The Quick Guide to School
Maintenance Programs

As high-traffic areas, schools undergo an enormous amount of wear and tear. To stay in a safe and serviceable condition, schools need consistent maintenance. School maintenance programs are plans that detail how schools are to be maintained.

While these programs can aim to fix existing problems, they may also include preventative maintenance. This is a strategy that reduces overall risk by fixing small issues before they become massive and expensive problems. Think of preventative building maintenance like vehicle maintenance. Vehicles perform best and last longer when they’re regularly serviced. By frequently servicing your car, you preserve part integrity, helping you avoid unexpected and financially devastating events. Similarly, consistent school maintenance is key in keeping schools in top condition while saving money in the long run. School building maintenance can include:

• Full classroom refurbishment 

• Painting to protect interior and exterior surfaces

• Landscaping, grounds and sports field maintenance

• Fixing flooring, wall and ceiling damage

• Reconditioning or replacing structural timber or concrete

• Plumbing and electrical repairs

• Removing rust and fixing water damage

Getting a school maintenance contract

School maintenance contracts are legal agreements between schools and contractors to guarantee continual maintenance. These contracts set the costs, scheduling and responsibilities to keep your school in a good condition. 

The first step in securing a school maintenance contract is to organise an on-site inspection with prospective contractors. Your provider will then develop a quote that details what maintenance work they’ll do. Once details are finalised and the contract is signed, scheduled work can commence. 

Of course, you can also build a team of permanent staff to maintain school infrastructure. Let’s explore whether in-house maintenance is the best option for your school.

The choice to insource or outsource your maintenance needs depends on your context. Many schools rely on a mix of in-house and outsourced maintenance solutions to solve common school maintenance challenges.  

But whether you’re better served by in-house or outsourced teams depends on the job at hand. Many schools employ in-house teams for necessary everyday maintenance that keeps schools clean, safe and comfortable. When you’re tackling larger jobs, you may want to keep your internal team free to maintain their day-to-day duties. This allows you to bring in specialists to focus on strategic, planned maintenance.

Another benefit to outsourcing school maintenance is that it significantly reduces both the administrative burden of hiring staff and the legal risks that are assumed in the event of in-house work. When you’re tackling anything structural, or that carries a high risk like working at heights, major cost or is time-sensitive, it’s sometimes best to call in an expert team.

In this section, we compare how maintenance contracts and plans compare with once-off school maintenance projects. By exploring the pros and cons of each option, you should know what’s best for your school.

Once-off projects

Many school managers are happy to hire once-off contractors. When managing a newly built school, for example, paying for a lengthy maintenance contract may seem unnecessary.

The Pros

• Contracting different school maintenance companies is a good way to test how suitable they are for a long-term partnership. You’ll learn what it’s like to work with them and can progress your relationship based on the results of their work.

• If you need emergency repairs, once-off work can help you solve your immediate problem without worrying about long-term contracts.

The Cons

• While once-off projects may seem to keep costs down, they can cause you to overlook preventative maintenance, leading to more expensive fixes and emergency repairs. You may also lose out on discounts available on retainers.

• Unknown and once-off contractors always pose a fly-by-night risk, where they leave before work is complete or they produce substandard work.

• As you need to manage a group of independent specialists, finding and then dealing with once-off contractors can be an administrative challenge. Relying on once-off work also increases manager responsibility, as you have to keep track of what needs to be repaired and maintained, along with understanding the costs and work involved.

School maintenance contracts

Where once-off projects offer freedom, school maintenance contracts provide security and peace of mind. Here’s how a long-term service partnership can help or hinder you.

The Pros

• School maintenance contracts keep your budget in check by preventing unplanned or emergency repairs. This can save you thousands of dollars while ensuring your building functions as intended. And if something goes wrong with maintenance work, then your providers will fix it at their expense.

• The right school maintenance provider can guarantee emergency support when you need it, saving you the time and effort of sourcing another company. By forming close partnerships, you also benefit from access to your provider’s trusted referral network.

• Schools with long-term building maintenance contracts enjoy reduced legal and financial risk. Generally, quality work is guaranteed as providers will be working with you for a long time. As licensed tradesmen, your contractor will carry the legal risk for each job they complete.

The Cons

• Sourcing the right school maintenance plan and solutions provider can take a lot of upfront effort. After all this work, many school facility managers feel locked into their contract. But this doesn’t need to be the case. By including a cancellation or renewal clause in your contract, you can get out of an unsatisfactory partnership.

• By signing a maintenance contract, you naturally develop a long-term relationship with your contractor. While this can be an advantage, some facility managers may prefer to keep relationships more transactional.

Entrusting your school’s maintenance to a reliable contractor should give you peace of mind. Ideally, your contractor should give a clear idea of what needs to be fixed and maintained years ahead of time, and on a fixed budget. But this peace of mind is dependent on selecting the right contractor. 

Here are our tips for choosing contractors:

1. Look for an all-in-one solutions provider — from electrics and plumbing to wall repairs, these providers offer a one-stop shop for all school infrastructure and grounds maintenance. By providing a full suite of solutions, these providers eliminate the need to manage multiple service providers.

2. Examine your vendor’s expertise and qualifications — ensure that potential maintenance providers are fully qualified, police-checked and registered with all the relevant bodies. The company, the work itself and the onsite team should also be fully insured. 

3. Pay attention to work schedules — to cause minimal disruption, your provider should accommodate their work with the demands of the school calendar. If you’re refurbishing a classroom, for example, the job should be completed well before the first day of term. 

4. Only select providers with glowing testimonials — glowing testimonials from long-standing clients are a clear indication that the company is reliable, and consistently delivers high-quality work to deadline. Ask maintenance companies about the schools they’ve worked with and contact these schools for a recommendation. 

5. Ask about their exclusions lists — look for companies that are willing to take on tasks that regularly fall on other companies’ exclusion lists. At First Response, for instance, we have the expertise to take on nearly all maintenance tasks. Our willingness to tackle any maintenance challenge stems from our expertise and trust in our teams. 

There are a few things to expect when switching to a new maintenance provider or starting a new preventative maintenance plan. After finding the right company, the contracting and work process follow these five steps:

1. Get an onsite building assessment — your prospective maintenance supplier should visit your school and extensively evaluate its maintenance requirements. This is crucial in setting the scope of your school maintenance program.

2. Negotiate your contract — negotiate for a transparent and flexible contract that includes a favourable exit clause.

3. Work commences — your maintenance provider should arrange a defects inspection meeting. You’ll be invoiced once maintenance tasks are complete and warranty documentation will be delivered upon receipt of payment. 

4. Assess provider value — after a few months into your contract, evaluate your supplier experience. Is their workmanship up to standard? Has maintenance caused any issues for staff or students? 

5. Trigger your exit clause in case your provider fails to perform — if your provider fails to meet your expectations, discuss it with them. If they continue to deliver poor value, take advantage of your exit clause and move to a new provider.

Partnering with a trusted maintenance provider is critical to keeping your school in good repair. 

At First Response, we provide all-in-one school maintenance plans that ensure minimal disruption for your staff and students. Having built long-term relationships with many schools we have experience maintaining a range of facilities and building types. 

If you’re curious about our services, we offer free and no-obligation quotes for maintenance contracts. For a free quote or just a chat, click the button below.