Preventive Maintenance Programs

Preventive maintenance programs address the planned scheduling and delivery of maintenance activity applied to a property asset’s building services and mechanical systems, undertaken in advance of failure or performance degradation, as distinct from reactive or corrective maintenance undertaken in response to a fault that has already occurred.

The node covers the principal elements of a preventive maintenance program, including the development of a planned maintenance schedule aligned to manufacturer and regulatory servicing requirements, the use of computerised maintenance management systems to track and coordinate maintenance activity, and the whole-of-life asset planning that informs decisions between ongoing maintenance and capital replacement.

The discipline matters because a well-structured preventive maintenance program materially reduces the incidence of unplanned equipment failure, extends the operating life of building services and mechanical plant, and supports compliance with the servicing and certification obligations applicable to essential safety measures. Property owners and managers that rely predominantly on reactive maintenance typically incur higher lifecycle costs and a greater incidence of compliance and operational disruption than those operating a structured preventive program.

This node covers:

• The scheduling methodology, systems and asset lifecycle planning applied to preventive maintenance of building services and mechanical systems within a property asset

This node does not cover:

• The technical composition and operation of the building services and mechanical systems themselves → refer to Node 34510
• The measurement and improvement of a building’s energy performance → refer to Node 34520
• Defects and rectification arising during the construction and defects liability period of a development, as distinct from ongoing maintenance of an asset already in service → refer to Node 32650

• Work Health and Safety Regulation (state-based)

  Relevant state or territory work health and safety regulator

  Imposes duties on persons conducting a business or undertaking to maintain plant and equipment in a safe condition, informing the minimum servicing standards applied within a preventive maintenance program.
• Environmental Planning and Assessment Regulation 2021 (NSW) and equivalent state fire safety instruments

  Relevant local council

  Prescribe minimum servicing intervals for essential safety measures that must be reflected within a building’s preventive maintenance schedule.
• AS 1851 Routine service of fire protection systems and equipment

  Standards Australia

  Establishes the servicing methodology and minimum intervals applicable to fire protection systems, forming a core reference standard for preventive maintenance scheduling of those systems.
• Manufacturer servicing specifications and applicable equipment warranty terms

  Equipment manufacturers

  Govern the servicing intervals required to maintain equipment warranty coverage and manufacturer-rated performance, incorporated into a property’s planned maintenance schedule alongside regulatory requirements.

In practice, a facilities manager typically develops a planned maintenance schedule for each category of building services, drawing on manufacturer servicing recommendations and applicable regulatory requirements, and records the schedule and its completion history within a computerised maintenance management system.

As building services assets approach the end of their expected operating life, whole-of-life costing is applied to determine whether continued maintenance or capital replacement represents the more efficient course, informing the building’s longer-term capital works plan.