As the owner or manager of a commercial building in Chicagoland, you understand the importance of proper maintenance of your facility’s vital systems, including HVAC equipment and technology. Without an effective building maintenance program, the wear and tear of daily use will eventually damage or even destroy expensive equipment that could have operated for many more years with proper care.
Due to financial or organizational circumstances, some facility managers find themselves in a position where maintenance has been the responsibility of an in-house employee or team who may or may not have adequate knowledge and experience to properly carry out the job. Considering this, along with the cost of HVAC repair and the risk of downtime, it’s wise to implement professional building maintenance services with experts who maintain equipment similar to what you have in your building.
While maintenance may sound like a chore, it doesn’t need to be a difficult or complicated process. In fact, professional building maintenance for your HVAC system can often be set up in three simple steps:
1. Operational Assessment
The first step is to have a trusted and experienced commercial HVAC company perform an operational assessment.
This assessment helps determine a baseline for how the building’s current systems are functioning. It includes a review of historical usage, current building and occupant needs, utility bill data, and repair history. This allows a maintenance consultant to determine trends, identify areas for improvement, and understand the total cost of ownership for your HVAC system.
Using this information in conjunction with your business goals for the facility, the HVAC professional can provide a list of operational and capital recommendations for energy and cost savings, improved comfort, and reduced risk of equipment failure. Along with these results, they will have a solid foundation on which to build an effective, customized maintenance program for your commercial building.
2. Regulations Review
Another important step your commercial HVAC partner will take is to review local, state, and federal laws and regulations that apply to your facility based on its location and use. While you likely monitor many of these regulations already, laws change quickly and sometimes items can go unnoticed, creating unexpected compliance issues.
Maintaining regulatory compliance for your Chicago facility also helps build a planned maintenance program, since timing of inspections, specific sensor readings or equipment processes that must meet regulatory specifications can be continually monitored via your maintenance program.
3. Recommendations
The final step in implementing an effective building maintenance program for your facility’s HVAC system involves the professional recommendations provided by expert technicians who have performed the assessment and reviewed the appropriate regulatory guidelines for your facility. These recommendations fall into three categories:
- Immediate improvements
- Long-term improvements
- Ongoing maintenance
The first category includes items that should be addressed immediately either because they are relatively inexpensive and can have a dramatic impact on improving the efficiency or performance of the system, or because they are out of compliance at the time of the assessment.
The second category includes professional recommendations for energy savings, performance enhancements, and suggested usage adjustments that may or may not require a capital investment. These recommendations usually need to be planned and budgeted for, and they lead to future gains as the improvements are made.
The third category lays out the recommended maintenance plan that’s been specifically created for your facility’s HVAC system, based on what equipment is installed, what condition it’s currently in, and how it will be used in the coming months and years. This plan will be set up to optimize the equipment’s performance, energy efficiency, and lifespan in an effort to save money and maintain a comfortable and safe environment inside the facility.
Ready to learn more? Get the facility manager's guide to planned maintenance for Chicago buildings. Contact Midwest Mechanical today to find out how our experienced Chicago HVAC professionals can work with you to review your facility systems for the most efficient and cost-effective operation.
