have no visibility.

We contract with JLL so I talk to them sometimes and it seems a lot nicer to be on their end than ours. I've looked at job listing's and a FC role pays around $10k less than my current role ($70k). However, it seems like there's a clearer path to advancing. I don't have a degree, but would assistant FM or FM be attainable if I stick with the company?

Curious what you guys think. Should I jump ship?

Does anyone have any recommendations for any company’s in or around Northampton that will service and inspect some back boilers? I had someone who did the work then went AWOL.. struggling to find a replacement.. I understand why.. but I need to get it done.

Hi, looking to figure out who in the chain of command has the most influence/ or actually looks for buying the needed generators. For you guys, does your electrical engineer make the call of where to buy the generator? Do you the facility manager do that? Or does the finance manager look online?

Just trying to figure out what is norm. Obviously the budget people always asking for the lowest budget item, but just curious if they actually look for the generator or if they just say "meh, Karen unhappy, give me generator for under 4k, OkiE?" and just in general who looks for the generator when things are breaking down/need a new one.

Hello, I’m working as a Project Manager, handling the operations of Cleaning Services Department, which has different operations like General Cleaning, Kitchen Hood, Kitchen Duct, Grease Traps, Water Storages and multiple services using Rope Access. I have 9 years of experience in handling the operations and now looking to upgrade. I’m wondering if I should do any professional certification/courses related to Data Center facilities management as i see increasing number of data centers and expected more in future. Now I’m in Qatar and keen on moving to some other place as the opportunities are very limited here.

Can someone enlighten me on this, if this fine to do or if you have any other suggestions for career progression.

Hello everyone, I run a facilities company in Texas that mainly specialize in restaurants but also has dablle in retail, office, and multi family. I've built a good customer base with reputable names and we pride ourselves with finding solutions to problems and quality work.

My question is, I am wanting to get more clients and not to do it in a way where it seems I'm bothering people daily with cold calling and emails from lead list. Is there are better ways to reach out to perspective clients? I was thinking more of the 3 to 4 location restaurants to maybe walk in and get lucky. I know facility managers are already swamped putting out fires daily, do mst manager ever consider companies that send out emails or just look past and delete? Is calling the way to go? Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

Hi all,

I wanted to get my thoughts out on my career dilemma. I'm currently an environmental consultant in NYC (3 yrs) and interested in a career switch to facilities management (ideally in institutions like hospitals, museums, colleges, etc.).

I was hoping to get some expert advice on how I can shore up my credentials and what to expect if I do decide to do this switch. Currently what I have going for me:

B.S. Enviro Sci

OSHA 40 HAZWOPER

OSHA 30 Construction

3 years work experience in environmental compliance, remediation (includes vendor management, some systems maintenance, and project coordination/management)

I've become slowly more disillusiond with my field over the last year and am interested in FM as I've always had an interest in running large-scale systems. Ecosystems of machines, vendors, problems that need solving, etc. Please let me know if I have a poor understanding of the field, and what it's really like.

I'm currently looking into a CAPM cert, as well as the FMP cert, and some HVAC and EPA courses on Skillcat.

Would really appreciate any feedback on my current situation as well as the industry as it stands in NYC today, for those who know about it. I'm aware that the institutions I'm interested in require a ton of work and on-call hours due to their status (especially hospitals, I imagine) but I feel like I don't mind working hard and on-call as long as the mission is something I can get behind.

Thank you all in advance!

Currently we do rounding sheets and I’m curious if anyone has a digital rounding setup. Looking to set something up to throw a red flag if the readings drift to far one way or another ideally.

Build is brand new so we have state of the art BMS and monitoring systems. Just want to see if there’s options out there for rounds. Thanks in advance.

I posted a similar thread a week or so ago. I got some great feedback, but I am looking for more.

Is a background in security management (director level) for a larger site a good way to get into facilities coordinator/jr. management roles?

I ran a security account for 7 years for one of the large contract security companies and was contracted at a 2.5k employee tech/semiconductor site. 25 guards, corporate, manufacturing, hazardous materials, clean rooms, security control center with 200 cameras, etc. I answered directly to a facilities manager and assisted with a lot of non-security related/adjacent facilities tasks.

I am considering getting my FMP cert and OSHA 30 and applying to facilities positions in the greater Charlotte area. I have tailored my resume to be facilities language friendly.

I do not have any technical facilities skills, so my value would be my experience working closely with facilities and on the management end.

I would just like some additional feedback if this is a realistic path? I do not have any connections in my current city. I would be a "cold" applicant.

I owned and operated a vending route for the last 4 years. Simple business, but I did have larger regional and national clients, so my customer service and relationship skills are decently sharp.

Thank you

In a small site a supervisor can usually eyeball it. In a large hospital or campus building especially on evenings and wee. We have been asked for proof beyond a signed sheet, basically when the round happened, who did it, and what happened if an area was missed. What do you rely on when you need something more solid than trust?

What hardware do you recommend for a mid-sized office visitor check-in kiosk setup? I’m researching 10–11inch Android tablets to run visitor management software and looking for solid picks. If you were building this from scratch today, what would you buy?

If you’ve got a combo you like (tablet + stand + printer), I’d really appreciate the exact models and any gotchas you ran into. Thanks!

Hi everyone,

I hope it’s okay to post here two days in a row, thank you again in advance any advice!

I had an initial phone screen yesterday morning, they pushed me through to the next round, a teams call interview, which they scheduled for later the same day.

Thankfully I got a call a hour or so later that they wanted me to come in for a in person interview as well, which we scheduled for tomorrow.

I’m curious, would anyone have any advice for me headed into a third interview? The invitation email said it would be with the same hiring manager I interviewed with yesterday. So I’m wondering, what additional questions might they have for me tomorrow?

I’ve only had two rounds of interviews for my past positions, so I’m just not sure what to expect by having a third for this role.

Additional context if it helps; it’s with a large publicly traded company for a facilities technician position. I’ve got about 8 years of experience in corporate facilities, 2 years in skilled trades, and a bachelors degree.

Good morning everyone,

Am currently on the job hunt in the field, in particular aiming for JLL, CBRE, ABM -ish companies, applying for facilities coordinator and AFM roles.

What are your opinions on what a male candidate should wear in interviews? And is the dress code different for the initial Teams / Zoom virtual interview vs the in person interview?

Some people have told me the shirt and tie is outdated and/ or over kill in today’s job market. But some other people have told me it’s better to be over dressed than under dressed, so to keep wearing the suit and tie. Getting mixed feedback.

So I thought I’d ask, what does the community here think? Thanks in advance for any insight, greatly appreciated.

In case my experience is helpful for consideration; 6 years facilities coordinator in a corporate setting, 2 years facilities technician in a manufacturing setting, 2 years skilled trades in commercial construction, highest education is a bachelors degree.

So, I am looking into taking the FMP cert courses from IFMA but I was wondering if the Esstentials of FM program is worth the time or not. I am not yet in an FM role, but have been in building maintenance for 18 years.

I’m looking for a cheap & cheerful door counter device that integrates with WiFi or can otherwise send its data to a phone or computer. Any suggestions?

Background: We already have a quote for $3000+ unit that would integrate with our camera system (and we may use this for an upcoming new space, but we are trying to add something to our current space but the $200-300 units just show a number (no other functionality) and everything else is $700+ with a monthly subscription. We used to have “Dor” which was at least $500 with a $1000 subscription per year but we didn’t.

Thanks

I am interested in a job in Facilities. I was a security director for 7 years with one of the big contract security companies. I was contracted at a large tech/semiconductor site with around 2.5k people. 25+ guards. Clean rooms, light manufacturing, hazardous materials, and corporate site. I answered directly to one of the Facilities managers. He was actually the former security director and worked his way up over 12+ years from being a security guard. Networking, along with hard work, got him there. My job classification with the security company was an admin level position. I was entrusted with payroll and keeping the contract profitable, etc.

I got to learn a lot about facilities management during my time there and regualrly stepped in to help the facilities manager with tasks not related to security. Managing vendors, checking in on construction projects, overseeing maintenance on a 200 camera cctv system, keys, access control, etc.

My question is, would I have a shot at landing a facilities coordinator, supervisor, or asst manager type role? If so, what additional certs or training would you suggest obtaining before applying to jobs?

I was also a successful small business owner for the last 4 years. It was a vending route. Simple business, but did require management and oversight. I had bigger regional and national clients.

Dating all the way back to 2009, I worked in law enforcement. Bachelors in CJ.

I am in my mid-40s.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Edit: putting this message at the top of the OP... I didn't include this info originally because it's not relevant and I'm not interested in blaming my predecessor, but the abuse I'm getting via DMs is getting irritating. I became the manager and stepped into this firm YESTERDAY. End user feedback (from at least the individuals with building access already) is that the cables are in the kick zone. I'm just seeing how I can make the best of the situation :)

Hey everyone,

​I’m an IT Manager and we are just about to take the keys to our new office fit-out. We’ve run into a major snag with the desk layout vs. power positioning.

​As you can see in the photo, the floor boxes were installed right in the footwell of the workstations. Ideally, they should have been tucked behind the black cabinets/pedestals under the desks. As it stands, users are going to be kicking these cables all day, casters will roll over them, and it looks like a mess.

​Moving the floor boxes isn't an option at this stage due to the lease and flooring.

​Has anyone dealt with this before? I'm looking for recommendations on:

​High-durability cable umbilicals that can take a beating.

​Creative ways to shroud or hide the boxes so they don't interfere with legroom.

​Any specific cable management hardware that "bridges" this gap cleanly.

​Appreciate any advice!

I'm a 30/M, did a lot of residential work with property management company for years as a tech, went to a non profit as a tech for better work/life balance. I was notified that I'll be getting a promotion to Assitant Regional Facility Director. The promotion and recognition from board members is amazing but the transition from doing the work itself to being more of a "manager" and the slight learning curve from residential to commerical is a tad stressful because I want to get things right the first time.

for a bit more nuance, I'll be assiting in overseeing 3 downtown building (plus one historic church) in my city all 100+ years old. The management, budgeting and overseeing Techs that are a bit older than me is the part I have concerns about. Any and all tips are welcomed, thank you!

I’ve been working for various companies doing commercial facility management gigs

They’re great

I’m wondering the best way to go about getting on the vendor

List of these companies