Facilities Winter Prep
It’s only September and still technically summer. But calendar aside, it is time to start prepping HVAC systems for the colder days ahead.
Oddly enough, most retailers start to prepare for the summer season months ahead of the first 95-degree day. Plans are developed to schedule the HVAC spring inspections well in advance, so when the first heat wave hits, stores will be ready to start pumping cold air to keep their customers very comfortable. But once the spring inspections are completed and the summer is under way, the HVAC system is once again out of sight, out of mind. But like clockwork, the fall season approaches quickly, and there needs to be the same amount of effort put into scheduling the HVAC fall inspections, so on the first 40-degree day stores will be ready to pump out warm air to keep those same customers comfortable.
FALL INSPECTION: Scheduling a fall HVAC inspection requires a few steps. The first involves understanding how the units operated over the summer. A few simple questions can provide the information rather quickly. The questions should include:
Did the units run properly over the summer cooling season?
Were there any major service issues during the summer cooling season that would affect the units in the winter season?
During the summer inspections, were there any recommendations that were listed to address during the fall inspection?
Have there been any complaints from the stores about certain areas being uncomfortable?
These questions seem very basic and might be looked at as a waste of time. The answers, however, are crucial to preparing for the fall inspections, in that they allow for repair parts to be ordered in a timely fashion so there aren’t any delays once the inspections start.
In addition, asking the questions means that the facility department has to reach out to the stores to ask about the performance of the equipment. Store managers will know if there were issues in the store that may not have been severe enough to require a service ticket, but certainly need addressing.
The second step in the process is to start making calls to the vendors to schedule the work. With the information gathered during the question-and-answer phase, the vendors can now be given an updated scope of work for the inspections, which allows them to schedule the inspections with a complete understanding of what is expected.
This will limit the expensive delays and frustrations that are inevitable when recommended work is not documented and listed in the scope, but needs to be done as part of the fall inspection. There is nothing more irritating for a vendor than to arrive on-site to do an inspection only to find that there are other services that needed to be completed first.
FOLLOW-UP: Once the inspections are scheduled, there is only one more step in this process: the follow-up. The only way to verify that inspections were completed is by following up with the vendor before and after the inspection takes place.
The initial (or before) follow-up reminds the vendor of the agreed-upon date, and the second follow-up verifies the work has been completed. Too often there isn’t any follow-up, and the assumption is that the work was done to their satisfaction. When this happens, the time and energy that was put into managing the project ends up being totally wasted.
The first cold day of the season is not the time to start thinking about preparing stores for the winter. Preparations need to be made well in advance so on that first 40-degree day, customers can walk into a very comfortable and inviting environment.
John Haley is the director of HVAC services for Ferrandino & Son (ferrandinoandson.com), a national facility management company.