What Is a Commercial Maintenance Contract? Scope, Pricing and What to Expect
- A maintenance contract is an agreement with one contractor to carry out planned maintenance, and usually reactive cover, across defined building elements over a fixed term.
- Contracts range from M&E plant only, through building fabric, to full facilities management including statutory servicing and soft services.
- The three common structures are planned-only, planned plus reactive at agreed rates, and comprehensive (parts and labour included).
- Workplace regulations require workplaces, equipment and systems to be maintained in an efficient state, so a contract is also how that duty gets evidenced.
Most commercial buildings are maintained by whoever answered the phone when something broke. That works until it does not, and it is always more expensive than it looks once you add up the call-out premiums, the repeat visits and the failures that planned servicing would have caught. A maintenance contract replaces that with a scoped, scheduled, priced programme and one contractor who is accountable for it.
What a maintenance contract is
An agreement, typically for one to three years, under which a contractor carries out scheduled maintenance on defined building elements and plant, responds to faults, and keeps the records. The scope is written down, the visit frequency is fixed, and the pricing is agreed up front. The Workplace Regulations 1992 require workplaces, equipment, devices and systems to be maintained in an efficient state and good repair; a contract with records is the straightforward way to show that is happening.
What it can cover
- Mechanical and electrical (M&E): heating, air conditioning, ventilation, electrical distribution, lighting, pumps.
- Building fabric: roofs, gutters, drainage, doors, windows, decorations, minor repairs.
- Statutory compliance servicing: fire equipment, alarms, emergency lighting, electrical inspection, water hygiene, lifts, gas.
- Soft services (in full FM): cleaning, grounds, waste, security, reception.
Scope the contract to what you actually need. Our guide to the statutory servicing schedule lists the compliance items most buildings must cover.
The three common structures
Planned-only: scheduled visits and tasks for a fixed fee; faults charged separately. Planned plus reactive: the above plus agreed call-out rates and response times. Comprehensive: a higher fixed fee that includes reactive repairs and often parts, giving budget certainty at a premium. Most mid-size buildings sit in the second category; portfolios and critical sites often choose the third.
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How contracts are priced
On the scope, the number and type of assets, the visit frequency, the number of sites and the level of reactive cover. A contractor will usually survey the building, ideally against a PPM survey, list the assets and propose a schedule and price. Our guide to contract costs covers what to expect.
What a good contract includes
- A written asset list and task schedule.
- Defined visit frequencies and response times.
- Clear pricing for labour, parts and call-outs.
- Compliance records produced as standard.
- Regular reporting and a single point of contact.
- Fair termination and review terms.
Setting one up
ComSurv matches you with vetted maintenance and facilities contractors who cover your area and property type, so you can compare no-obligation quotes on a like-for-like scope.
Sources & further reading
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, regulation 5 — the duty to maintain workplaces, equipment and systems
- RICS planned preventative maintenance standard — planned maintenance principles
External links open in a new tab. ComSurv is a matching service, not a firm of surveyors, and is not affiliated with these organisations. This article is general information, not legal, surveying or valuation advice; take advice on your specific situation.
