Facilities Management Resources


HVAC


HVAC Inspections
Are building owners and managers today practicing a true inspection and maintenance program, or engaging in an “operate to fail” policy mode? For the past few years, mechanical contractors are consistently being asked to cut their prices, resulting in severely reduced maintenance or, in many cases, just a cursory overview of the mechanical systems. There must be education and understanding by all parties. The HVAC/R systems will absolutely not perform reliably or efficiently without a proper inspection/maintenance program. This is illustrated by an inspection that we performed at a major, upscale hospitality chain location in northern New Jersey.

ADA Compliance
This white paper is presented to help individual building or property owners, business owners, landlords, or those responsible for maintenance and upkeep of a facility’s parking lot understand requirements of the ADA and how state and federal law interact.

HVAC Filter Program
Escalating costs and increasing competition caused a large consumer electronics chain to take a close look at store maintenance.

HVAC Fleet Management
As a commercial air conditioning contractor serving Southern California for over 23 years, our service area has expanded considerably, along with the size of our service vehicle fleet. With an increased fleet size covering our service area, we needed to implement a system to assist us in managing our vehicles in an effective and efficient manner. Our goal was to improve response times, and reduce travel time and fuel consumption.

HVAC Indoor Air Quality
How to address indoor air quality, HVAC maintenance costs, and energy consumption concerns while operating under budget constraints.

HVAC New Store Installations
How to cut back on HVAC repair and maintenance issues once a new store has passed its warranty date with the General Contractor.

HVAC Performance and Expense Control
Expenses for reactive service calls increased by 25 percent, and adding to the scope of work for the preventive maintenance contracts was double the previous year’s spend.

HVAC Repair and Maintenance Strategies
Breakdown in preventative, emergency replacement, proactive replacement and scheduled filter replacement.

HVAC Replacement Program
Replacing units only as they would fail also made forecasting and budgeting difficult.

Protect Your HVAC
Choosing anti-theft devices to deter thieves from your copper.

Reducing HVAC Costs
Four strategies for reducing the real cost of HVAC maintenance.

Preventative Maintenance Scope of Work of HVAC
Proper preventative maintenance for HVAC systems lengthens the system's life.

Vendor Portfolio Matrix Template
A downloadable matrix to help retailers track vendor performance across trades.

ADA Update Primer
The Department of Justice has revised its regulations implementing the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This rule takes effect on March 15, 2011, clarifies issues that have arisen over the past 20 years, and contains new requirements, including the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design (2010 Standards). This document provides guidance to assist small business owners in understanding how this new regulation applies to them.

PRSM Disaster Planning and Management Toolkit
Welcome to the PRSM Disaster Planning and Management Toolkit. The retail environment is constantly impacted by external factors, changes, and events – whether from natural disasters, such as tornadoes, earthquakes, storms, etc., or from the man-made variety. A Retail FM can find themselves monitoring the turbulence caused by an approaching tropical storm or hurricane one day, to dealing with an end of the summer wildfire the next, to dealing with the aftermath of a violent store incident the next.

Building Automation Systems (BAS) Toolkit
This Toolkit is a compilation of Guides, Education, Tools and general Resources from leading manufacturers in the building automation industry. One of the most active areas of business design and retrofit encompasses all things HVAC, including control systems. Retailers spend more than $20 billion on energy every year, and even a modest reduction in energy costs can result in a significant impact on profit margins and sales metrics. BAS solutions can help FMs achieve these goals. Energy Efficiency and Smart Energy will be key focus areas for FMs in the coming years, and for your benefit there are a number of related components in this kit. Regardless of your situation, and to help you tackle these issues, PRSM Association is here to help. We hope these resources help you mange upgrades to your buildings, as well as design and construction of the retail store of the future.

Benchmarking Report: HVAC
For some time, PRSM membership identified retail facilities benchmarking as one of the most sought after tools the Association could provide. In 2011, the Benchmarking Task Force identified a single trade, HVAC, as the focus of this program’s efforts. The result of the Task Force’s mission, the PRSM 2012 Benchmarking Report identifies the key HVAC metrics which are retail specific, and have long been sought after by the membership as one of the most important tools the Association could provide. This document is a culmination of PRSM goals for the 2011-2012 Benchmarking Task Force, and specifically focuses on three areas: policy and HVAC operations practices survey results and benchmarking, data analysis and benchmarking metrics, and component repair information and benchmarks.