Property Maintenance Glossary
A set of terms often used relating to property maintenance.
Maintenance
Maintenance is the generic term relating to the act of maintaining a property or number of properties. This can be to keep maintenance standards up to the required level, to avoid further or future damage to the building fabric or to comply with legal obligations such as portable appliance testing or fixed wire testing.Property Maintenance
Property Maintenance is an overall term relating to the care of upkeep of Property and includes all categories of maintenance including Reactive Maintenance, Planned Maintenance, Compliance Testing, Environmental Testing and Project works such as refurbishment.Reactive Maintenance
Reactive Maintenance is sometimes also referred to as General Response Maintenance. This category of maintenance is to cover the unforseen circumstances such as broken window, blocked toilet, electrical failure or roof leak which requires an engineer on site quickly to rectify the problem or to prevent any further damage. Companies specialising in reactive maintenance generally offer a number of call out options such as 2 hour, 4 hour, next day depending upon the urgency of the works.Planned Maintenance / Preventative Maintenance
Planned Maintenance is the scheduling of a programme of works at regular time intervals. This can be to reduce the number of Reactive Maintenance calls through on-going Preventative Maintenance such as 'man in a van' type services for general multi-trade maintenance works. Planned Maintenance also can include full planned schedules to meet regulatory demands such as fire extinguisher servicing and maintenance, portable appliance testing, fixed wire testing and gas certificates.Retail Maintenance
Retailers require fast response maintenance to ensure that their stores are kept looking at their best to encourage sales and customer confidence. Retail Maintenance therefore is a specific industry sector which demands the highest standards from their property maintenance. Flagship retail stores in major towns and cities require particular attention with property managers under pressure to ensure that their flagship properties are kept up to the required exacting standards.Nationwide
Nationwide is often a term used to indicate that a company offer a full service throughout the country. In the UK a full Nationwide service would offer call outs to all areas of the country including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.24 / 7 / 365
24/7/365 is a term often used by property maintenance companies to indicate an all day / night / week / year service. The term originates from 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.Refurbishment / Renovation
Refurbishment is a process of minor or major maintenance to a property and is often offered on a project basis. The process of refurbishment / renovation will begin with the planning/quoting stage through the initial works and possibly including structural repair, partial rebuilding and/or restructuring the use of the building.Boarding / Glazing
Boarding and Glazing services are often used on a reactive call out basis for smashed glass, cracked glass broken window frames or damaged window frames. Windows can be boarded up whilst replacement window units manufactured, glazing units may be of various types including single or double glazed, laminated or toughened glass. Boarding and Glazing services may be combined with Locksmith services in the event of a break in.Locksmiths
Locksmiths may be required to gain entry to a property and to change locks where damage has been caused, usually after a break in or attempted break in. Locksmiths may access properties or change many types of lock including standard 5 lever locks, cylinder locks, UPVC door locks and Safes.Disaster Recovery
Disaster Recovery when related to building maintenance can bring together many aspects of property maintenance in the event of a fire, flood, break in or any other disaster where it is not possible for a business to operate normally. Disaster Recovery issues often include security, boarding and glazing, clearances, refurbishment, re-location or locksmiths. Retail businesses especially suffer from disasters where the recovery period prevents trading resulting in lost revenues. Property Maintenance companies who offer disaster recovery services can assist in reducing potential losses to an absolute minimum through the overall project management of clearances, cleaning services, security, boarding / glazing or refurbishment/re-fits.