By Ken Murai, CEO of FacilGo
For years, maintenance in property management has operated with fragmented scheduling and inconsistent outsourcing decisions. Many companies rely on on-site teams to handle work orders manually, often leading to delays, unnecessary outsourcing costs, and inefficient technician utilization.
At FacilGo, we’ve seen firsthand how companies that centralize scheduling and outsourcing can significantly reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance service quality. By leveraging AI-driven scheduling, optimized workforce allocation, and strategic outsourcing, companies can move away from reactive, ad-hoc maintenance management and create a system that runs smoothly, reduces waste, and delivers better resident experiences.
I was on a recent podcast with Dom Beveridge of 20 for 20, where we discussed how companies can leverage maintenance centralization to drive cost savings and improve service delivery.
In this article, I’ll break down how centralizing scheduling and outsourcing works, the major benefits, and how companies can successfully implement this strategy across their portfolios. In this series of articles, I am exploring a set of centralization strategies in further detail.
The Problem With Traditional Maintenance Scheduling & Outsourcing
Many property management companies still operate with a decentralized approach to scheduling and outsourcing. Each property handles work order assignment, vendor selection, and technician deployment independently.
🔴 No centralized oversight, leading to inconsistent scheduling and overworked staff at some properties while others are underutilized.
🔴 High outsourcing costs due to poor decision-making on when to use vendors versus in-house teams.
🔴 Reactive maintenance, with work orders being assigned in an unstructured, inefficient manner.
🔴 Lack of visibility into technician workloads, leading to bottlenecks and unnecessary vendor calls.
The solution? Centralize the entire process—from scheduling and dispatching to outsourcing decisions—ensuring greater efficiency, lower costs, and better service for residents.
How Centralized Scheduling Works
A centralized scheduling system ensures that maintenance tasks are assigned efficiently, based on real-time data and technician availability.
✔️ Work orders are automatically assigned to the best-suited technician using AI-driven scheduling.
✔️ Travel time and job complexity are factored in to minimize delays.
✔️ Route optimization is applied for scattered-site portfolios, ensuring that technicians handle jobs in a logical, time-saving order.
✔️ High-priority tasks are escalated instantly, ensuring emergencies are handled first.
Instead of on-site teams manually assigning tasks, a centralized scheduling system optimizes technician deployment, allowing maintenance teams to work more effectively and eliminate wasted time.
The Benefits of Centralized Scheduling
1. Maximizing Technician Productivity & Reducing Downtime
One of the biggest inefficiencies in traditional maintenance models is poor workforce utilization. Some properties have too many technicians with not enough work, while others are struggling to keep up.
With centralized scheduling, companies can:
✅ Balance workloads across multiple properties to prevent overwork or underuse of staff.
✅ Ensure technicians are assigned jobs based on expertise, reducing time spent on tasks outside their skill set.
✅ Use floating regional teams, reducing the need for on-site maintenance staff at every property.
2. Faster Response Times for Residents
By removing bottlenecks and automating scheduling, work orders are assigned more quickly, meaning:
🚀 Fewer delays in addressing resident requests.
📉 Less frustration for tenants due to slow response times.
🔧 Emergency work orders are handled more efficiently.
Centralized scheduling ensures that the right technician is sent to the right job at the right time, improving overall service quality.
3. Lower Costs by Reducing Unnecessary Outsourcing
One of the most overlooked areas of savings in maintenance operations is outsourcing optimization. Many companies overuse third-party vendors because:
📌 They don’t have clear visibility into available in-house technicians.
📌 Work orders are assigned inefficiently, leading to staff being overbooked while vendors handle jobs that could have been done internally.
📌 They lack data-driven decision-making to determine when outsourcing is necessary.
With centralized scheduling, companies can better allocate in-house resources before turning to vendors, reducing overall outsourcing spend.
How to Centralize Outsourcing Decisions
While some maintenance tasks must be outsourced (e.g., major plumbing work, roofing, HVAC system replacements), many can and should be handled in-house—as long as the right technicians are available.
A centralized outsourcing strategy ensures that:
📊 Data-driven insights determine when outsourcing is necessary instead of arbitrary decisions.
📜 Preferred vendor contracts are standardized across the portfolio, reducing costs.
⏳ Emergency outsourcing is automated, ensuring that vendors are only called when truly necessary.
With a centralized decision-making system, companies can significantly cut outsourcing costs while maintaining service quality.
How to Implement Centralized Scheduling & Outsourcing
If you’re ready to transition from disorganized, on-site maintenance scheduling to a streamlined, centralized model, here’s how to start:
Step 1: Implement AI-Powered Scheduling Software
🔹 Adopt automated scheduling tools that match work orders to the best technician.
🔹 Use route optimization to minimize travel time.
🔹 Ensure real-time scheduling adjustments to accommodate urgent repairs.
Step 2: Create Regional Maintenance Teams
📍 Shift from on-site staffing to a regional service model, where technicians rotate between properties based on demand.
📍 Develop specialized technician groups (HVAC, electrical, plumbing) that handle multiple sites.
📍 Reduce the number of on-site generalists while ensuring regional teams are highly skilled.
Step 3: Optimize Vendor Management & Outsourcing
📜 Standardize outsourcing guidelines to determine when third-party services are needed.
📉 Negotiate bulk vendor contracts to lower per-job costs.
📊 Use data analytics to track vendor performance and optimize outsourcing decisions.
Step 4: Train Teams & Standardize Workflows
🔹 Ensure all maintenance teams understand how centralized scheduling works.
🔹 Train property managers on when and how to escalate service requests.
🔹 Use standardized work order processes to eliminate confusion and miscommunication.
The Future of Centralized Maintenance: Where We’re Headed
As the industry evolves, more property management companies are shifting toward centralized maintenance strategies—and with good reason.
By implementing centralized scheduling and outsourcing, companies can:
✅ Reduce labor costs by optimizing technician assignments.
✅ Eliminate unnecessary outsourcing by prioritizing in-house teams.
✅ Increase resident satisfaction with faster response times and higher service consistency.
✅ Improve operational efficiency by leveraging AI and data-driven decision-making.
At FacilGo, we’ve helped companies transition from reactive, fragmented maintenance operations to centralized, scalable maintenance models that save money and improve performance.
If your company is still managing maintenance scheduling and outsourcing the old-fashioned way, now is the time to embrace a smarter, more centralized approach.
Are You Ready to Modernize Your Maintenance Operations?
If you’re considering centralizing scheduling and outsourcing, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s talk about how your company can:
📉 Reduce outsourcing costs
🚀 Improve technician efficiency
💡 Leverage AI for smarter maintenance decisions
