Does anyone know the inductry average for managed square feet for non-commercial & commercial properties? I can remeber seeing it somewhere but can't seem to track it down. Thanks for your help.
My Two Cents:
I would not be surprised if some place someone has come up with a formula on sq ft limit for managers but I think it always comes down to your staffing levels and the amount of space ,equipment, and property types.
As for the director no limits but the manager? That would depend on all the other variables. Exterior requires #of employees, HVAC, electrical and so on and so forth. Staffing comes with the original specifications. For example air handler #1 requires A, B, C, D, preventive maintenance every four months and this takes this many man hours. Then you have a repair factor and that takes into consideration age of equipment and hours of run time.
To me that’s what property management is all about. Not only getting things done but knowing what’s required to get them done. The Problem is no one would pay the money to have things done correctly because unfortunately people only consider their own perceptions.
This is what separates The Director from the manager and the supervisor from the skilled trades.
That would all depend on many varibles. If your talking Facility Managers compared to Facilities Maintenance staff it would depend on what kind of facilities for example office buildings compared to labs, Hospitals etc. Actually in the Management world it all depends on how capable your support staff is. A goog Facilities Manager with good support staff can manage millions of square feet without any problem. Depending on what level of management your talking about would dictate different square foot standards. In todays budget crunch those standards are being stretched to doing more with less. If your talking about maintenance staffing I did find this statement,
In 2005, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) surveyed over 650 Operations and Maintenance organizations to compile benchmarks. Over 650 facility organizations participated in the survey and the results were tabulated in IFMA’s Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks Research Report #26. The report lists overall maintenance staffing levels based on facility size and a staffing ratio of one maintenance FTE per 47,000 rentable square feet. Overall Maintenance Staffing Facility Size (RSF) Total Maintenance Staff Less than 50,000 3.00 50,000 – 100,000 5.08 100,001 – 250,000 7.53 250,001 – 500,000 9.00 500,001 – 750,000 11.50 750,001 – 1,000,000 25.50 1,000,001 – 1,500,000 34.74 1,500,001 – 2,000,000 38.23 2,000,001 – 3,000,000 51.50 More than 3,000,000 155.00 Staffing ratio – 1 Maintenance FTE per 47,000 RSF This table is taken from IFMA’s Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks Research Report #26 Probably the most accurate way to determine maintenance staff is to calulate the required preventive maintenance for the type of building, type of equipment and applications and determine the hours required through preventive maintenance standards such as GSA, IFMA publications. Then determine the total hours required to maintain your facility and staff accordingly. Again Custodial operations is even different than maintenance operations.
In 2005, the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) surveyed over 650
Operations and Maintenance organizations to compile benchmarks. Over 650 facility
organizations participated in the survey and the results were tabulated in IFMA’s Operations and
Maintenance Benchmarks Research Report #26. The report lists overall maintenance staffing
levels based on facility size and a staffing ratio of one maintenance FTE per 47,000 rentable
square feet.
Overall Maintenance Staffing Facility Size (RSF) Total Maintenance Staff Less than 50,000 3.00 50,000 – 100,000 5.08 100,001 – 250,000 7.53 250,001 – 500,000 9.00 500,001 – 750,000 11.50 750,001 – 1,000,000 25.50 1,000,001 – 1,500,000 34.74 1,500,001 – 2,000,000 38.23 2,000,001 – 3,000,000 51.50 More than 3,000,000 155.00 Staffing ratio – 1 Maintenance FTE per 47,000 RSF This table is taken from IFMA’s Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks Research Report #26
Overall Maintenance Staffing
Facility Size (RSF) Total Maintenance Staff
Less than 50,000 3.00
50,000 – 100,000 5.08
100,001 – 250,000 7.53
250,001 – 500,000 9.00
500,001 – 750,000 11.50
750,001 – 1,000,000 25.50
1,000,001 – 1,500,000 34.74
1,500,001 – 2,000,000 38.23
2,000,001 – 3,000,000 51.50
More than 3,000,000 155.00
Staffing ratio – 1 Maintenance FTE per 47,000 RSF
This table is taken from IFMA’s Operations and Maintenance Benchmarks Research
Report #26
Probably the most accurate way to determine maintenance staff is to calulate the required preventive maintenance for the type of building, type of equipment and applications and determine the hours required through preventive maintenance standards such as GSA, IFMA publications. Then determine the total hours required to maintain your facility and staff accordingly. Again Custodial operations is even different than maintenance operations.
Steven R. Wagner BOC II
There are many variables to this answer. Financial reporting requirements and sophistication being at the top of the list (my experience would suggest that institutional owners require substantially more information as they push it down to the property level;) type of properties managed -- as office buildings usually require more time than industrial; engineering and accounting strength also factor into the equation; and finally, experience and the ability to effectively multi-task, delegate and empower your team. In summary,
The average number of stores that our 6 FM PM's handle is 330 and the average store area is 7,500 sf.
Therefore, each FM PM is handling approximately 2.5 million sf.
We have 34 vendors we use, 24 of which are needed to get all that we do done and 11 of the 24 do 80% of all we do.
altierney,
Is your company retail? If so, what type?
That's a great example of why it is hard to benchmark without taking into account some major variables. There would probably be a different scenario if this was a 2.5 million square foot portfolio of office buildings where work orders were handled by a staff of 25 or 30 direct reports. Or if there was a data center involved. Not all FM's really have the same challenges, so it is tough to use sq ft for comparison.
Steve,
Great Post - we have tried to make the argument that we have been falling woefully behind in staffing ratios for the past several years. We are now at 1 technician for about 102,000 square feet. Yep - it's comical. We call ourselves the "Keystone Firemen."
It's so funny, in fact, that we are now using skilled HVAC techs and fitters to set up board and other meetings, run errands,or whatever, for whoever instead of using custodians....they have been layed off or are frozen hires.
It reminds me of the movie, "A Bronx Tale".....the moral of that story was the in the end, no one cares...