The Right Way to Compare Contractors
The search for a facilities maintenance contractor can be an extensive one. You have to compare maintenance management contractors in order to hire a team that fits within your budget, but one who can expediently assess and correct all potential problems. It can be hard to tell whether your business needs the top of the line, or just the team you can afford. Fortunately, we have reviewed the metrics you may use to evaluate a contractor and selected the ones we find most relevant. In our free White Paper “The 8.5 Best Practices in Facilities Maintenance”, available for download on this site, we discuss these metrics and how they may be applied to benefit your business.
Nothing speaks to a company’s performance capability like their work record. Make sure the contractor can offer you their accident record. If they’ve consistently operated without accidents, they can be trusted to continue this practice. Also see if they have the property management training required to effectively handle such projects. You don’t want the promise of a successful project, you want a guarantee. This is a very clear indicator of service quality, as the only way to support a guarantee is with consistent, superior performance.
Project and/or customer testimonials can also be very useful, as they offer you a window into the level of customer satisfaction and service follow-through a contractor is able to provide. That a client of the contractor was willing to put their name out there as an endorsement speaks to the contractor’s performance value. Numerous examples of these sorts of “raving fans” are a clear indicator of superior service quality.
It’s always tempting to just look for the low-bidder. You’re running a business, after all, and have to keep an eye on costs. But cutting costs in facilities maintenance can cause you even greater expenses down the line, from issues such as safety hazards or damaged pavement. Make sure to keep this performance vs. cost equation in mind, not simply the dollar amount of the contract. In other words, value is the key. So don’t just rely on pricing, check to see if the company establishes performance value metrics. These can include lead time, schedule adherence, milestones, company liability insurance, and customer satisfaction numbers.
In summation, you shouldn’t run after the cheapest contractor on the market even though it may save you money in the short-term. That’s not the way to compare maintenance management. Instead, consider the company’s past work, customer satisfaction, level of service quality, and other quantifiable performance indicators. Then you can relax and let the professionals do the work. manila delivery