When every penny counts, your worship service could be losing money with broken-down floor buffers, vacuums that drain electricity, or last-minute dashes for replacement parts. An overburdened maintenance department distracts from your church’s greater purpose.
What is church building maintenance?
“Many churches operate out of older structures, and these facilities need special attention to remain in functional shape,” says Taylor Short, CMMS market researcher at Software Advice, a website where maintenance managers can compare and review software. “Churches of any size have assets to maintain and keep track of,” says Short, “such as audio and video equipment, HVAC systems, and appliances inside a kitchen.”
If you’re still relying on a spreadsheet (or worse – a set of filing cabinets and a whiteboard) to keep track of all the maintenance tasks your parish has to accomplish on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, then trust us – there’s a better way.
By adopting church facility management software, you can have a web-based system that tracks all of your maintenance tasks for you. That won’t just save you time and money, but it’ll allow you to prevent problems from happening, as you’ll have a system that’ll always remind you of what needs to be done next.
Church Building Maintenance Checklist
Organize and Track Maintenance Volunteer Efforts
Essential maintenance tasks can easily fall through the cracks when you’re relying on a staff that comes and goes. Not every church is run like a large organization – and while some can afford dedicated maintenance teams, others have to work with a team of volunteers to get the job done.
Whether you need to ensure that the kitchen is cleaned on a regular basis, or you’re trying to keep the fire alarm system up to code, assigning these tasks to a larger, non-dedicated workforce can be simplified and streamlined with CMMS – after all, with a CMMS, you aren’t relying on individuals to remember to share every single aspect of your maintenance checklist: the software will do that for you.
On demand work order management software organizes all of your maintenance tasks in one place, so that all jobs are cataloged and accessible. With a CMMS software like Hippo, you can create and assign maintenance tasks seamlessly, prioritizing them and assigning deadlines. Get automatic email updates when jobs are completed – in real time.
Common Church Repairs
If equipment is properly maintained and normal repairs are anticipated, everything runs smoothly. On the other hand, when equipment breaks down, your maintenance department is wasting time waiting for equipment to be restored to full functionality. “I don’t have any maintenance schedule or anything,” says Dan Robitaille, caretaker at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester, New Hampshire. “If something breaks down, I have to call up the service shop.”
In the meantime, equipment is unusable and necessary tasks are not completed. Chances are, you’re not going to be looking forward to your next service if the air conditioner fails, or if your team forgets to do critical maintenance on your heating system.
Of course, it isn’t just the big things that need regular maintenance! CMMS software offers organizations the ability to schedule vacuum maintenance, mop head replacement, and even light bulb replacement. “When you do things right, you can save on costs,” says Jay Lee, founding director of the Industry-University Cooperative Research Center on Intelligent Maintenance Systems. “Without CMMS, you just wait until something happens.”
Preventive maintenance is the core of an effective maintenance strategy. Some repair tasks depend on the passage of time, such as smoke alarm battery replacements. Set up an automatic calendar reminder in CMMS to check all of your units, and you’ll never have any surprises.
With other types of items that your church owns and maintains, the frequency of maintenance activities is not reliant upon a calendar reminder, and can only be predicted with a measurement of the item’s usage.
For example, vehicle use fluctuates depending on the season, group activities, and other circumstances. Track the mileage on your organization’s vehicles, and you’ll never miss another oil change. Your parishioners will always reach their destination.
Keep Track of Supplies within Facility
When it comes to supplies such as light bulbs, toilet paper, and cleaning chemicals, many maintenance departments order on an as-needed basis in an effort to work within their budgets. Unfortunately, if the vacuum breaks down during overnight cleaning and requires an immediate belt replacement, work cannot be completed if the supply closet is found bare and local stores are closed.
To get around the problem of insufficient parts, many managers choose to order a large quantity of each needed item. This tactic can lead to wasted funds through misplacing, loss, and theft. When you rely on tithing to make ends meet, unnecessary spending is a significant problem. The best solution is to have exactly what you need, precisely when you need it, without wasting time or money.
With inventory management software, you’ll be better prepared for every type of repair. Maintenance management software enables you to order and stock the right quantity of light bulbs, vacuum belts, and any other item. Hippo CMMS will even help you track where your parts are stored, making it surprisingly simple to solve every little problem at a moment’s notice.
Lower Facilities Utility Bills
Keeping your house of worship in premium condition is of the utmost importance. Older buildings require unique upkeep not only to meet local regulatory requirements, but in order to provide a place for parishioners to gather for many years to come.
When equipment malfunctions (or isn’t properly maintained), it tends to draw more electricity. It doesn’t matter if it’s an old floor buffer or an AC unit that need to be recharged: if you aren’t paying attention to each and every detail, then you’re going to be wasting money.
Stop draining your donation box by ensuring that equipment is effectively maintained at all times. Schedule all the smallest maintenance tasks for each piece of equipment, preventing breakdowns and keeping machines at peak performance.
CMMS can even help you calculate the costs and benefits, for example, of switching to LED lighting.
Extend the Life of Your Building Equipment
If your floor buffer is held together with duct tape and string, it’s going to break down more often, shortening its useful life and costing your organization more money over the long run.
Church facility management software will help keep your cleaning equipment and your house of worship stay in tip-top shape.
Irreparable damage can be caused to equipment that suffers a breakdown caused by poor upkeep. While a transmission flush on your church bus might cost as much as a few hundred dollars, a complete transmission replacement can cost thousands.
Schedule all your maintenance and prevent breakdowns so that your most important assets are always available for use. Want to check in on your vehicle’s upkeep? Run a vehicle maintenance report for a full history using CMMS.
Improve Communication
With mobile work orders and computerized maintenance plans, workers need not travel back and forth to the office to create or complete work orders. All tasks are available for viewing from any mobile device. If you’re dealing with part-time or volunteer staff, they’ll always know what to work on next because work orders are organized, prioritized clearly, and easy to access.
When you do encounter surprises, CMMS software makes it easy to keep a log of unplanned maintenance activities, deepening the historical data for every piece of equipment. When the time comes to decide between replacing a refrigerator or repairing it one more time, cost tracking can inform your decision. By comparing the historical maintenance repair with the cost of a new unit, you can easily see where your money is best spent.
Save Important Facilities Information
CMMS software can store your warranty information – no more digging through filing cabinets in an urgent situation. Import operating manuals for all your assets right into the system so you can answer questions in a flash.
Store all of your performance history about both equipment and employees in the system, so that you can make informed purchasing and hiring decisions with minimal worry.
Calling in an outside vendor for a repair? Save the vendor time, and save your church money, by reading the serial numbers from your equipment right off your screen. Your repairman will always bring the right tools – and any parts necessary to complete the job, decreasing downtime between jobs and increasing the efficiency of outside vendor management.
All essential pieces of information can be accessed easily on our one-of-a-kind interactive floor plan offered only by Hippo CMMS.
Why Maintain Church Facilities?
The process of determining whether a CMMS is right for your church will depend upon the cost of the software that you choose and your current maintenance situation. What are the most stressful aspects of your building maintenance? Where do you think expenses could be trimmed and better controlled?
A wide variety of CMMS exists for every type of organization, taking individual maintenance and financial needs into consideration.
CMMS: The Church Facility Management Solution
Hippo CMMS offers unique features not found with any other CMMS provider, such as our interactive floor plan dashboard. Visualize your work orders, assets, and vital information all in one place.
Hippo CMMS offers the latest in user-friendliness and simple functionality. Spend less time figuring out your new software, and more time getting work done.
Additionally, Hippo CMMS never charges you for additional users in your maintenance management system, keeping costs low even as your church changes and grows. Our free e-book offers all you need to know when selecting your new CMMS. Contact us today to find out if your worship service can benefit by making the switch.
