Chances are, you’ve heard of facilities management but haven’t given it much thought. It’s one of those services that, when it works well, you’ll rarely need to know it’s there.
Facilities managers and their teams are the behind-the-scenes professionals who look after the general maintenance and building needs of your owners’ corporation. But they do much more than check for leaks and manage master keys.
Facilities management can help reduce costs, minimise risks, and ensure your strata property is safe, clean, and well-maintained. Below are its four core functions and their implications for owners’ corporations.
1. Maintenance and Repairs
A staple of facilities management is staying on top of maintenance and repairs. As well as responding quickly when things go wrong, this also involves preventative and planned maintenance to ensure things keep running smoothly.
Good facilities management teams don’t wait for issues to escalate. Instead, maintenance checks are a regular part of their weekly and monthly routines. Preventive maintenance in this fashion helps reduce major repair emergencies, which can incur high costs.
This also means keeping track of when things are installed and their general ‘shelf life’ and making sure everything stays compliant for health and safety and insurance policies. Knowing when certain aspects of a building (such as roofing, plumbing systems, or lifts) are likely to require replacement enables the team to advise and act confidently, ensuring they’re addressed before issues arise.
2. Cleaning Services
Cleaning isn’t just about a polished appearance; it’s essential to health, safety, compliance and the overall experience of residents and visitors.
Facilities management provides cleaning services, ensuring common areas are cleaned regularly and consistently. This includes lobbies, hallways, car parks, lifts, waste areas, and shared amenities. For some properties, this may also include outside common areas and gardening.
For strata properties, a clean environment supports residents’ well-being, protects assets, and fosters a sense of pride in the building. A structured cleaning schedule is an essential part of ongoing maintenance checks, as it ensures the team has visibility into any issues that may need to be escalated beyond routine cleaning.
3. Security Services
While not all facilities management teams are responsible for security, they can certainly provide an expert, vigilant eye over buildings and common areas and advise on potential risk areas.
Many facilities managers oversee and coordinate security measures, including access control systems, CCTV, lighting, alarm monitoring, and secure key management. They also ensure these systems are maintained, up to date, and functioning as intended. With such oversight, they’re also well placed to advise owners’ corporations on blind spots and to flag issues that require higher-level attention.
By maintaining a regular presence, facilities management teams also provide a visible deterrent, signalling that the building is well cared for and protected.
4. Space and Asset Management
Space and asset management is about making the most of the building, common areas, and general space that form part of your strata complex. This includes gardens, play areas, BBQ areas, car parks, and storage spaces. It also incorporates any tools, resources, or equipment available to residents or used by the facilities team to keep things running smoothly.
Facilities managers track all these spaces and items, coordinate repairs and maintenance, and ensure they’re used safely, compliantly, and in accordance with owners’ corporations’ policies and guidelines.
Looking for Facilities Management Support?
In short, facilities management is the bedrock of safe, compliant, efficient, clean, and well-maintained strata properties.
These four services cover the core of what a good facilities management team can offer you, but their role also provides significant peace of mind for owners’ corporations.
At AboveOCM, our understanding of these core pillars means we’re well equipped to advise and guide you in securing the best facilities management services for your Melbourne strata development.
Learn more about what we offer and how we can support your Melbourne facilities management needs.
