Building Management is one of the core functions that needs to be handled for smooth functioning of a business. One cannot simply work in an office space which is unkempt, has leakage issues or where the elevator does not work. Basic amenities need to be available and managed well to allow your staff to carry out their work unhindered. Reliable providers such as ServiceMaster of Minneapolis provide excellent services to their clients, but if you are looking to contract building management services, here are five things to consider.
Transition
Selecting and approving a building management service is a fairly easy part of the job. The difficult part is the transition. During this process, services can even come to a grinding halt and that’s why your new contractor must be able to provide you a transition plan along with proof of successful transition at other sites. Transitions can be a painful process and are the reasons why organizations are unwilling to change vendors. However, well planned and executed transitions may take some time but yield good results when you are working with experienced service providers.
Employee Training
Believe us, when we tell you that all sites are not the same. One simply cannot pick a staff from a bank, put him in a construction company and expect business to go as usual. For a site to work well, all staff must not only be aware of processes but also be trained to handle them. It is the responsibility of the service contractor to ensure that all staff are provided with necessary training to handle their roles.
Experience and Past Clients
While you might be really inclined to give a newbie a chance to manage your facility, experience also adds great value to a service provider. There are many issues with facility and service management that you might not even be aware of but contractors constantly face. Their experience in handling these issues makes them better prepared to handle them at your site too.
Having said that, a quick check with existing and past clients, helps in understanding the risks that come with working with a particular provider. Like any other organization, your service providers’ organization has its own risks and you must be aware of them before getting into a long term contract with them.
Purpose and Scalability
Many building management contractors can come with excellent reviews and recommendation of their services from people that you know too. However, you must independently analyse whether the services provided by the contractor actually meet your purpose or not. Instead of simply offering a blanket of services for a bundled price, a contractor must be willing to understand areas that you really need help for and offer solutions that work for you. Additionally, the organization must also be able to envision the increase in requirement of these services as your organization grows and be able to scale up to your needs in the future.
Quality
Last but not the least, any service provided must meet the minimum standards of quality applicable for it. A contractor unwilling to commit to quality of his service is likely to cause more damage to your organization than help it offers. Accreditations from external organizations will strengthen your faith in the processes followed by the contractor but even in the absence of accreditation, the commitment to maintaining quality is paramount while selecting a service provider. This commitment can be seen in their internal policies and processes and an honest provider would be happy to share these with you.
Contracting a new building management service provider might seem like a herculean task at first. However, once you find a reliable vendor who understands and can fulfil your requirements and expectations’, working towards successful implementation is a very simple task. If you have found the right contractor, I am sure you would also agree.
