Top 5 Proven Strategies to Cut Facility Maintenance Costs

Facility Management Market Leader

Updated January 9th, 2025

Average Facility Maintenance Costs
5 Best Practices for Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs
Smarter Maintenance, Bigger Savings
Frequently Asked Questions

Key Takeaways

Facility maintenance is essential for keeping operations running smoothly but can become costly if not managed efficiently. By utilizing these five tips, businesses can reduce maintenance expenses while improving overall facility efficiency.

Facility maintenance is mandatory to keep your organization’s facilities running smoothly. However, improperly managed maintenance programs can become a significant expense.

It’s critical for businesses to strike a balance between maintaining assets in good condition and controlling costs. That’s why many organizations follow facility maintenance expense management best practices, which maximize maintenance efficiency while reducing costs.

Check out this guide to better understand average facility maintenance costs and how organizations of any size can minimize these expenses.

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Average Facility Maintenance Costs

Facility maintenance is the regular upkeep of a building or property. The ultimate goal is to keep the facility safe, efficient, and functional. Every facility is different, but most use a mixture of these maintenance strategies:

Preventive maintenance: The team performs routine inspections and tasks to avoid unexpected breakdowns.
Corrective maintenance: Maintenance crews perform fixes after detecting a problem.
Predictive maintenance: With this option, organizations use data to anticipate which areas of the facility need maintenance.
Emergency maintenance: Also known as reactive maintenance, this happens after a sudden failure.

While corrective and emergency maintenance might appear more affordable at first, they can result in additional unexpected breakdowns that cost more in the long run.

Preventive and predictive maintenance help you stay ahead of these concerns.

However, organizations sometimes overdo it with these maintenance strategies, paying more for parts and repairs than necessary. Regardless of your maintenance strategy, you still need a plan to maximize value and reduce expenses.

It can cost millions of dollars to keep facilities running efficiently. Organizations should budget for these everyday maintenance tasks:

Annual fire alarm and sprinkler inspection: Up to $1,000 every year
Landscaping: Up to $500 a month
Equipment calibration: $800 per device
Pest control: Over $200 per visit
Plumbing: $400 per service call
Electrical inspections: $600 per inspection
Elevator servicing: $1,200 per quarterly inspection
Roof repairs: $1,000
Lighting replacements: $30 per bulb, including labor
Cleaning: As much as $0.40 per square foot

Keeping a facility clean and functional is expensive. Maintaining additional equipment, such as heavy machinery, increases these costs even more.

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5 Best Practices for Reducing Facility Maintenance Costs

Facility maintenance costs add up quickly, but proactive planning helps you manage and reduce these expenses. Follow these best practices to control facility maintenance costs.

1. Set up asset-tracking software

It’s impossible to manage all facility maintenance tasks and assets manually. Sign up for an asset-tracking tool to monitor asset performance, maintenance history, and downtime.

These tools also streamline operations, prevent unnecessary spending, and make it easy to plan equipment replacements.

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2. Standardize equipment

Instead of purchasing different equipment for the facility, always buy the same model or from the same manufacturer. Standardization allows you to keep just one set of replacement parts for each system.

It also means facility teams only need to follow instructions for a single manufacturer, which reduces miscommunications.

3. Track assets with durable labels

Communication is key to managing facility maintenance effectively. Camcode’s durable labels and tags improve asset tracking and maintenance schedules by providing easy-to-read, scannable information.

With scannable, human-readable tags, your teams know exactly where the equipment is and what repairs are due. Plus, opting for durable labels saves money by avoiding frequent replacements and ensuring consistent performance over time.

4. Negotiate with vendors

Many facilities rely on third-party contractors for lawn care, HVAC, plumbing, and more. While it’s important to establish long-term relationships with quality vendors, you should still negotiate their rates.

Use enterprise planning software (ERP) to track vendor contracts and negotiate rates. Many providers are happy to cut you a deal for longer-term contracts or bundled services.

5. Train your staff

Complex tasks like plumbing and electrical work belong to certified professionals, but you don’t need to call these expensive experts for every project.

Empower your in-house staff to handle minor repairs and inspections. This way, they can resolve issues immediately and reduce the company’s reliance on expensive external providers.

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Smarter Maintenance, Bigger Savings

Reducing facility maintenance costs requires a strategic approach that combines proactive maintenance, effective asset tracking, and smart investments in durable materials.

Ultimately, thoughtful planning and adopting best practices help businesses control maintenance expenses, improve operational efficiency, and avoid costly downtime, ensuring a more sustainable and well-managed facility.

Solutions like Camcode’s durable labels and tags improve communication, streamline asset tracking, and ensure maintenance tasks are completed efficiently. See the Camcode difference: request your free Camcode label and tag evaluation kit now.