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Nobody wants to live and work in unsafe conditions. Every day we enter and exit numerous buildings without paying much attention to their facilities unless something is outrageously wrong: e.g. it is littered, there is no electricity, or the conditions are anti-sanitary. The proper state, on the contrary, is expected as something non-negotiable.
However, maintaining buildings and facilities requires a lot of activities that may not be noticeable to the common eye, as well as dedicated personnel of technicians and experts with technical competencies.
In this article, we will explain the purpose of building maintenance and how remote visual assistance tools can be applied to achieve faster and more efficient problem resolution and facilitate the maintenance of buildings and their facilities.
Building maintenance is a set of activities aimed at keeping the building in a safe and functional state. An extensive list of services is included in these activities. For example, general repairs, electrical maintenance, plumbing works, HVAC maintenance, landscaping maintenance, fire safety compliance, renovation services, waste maintenance, and so on. Everything depends on the building’s size, age, and purpose.
As it follows from the range of activities needed to maintain facilities in a proper state, a number of people are required with different levels of skills and experience.
A maintenance department is governed by either a property management company or a facility management company. The latter is usually the case for big organizations. Their role is to create teams that would plan, assign, and manage tasks, compose technical teams, streamline maintenance activities, and monitor the fulfillment of contract conditions.
On a more technical level, teams of technicians are responsible for inspections and regular tasks. They are connected with experts in the office and report accordingly.
In the building itself, there is usually a caretaker who is present daily and monitors the state of the building and its facilities. In case of a problem, he/she contacts the maintenance company which, in turn, sends an assigned technician for assistance.
The involvement of specialized teams does not undermine the impact everyday users of the facilities or tenants of the building can bring. Collective attention and collaboration aimed at maintaining the assets in the proper state can prolong the lifecycle of the facilities and reduce maintenance costs.
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, building maintenance activities are an ongoing matter. They need to be implemented in any way because an incident may occur unexpectedly and the need for reactive maintenance will arise. Therefore, the frequency with each assistance may be required depends on various factors: the age and state of the building, the level of care the building’s caretaker maintenance, the behavior of visitors and tenants, etc.
With that in mind, companies also prefer to establish their own thresholds for inspections. Some may schedule monthly checkups, others may favor semi-annual inspections, etc.
Annual building maintenance, often referred to as “annual maintenance,” is a comprehensive and scheduled set of maintenance activities that are performed on a building once a year. This routine maintenance is designed to address various aspects of the building’s upkeep and ensure its continued functionality, safety, and appearance.
The urgency of the problem depends on many factors, but when it is something that requires immediate attention, there is no time for waiting. Therefore, every action must aim at reducing the time needed for the resolution. With traditional means of communication, it can be complicated.
Think of the regular scenario: a caretaker encounters the problem and has to contact the maintenance service. He/she is held on the line, then he/she tries to explain the situation and endures a frustrating wait for the right personnel to come.
The first visit is usually an examination. The company’s technician studies the problem and takes note of the materials he will need to fix it. By the time it is all done, in case of an emergency, there can be a total collapse. This does not sound like an encouraging scene. However, it can be avoided with the help of the right digital tools.
As soon as the caretaker contacts the maintenance company, the company’s expert can launch a real-time video call using a remote visual support solution like ViiBE directly from the work order. The expert has time to receive a 360° view of the problem and take snapshots of it, so the preserved media can be shared with the right technician for the dispatch in full preparation. Like this, there is no need for an unnecessary visit to examine the problem in person which significantly saves time for both sides.
What if the expert is not available right away? The caretaker can still troubleshoot by using ViiBE’s asynchronous feature, ViiBE Report. When he/she is in front of the problem, the caretaker can launch a unilateral stream (meaning that there is no expert in it) and record the situation, showing the potential expert all the details. Once it is done, the Report is sent to the building maintenance company, where the experts can examine it upon their availability. The caretaker does not need to waste time on the explanations: everything is clear from the recording.
ViiBE’s ticketing system allows storage of the shared data, so the team members can have access to the files at all times and provide the needed assistance. If you use it together with field service management software, you can consult it before planning the technician’s dispatch. Then even when already in mobility, the technician can access the mobile ticket in order to verify whether he has taken the right tools, etc. The access to the tickets can be shared with team members in case additional expertise is needed.
The ticket can be enriched with more data. Suppose a technician is on-site and after a while, he realizes that he needs his team members. He can conduct a new ViiBE Report that will be accessible inside the same ticket and his team members will be able to see all the complexities. Thanks to it, the technician will not have to explain the situation to everyone over and over again and instead of coming back-and-forth, the rest of the team can focus on completing the task.
The time-coded recordings of the performed maintenance have another undoubtful benefit. Once the problem is resolved, the maintenance company has proof of it. It is crucial for any contractual agreements and requirements.
The recordings can also be used for insurance companies that usually need to assess the damage before any further procedure is triggered.
Building maintenance is the essential “behind the scenes” activity for safe and sound working and living conditions. Remote visual support solutions like ViiBE make it more efficient by making troubleshooting easier and fostering collaboration between the interlocutors. Remote qualification of the problem eliminates the number of unprepared visits, increases the first-time fix rate, and reduces unnecessary displacement. The ticketing system allows team access to the files and securely stores data that may serve as proof of compliance and as a database of the state of the assets.
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