Whether to employ the people who maintain a commercial asset or to buy the service, judged on control, cost structure, coverage and what happens at three in the morning.
An in house team gives you people who know the building, respond without a purchase order and accumulate knowledge that stays with the asset. A contracted provider gives you breadth of trade coverage, cover for absence, and a commercial relationship you can adjust. The right answer depends mainly on the size of the asset and on whether there is enough work to keep specialists usefully occupied.
In house maintenance team at a glance
Directly employed technicians working only on your building, usually a small multi skilled group supplemented by specialist contractors for lifts, fire systems and chillers. They know the quirks of the installation, they are present when something happens, and their priorities are yours. The commitment is fixed: salaries, training, tools, cover for leave and absence, and the management attention of employing people.
Contracted facilities provider at a glance
A provider supplies the labour, the management and often the specialist subcontracts under one agreement with defined service levels. Costs are variable and tenderable, absence cover is the provider problem, and a wider range of trades is available without employing each one. The trade offs are turnover of personnel, a commercial interest in extra works, and knowledge that leaves with the contract.
Cost structure
In house maintenance team: Largely fixed, with the cost continuing whether the workload is heavy or light.
Contracted facilities provider: Variable and tenderable, with the ability to adjust scope at renewal.
Knowledge retention
In house maintenance team: Strong, provided the team is stable and documentation is kept.
Contracted facilities provider: Weaker, since personnel change and knowledge can leave with the contract.
Trade coverage
In house maintenance team: Limited to what the team is trained for, with specialists bought in.
Contracted facilities provider: Broad, with access to the provider wider resource pool.
Response outside working hours
In house maintenance team: Depends on rota arrangements and the willingness of a small team.
Contracted facilities provider: Contracted, with defined response times and escalation routes.
Alignment of interest
In house maintenance team: Fully aligned, since the team has no commercial interest in extra works.
Contracted facilities provider: Partly aligned, because additional works are a revenue line for the provider.
Management effort required
In house maintenance team: Higher, because you are managing employment, training and performance directly.
Contracted facilities provider: Lower day to day, but contract management and verification remain essential.
Flexibility to change
In house maintenance team: Slow, since changing the team is an employment matter.
Contracted facilities provider: Faster, limited by notice periods and mobilisation of a replacement.
When in house maintenance team wins
- Larger assets where there is genuinely enough daily work to occupy a full team.
- Buildings with complex or unusual installations where familiarity has real value.
- Operations where tenant response time is a commercial differentiator.
- Owners who intend to hold the asset long term and want the knowledge to stay.
When contracted facilities provider wins
- Smaller buildings where a full team would be underused for most of the week.
- Portfolios spread across cities that benefit from one provider covering all of them.
- Owners who want a single contract with service levels and penalties rather than payroll.
- Situations where specialist trades are needed occasionally rather than continuously.
How to decide
Count the hours of genuine work in a typical week and compare it with the hours you would be employing. If a multi skilled technician would be meaningfully occupied every day, in house is usually cheaper and better. If the honest answer is two or three days a week, a contract will cost less and deliver broader coverage. A hybrid is frequently the right answer for a mid sized asset: one directly employed technician who knows the building, with a contract covering specialist systems, out of hours response and absence.
Price both options against the same scope, including the items people forget: tools, training, uniforms, statutory inspections, absence cover, management time and the specialist subcontracts that are needed either way. Ask any provider for a sample monthly report and for the current client list of the specific team that would work on your building rather than the company as a whole. Whichever route you take, keep the asset register, the maintenance history and the system documentation in your own possession, because that is what makes a future change possible. Employment obligations, including workforce requirements administered through the relevant authorities, change from time to time, so take advice from a licensed adviser before committing to either model.
Domira works on buildings that already exist: surveying what is installed, specifying the systems that have to be replaced, and running maintenance and refurbishment work around the people using the property. Tell Domira which asset you are responsible for and we will say what we would inspect first.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does an in house maintenance team become cheaper than a contract?
Generally when the building generates enough daily work to keep technicians occupied, which depends on size, complexity and tenant mix rather than on floor area alone. Count the actual hours spent over a few months of contracted service and compare it with the fully loaded cost of employment, including cover, tools and management time, before making the switch.
What should a facilities management contract specify?
The planned task list with frequencies, the response times for different fault categories, what is included and what is charged as additional work, the reporting format and frequency, the personnel to be provided, and what happens on termination including the return of records and access credentials. Measure performance against this document rather than against general impressions of service.
Who keeps the maintenance records when a provider changes?
They should always belong to the owner, which means stating it in the contract and taking copies throughout rather than at the end of the relationship. Records held only in a provider system can be difficult to retrieve during an unhappy exit, and without them a new provider starts without any history of the building.
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