The Facilities Condition Assessment: An Advanced Tool to Control Costs

Let’s begin with the basics. Facilities Management is my own definition. It’s the science and practice of integrating people, place, technology and work in an organization to improve the work environment, cut operating costs, increase safety and productivity, and provide timely and appropriate response to unplanned and planned events.

A Facilities Manager’s job is to improve safety, performance and employee quality of life. A Facilities Condition Assessment (FCA), is an important tool for this purpose.

 

• Assess the true cost of running your facility and how effective your facilities program is.
• For comparison with established benchmarks, track the costs of single or multiple facilities over time.
• Sound facilities financial analysis tools like net present value, life cycle costing, and rates of return can help you make informed decisions.
• When making a purchase or lease decision, compare multiple options.
• Promote new growth in your community by displaying the available facilities.
• To “know where you’re at before you embark on your journey”, establish a baseline for future facility management efforts.
• Assure the best cost efficiency possible and establish a process to plan for future actions.

 

Let’s have a closer look at them.

Your success as a Facilities Manager will depend on how you do it and the answer to “How much do you cost?” On a regular basis. This could be used to decide whether you want to outsource your job or your department. It is crucial to establish efficient and as much as possible automated cost accounting processes. If you don’t, financial information that you prepare will be suspect.

You might be a business that is moving, or who needs to make a purchase or lease decision for any other reason, or you could be a property owner who has available properties. A FCA can be a valuable tool in this process. It looks at historical data for the facility and gives an “apples-to-apples” comparison. An FCA is a valuable tool that helps both the potential tenant and the building owner to avoid confusing information, appear self-serving or otherwise ineffective for comparison purposes.

Another use of an FCA is for a state, local Economic Growth Corporation, or another type of economic development agency. It can be used to establish baselines for member organisations, and it can also serve to attract new businesses to your area or to apply to financial aid and funding development programs.

Let’s take a look at the components of an FCA.

1) Space analysis. Space availability is essential when planning for future developments or managing existing facilities. You will be hearing about rent, common-area maintenance (CAM) costs and taxes in a triple net lease.

2) Cost analysis – This will allow you to get to the bottom of how much it costs to run your facility. It includes looking at employee salaries, benefits, property purchases, outsourced services, chargeback systems, and other expected costs. You can compare facility-by-facility costs using established benchmarks. Only then can you determine if your costs are reasonable and if you are getting value for money.

3) Evaluation facility energy use A baseline energy audit is a process that evaluates energy use over time. It reveals unexpected patterns in energy consumption and costs and can be used to determine potential savings. This includes the expected payback period, cost savings over the equipment’s life (generally 7-13 years of cashflow).

4) Serviceability and facility functionality analysis. This is a fascinating question. This involves asking a series of questions to existing and planned users groups to find out what they require to be productive and efficient in their work. To determine if the facility can perform at this level of service, a second set of criteria is applied to it. Any gap between functionality or serviceability can be a cause of concern. This can be further evaluated to determine the best course of action and anticipated costs.

Once the FCA has been completed, data can be entered into spreadsheets and databases to allow for comparison and tracking over time. This allows you to track performance and cost on a graph and provide information to management.