Hands On, No Handoff

MaintenX International grows with its clients by providing comprehensive care for their retail and restaurant facilities.

By Brian A. Lee

In the past 5 years, MaintenX International has achieved approximately 35% growth in the national chain restaurant market segment. The hands-on — rather than a handoff — approach in total facility maintenance services has clearly made a difference for the Tampa, Florida-based company.

“In the U.S. facility maintenance marketplace, the vast majority of service providers are brokers,” says Bill Schaphorst (at left), vice president of business development for MaintenX, which services more than 20 national chain restaurants. “Quite simply, they accept a client work order and then send it to one of their subcontractors.”

Not so for MaintenX. Throughout the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Nevada and California, the 38-year-old national vendor takes the work orders and dispatches its own, highly qualified technicians to handle clients’ plumbing, electrical, HVAC and refrigeration, general repair and handyman needs and requirements.

“Without question, our clients appreciate our ability to handle the major facility maintenance trades,” Schaphorst says. “One call does it all.”

In addition, MaintenX leverages a high-tech work order management platform to drive greater operational efficiencies and ultimately better customer service. Supplied with company smartphones with MaintenX’s proprietary smartphone app, technicians can quickly access the real-time status of work orders and site pictures, as well as utilize GPS tracking. This ensures that the process delivers the client the necessary information exactly when it’s required. A typical day at MaintenX involves the management of hundreds of work orders, including constant updates to clients per their customized requirements.

“Rather than a facility manager having to go track down a vendor’s performance on a work order, that person could be using that time in a much more productive manner,” Schaphorst says. “At MaintenX, we pride ourselves in being able to meet the client’s key performance indicators (KPIs) and provide the information they need to be successful. Our clients do not spend time calling or emailing us for information related to a work order. They have boasted again and again that they do not [have to] spend time managing us.”

KPIs for a retail or restaurant facility maintenance team include the backlog of deferred work, the percentage of completed maintenance work that is reactive, and compliance with preventative maintenance and weekly service schedules. Schaphorst, who brought to MaintenX from Johnson Controls more than a decade’s worth of intelligent buildings and efficient energy solutions experience, emphasizes the important and expanding role of technology in the facility maintenance industry.

Calling it a “path of aggressive growth,” the mechanical engineer reports that MaintenX has doubled the size of its business in the past 5 years. Schaphorst adds, “Our plan is to continue growing our self-performing geographies and adding to our portfolio of Fortune 500 clients.”

For more information, visit www.maintenx.com.