As the owner of a construction company, you know that maintaining your machinery and other equipment is necessary. If a machine breaks down in the middle of a job, it can bring everything to a halt and leave you unable to continue work until it’s repaired or replaced. In fact, a study published in the International Journal of Engineering Science Invention revealed that equipment issues contribute to 40 percent of budget overrun costs. These issues also were shown to contribute to stalled projects directly and missed completion dates.
One of the easiest ways to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you is to perform regular maintenance on all of your equipment and machinery. You won’t just prevent stalls or cost issues; you can also save money in the long run. But there are many more benefits to maintenance than you may think. Here are eight reasons why it’s important to perform regular maintenance on your construction equipment.
Equipment Maintenance and Savings
The first four areas in which maintenance is incredibly helpful to you as a business owner, as you might well expect, concern money. Maintenance may cost you regular payments or the expense of a maintenance contract, but, as you’ll see, it will also you save much more than what it costs. Here are four principal areas in which equipment maintenance directly translates into savings.
Save Money
When equipment breaks down in the middle of a job, it can be costly to make repairs quickly, and if repair is not an option, money must be found in the budget (and checkbook) for the equipment’s replacement, and that can become very costly. By contrast, through regularly paying a small amount of money for maintenance, you end up spending less overall.
That’s especially true when you factor in the other costs to which a broken piece of equipment contributes. You may not be able to do much work without key equipment, so you can end up paying your crew to stand around or do whatever small tasks they can find while waiting for repair or replacement. At the same time, you’re also falling behind schedule. That means you may have to extend the contracts on any equipment you may have had to rent, consequently increasing its cost.
Save Time
Having your equipment undergo regular maintenance does take a little bit of time, but this is still nothing like going days or weeks without being able to use a machine or tool at all when it breaks down. You can create a rotating schedule, so only a few of your vital machines or tools are out for maintenance at a time. Usually, this only takes a few hours or, at most, a day. You can schedule around that equipment. When something breaks down, however, it’s both unexpected and inconvenient. Also, having your most-used equipment out for a week or more while waiting for repairs to be made can cost a lot of time and, consequently, money.
Improve Efficiency
Equipment which has undergone maintenance is going to work much better than it did before. While it’s true that maintenance isn’t going to make your five-year-old equipment work like it’s new again, it will certainly make it work better than it did before going through the maintenance process. That’s because maintenance includes replacing worn parts, aligning the internal workings of the machine, sharpening blades, and performing other little tasks that can serve to make the equipment work better.
Reduce Danger
Safety is incredibly important within the construction industry. Equipment that is worn and on the verge of breaking down can be dangerous. Parts could fly off; the machine could lose its grip on heavy loads, and any other number of things could occur. Through having your equipment maintained regularly, however, worn parts can be discovered and replaced. Furthermore, equipment which is reaching the end of its useful life can be safely retired and replaced, instead of breaking on the job.
Other Reasons to Perform Equipment Maintenance
There are four other reasons for performing maintenance that don’t deal directly with cost or money.
Keep Better Records
Some construction managers aren’t even sure when they bought a particular piece of equipment; never mind when they last performed maintenance on it. By doing regular maintenance, however, you’ll be able to keep better track of when repairs were done. This will let you have a good idea of when it’s time for equipment to be to replaced.
Keep Your Accreditations
Some professional accreditations require that you’re performing regular maintenance on your equipment. If you want to keep those certifications and accreditations, you’ll need to do maintenance regularly.
Your Insurance May Require It
It’s possible that your insurance policy won’t pay out if you haven’t properly maintained your equipment. Make sure you understand what your policies require and follow any maintenance rules. Otherwise, you may not receive any money when you file a claim related to the equipment.
Your Warranty May Require Maintenance
Finally, if your equipment is under warranty, there may also be a clause which states that you must perform regular maintenance. If you have a sudden breakdown and hope that the warranty will cover the costs, you may have to show the equipment’s maintenance log before receiving any payment, but as long as you’ve performed maintenance, you’ll likely have the repairs covered by the warranty.
Need Help with Maintenance?
Putting together a maintenance schedule can be tricky, especially if you’ve never done so before. However, because regular equipment maintenance has so many positive benefits, it’s really vital that you regularly address this concern. If you’re in need of help with your maintenance schedule, contact Small Business Growth Partners for assistance today.
