Ask the Advisor 

Each Month we answer a question sent to us by one of our subscribers.

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Question:

I would like to increase the quality of my facility operations but I'm concerned about price.

How do I know what price point I should set for services? How do I know if I'm spending too

much on services?  - Mark Beecher, Colorado

Answer:

The answer is actually simple - Don't reinvent the wheel! Standards for service levels must be established.

This is often dependant upon the organization your manage for. Once the service levels are established,

your next step is to benchmark the cost of the of the services in question (Actually, service levels can be

benchmarked as well). A number of excellent benchmarking resources exist, including RS Means, IFMA

Benchmarking Standards and BOMA's EER study.

In future months, the FM Advisor will be conducting a tele-conference on benchmarking for facility managers.

Be sure to stay tuned for more information!

The FM Guru. . .