General Services
Facilities Management Division

Facilities Maintenance


Description of Services

Facilities Management is the behind-the-scenes team providing building maintenance, repair, and contract support service for the county of San Joaquin facilities. Facilities Management is responsible for the performance of preventive maintenance on essential building systems, time critical response to emergency repairs, accomplishment of unscheduled maintenance services, compliance and service quality oversight for contract support.

Facilities Management’s repairs and services include those explicitly requested by the department as well as those determined to be necessary by Facilities Management to maintain the facility in a manner that is compliant with the requirements of regulatory agencies, consistent with preventive maintenance benchmarks, and deemed necessary to keep the facility in good operating order.

Preventive Maintenance (PM) is any work activity performed at a facility to ensure its continuous operations. PMs are designed to extend the life of buildings, systems, and related equipment. Scope and schedule is determined by regulatory codes or manufacturer’s recommendations. Examples of PMs include lubrication of bearings, filter changes or condenser coil cleaning.

Preventive Maintenance tasks and frequencies are defined in advance and issued to FM employees or contractors for completion according to pre-established schedules.

Routine Maintenance and Repairs are the response to non-emergency client requests, such as general maintenance and repairs. Examples include hot and cold calls, replacement of lights, and general plumbing repairs.

Routine Maintenance is initiated by client requests (via phone or e-mail) to the FM Work Control/Dispatch center, or directly by FM staff who become aware of needed repair when working in the field. A Work Order is created and issued to a technician.

Facility-related emergencies are defined as unscheduled, uncontrolled events with the potential of causing harm to County employees or damage to County assets. Examples include a restroom flood, failed air conditioning system, or a broken storefront window.

Emergency Maintenance is initiated by client requests (via phone) to the FM Work Control/Dispatch center, or directly by FM staff who become aware of needed repair when working in the field.

Some work requested by departments is considered discretionary. Work that involves creating, adding, improving, relocating, converting, enhancing, remodeling, upgrading, retrofitting, renovating, and similar terms fits this category. Examples include:

  • Move an electrical outlet
  • Add additional lighting fixtures
  • Building a book case
  • Refinishing a desk or table top
  • Upgrading door locking hardware
  • Hanging white boards and pictures

Discretionary work is initiated by the department submitted a Service Request, or through the annual Facility-Related Budget Request process that is associated with the Public Improvement program. Requests for discretionary work are reviewed in light of a number of factors, including:

  • Requested work must be consistent with County standards, and meet all regulatory requirements.
  • Funding for labor and/or materials must be identified. Projects are typically funded either from the requesting department’s budget, or through the annual Facility-Related Budget Request process and prioritized for full or partial funding by the County’s Public Improvement.
  • For projects funded by the requesting department, General Fund funded departments are charged via SSTs for all materials and vendor-provided (i.e. non-County labor) services. Non General Fund funded departments are charged for all labor (County and vendor-provided) and material costs, via SSTs.
  • The size, scope, and complexity of the work will determine whether it will be done in-house or contracted out. Larger projects trigger the involvement and oversight of the General Services’ Capital Projects Division. Those include projects referred to as Tenant Improvements, which aim to refurbish, renovate, or repurpose space.
  • Scheduling – This type of work typically involves more lead time for planning and identification.

Facilities Managements overtime budget is limited to appropriations for Emergency Repairs and Preventive Maintenance and repair tasks that can only be done after hours because the equipment must be offline for servicing, the maintenance would negatively impact normal County operations or effect the health and safety of County employees or the general public.

The Overtime labor rate (1.5) is charged for all overtime work provided for non-General Fund-funded departments. This revenue offsets the associated overspending of the Overtime appropriations.