A planned preventative maintenance (PPM) contract is only as good as its scope. For an office building in Sandyford, the scope usually covers boiler plant, pumps, pressurisation, hot and cold water systems and the records that prove the work was done. This guide covers what the contract should include, how often visits should happen and what to check before you sign.
Start with an asset register. It should list every item of plant the contractor will maintain, with its location, make, model and the tasks scheduled against it. If an asset is not on the register, assume it is not covered.
The contract should also say what is not included. Air conditioning, chillers, lifts, fire systems and electrical testing are often handled by separate specialists. The PPM schedule needs to make clear where one contractor's responsibility ends and the next one's begins.
Most office mechanical PPM runs on a quarterly cycle with a major service once a year. The right frequency depends on the plant, its age and how the building is used. A multi-tenant block with a central plant room serving several floors needs more attention than a single-occupier building with one small boiler.
Many Sandyford offices were built or fitted out from the late 1990s onwards, so some original boilers and pumps may be near the end of their working life. A good PPM visit should report on the condition of the plant, not just tick a box. That way you can budget for replacements instead of dealing with a breakdown in January.
Hot and cold water systems in offices carry a Legionella risk, and building owners and employers have legal duties to manage it. In Ireland, the usual reference point is the HPSC national guidelines on the control of Legionellosis. The PPM contract should link to the building's water risk assessment rather than run separately from it.
Ask for logbooks, digital or paper, that record temperatures, flushing of little used outlets, defects found and the action taken. After a fit-out or a period of low occupancy, the contract should allow for flushing and, where needed, chlorination with certificates. Insurers, auditors and incoming tenants will ask for these records.
Most office PPM contracts combine scheduled visits with a reactive call-out arrangement. Get the response times in writing: a short target for emergencies such as a loss of heating or a leak, and a longer one for non-urgent faults. Find out whether reactive labour is included, capped or charged at an agreed rate.
The price depends on the number and type of assets, how often visits happen, access to the plant, and whether parts and consumables are included. Remedial work found during visits is usually quoted separately. A clear contract says who approves remedials, up to what value, and how quickly quotes come back.
If the building has recently had a plant room upgrade or a new fit-out, give the PPM contractor the commissioning and handover records. These records are the baseline for every future visit.
At least once a year, with interim checks during the heating season on larger plant. The annual service should include combustion analysis and safety checks by a competent, registered gas engineer.
Only if the contract says so. Temperature monitoring, flushing and outlet cleaning should be linked to the building's water risk assessment, with a record kept for each task.
Yes. The contractor should start with a site survey to build the asset register and record the condition of the plant, then set the schedule from there. Existing handover and commissioning records make this quicker.