Journalists are outside observers, so on the job, I get only small glimpses of the immense challenges facing maintenance and engineering managers with institutional and commercial facilities. In that light, the experience of being a building occupant — even for three days — offers a sobering reminder of how many buildings struggle through the vast span of time between construction and demolition.
My experience came as a jury member at a county courthouse. The 95-year-old facility bears all the hallmarks — construction tape, blocked off stairwells and vast swings in indoor temperatures among them — of an enormous, complex building that relies on public funds. As a result, it has been maintained for decades by managers forced to do more with less.
I knew the experience would be trying facility-wise when the judge told jurors on the first day that it had been 90 degrees in her courtroom recently and that we needed to get ready to be uncomfortable. The courtroom never got that hot, but moving throughout the building was essentially an experiment in finding the closest fan and some relief.
Nothing about my experience is news to managers who have to find ways every day to improve the comfort and safety of buildings that seem to offer nothing but problems.
But it is a reminder that while construction creates headlines and demolitions draw crowds, the time between those two points represents the vast majority of a building’s performance life. Savvy organizations will find a way to invest in the facilities function that has the skills and experience to keep occupants safe and comfortable — maintenance. It doesn’t require a panel of 12 smart people to see that.
Dan Hounsell is senior editor for the facilities market. He has more than 30 years of experience writing about facilities maintenance, engineering and management.
