At the moment, the U.S. is home to around 6 million commercial buildings. These buildings consist of almost 100 billion square feet of space. As you might imagine, all this space can make life difficult for commercial building owners. It isn’t always easy for them to keep up with all the commercial maintenance that must be done.
From preventative maintenance to emergency building maintenance, there will always be tasks for building owners to tackle. Luckily, they can simplify things by keeping a commercial maintenance checklist nearby and working their way through it. Here are the items that should definitely appear on your commercial maintenance checklist if you own a building and want to keep it in great shape.
Replace Light Bulbs
When you own a commercial building, there will be light bulbs on both the inside and outside of it that will burn out all the time. It’ll be up to you to have these burnt-out light bulbs replaced ASAP. Otherwise, a lack of commercial lighting could be a real safety issue. You might also want to explore the idea of using LED light bulbs versus traditional incandescent light bulbs or fluorescent lighting. It’ll cut your building’s energy costs and help you avoid having to replace light bulbs as often as you do now.
Replace HVAC Air Filters
You’ll also need to get into the habit of replacing HVAC air filters. It’ll ensure that your HVAC system isn’t working harder than it should to heat and cool your building. Most HVAC air filters will have to be replaced about once every three months. But you might want to think about doing it more often than that if you have a lot of dirt, dust, and other debris in your building. It’ll guarantee that your HVAC air filter won’t get clogged up and stop your HVAC system from running efficiently.
Clean Floors
There are different forms of commercial cleaning that you’ll need to do in your building regularly. For instance, you’ll need to make sure your floors are cleaned consistently, especially those floors in entryways and common areas. If you allow your floors to get too dirty, they could become quite slippery and lead to slip-and-fall accidents. You’ll want to steer clear of this at all costs for the sake of everyone who works within your commercial building.
Clean Windows
The floors aren’t the only things you’ll need to commit to cleaning early and often in your commercial building. You’ll also need to have both the inside and outside of your windows cleaned at least once each month, if not more often than that. Clean windows will be easier to see out of, and they’ll also last for a longer time since dirt and other debris won’t be able to sneak inside them. You’ll find that clean windows will make your commercial building look more aesthetically pleasing overall.
Perform Pest Inspections
It isn’t uncommon at all for insects, rodents, and other pests to make their way inside commercial buildings. For this reason, you’ll want to have pest inspections performed as often as possible to stop a small pest infestation from turning into a big one. It might be almost impossible to keep all pests out of your commercial building. But you should be able to stop most of them from setting up shop in your building and doing any damage to it.
Look For Water Damage
Water damage will be one of the worst things that can happen to your commercial building. Leaks or standing water will do extensive damage if you aren’t able to catch it early enough. With this in mind, you should always be on the lookout for any signs of possible water damage. It would be worth inspecting your plumbing system and keeping a close eye on your roof to make sure it isn’t letting water leak into your building.
Service Fire Alarms and Fire Sprinkler System
If a fire ever breaks out in your commercial building, you want to know that your fire alarms and sprinkler system will all work properly. If they don’t, it could put people’s lives in danger and lead to your whole building being destroyed. You can run fire drills on your own to test your fire alarms. But you might need to bring in professionals to inspect your fire sprinkler system and see that it’s ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice if necessary.
Check Batteries in Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Your commercial building will need to have a slew of smoke and carbon monoxide detectors scattered throughout it. If possible, you should try to hardwire them all so that you don’t have to worry about checking the batteries in them. But if they do run on batteries, inspecting them and replacing them accordingly will be necessary. You don’t want the batteries in these devices to die without anyone realizing it and then see them fail to work when you need them the most.
Inspect Doors and Locks
Your commercial building probably has tons of doors and locks situated in it. Inspecting these doors and locks to ensure they’re all in good working condition will need to be on your commercial maintenance checklist. If any doors and/or locks aren’t working, it could quickly become a security issue. You’ll need to have them replaced immediately to stop this from happening.
Take Feedback From Tenants
If you have tenants in your commercial building, you shouldn’t be afraid to take any feedback they might have and apply it. If you hear the same complaints about, say, your stairwells being too dark or your elevators not always working right, you’ll need to do something about them. If you don’t do anything to remedy the complaints your tenants send in your direction, it could lead to at least some of these tenants moving out of your building sooner rather than later.
Need Help With Commercial Maintenance? Call Us Today
Is commercial maintenance taking up too much of your time and preventing you from getting things done? BlueChip Pros can provide you with the facility management services you need.
We can help you maintain every single aspect of your commercial building so that you can focus on running your business. Taking advantage of our services will prove to be an excellent investment on your part.
Reach out to us today to get more information on our facility management services and the other services we offer.
