Negotiating the best type of Industrial Door maintenance contract
Hello there, Blake here from Tekta, and today we’re talking about door maintenance contracts. Whether you’re running a factory, warehouse, or commercial building, keeping your doors in good working order is crucial for both safety and efficiency. But with different types of maintenance contracts available, how do you choose the right one? Let’s break down the main options and their pros and cons.
First up is Proactive Maintenance. This is where you schedule regular service visits—usually once or twice a year—to catch and fix any potential issues before they cause serious problems. The service will typically include lubrication your doors, checking for wear and tear, and ensuring everything is compliant with health and safety standards. The benefit? You avoid unexpected downtime and costly emergency repairs. The downside is the ongoing cost of these scheduled visits, but in the long run, it often saves you money by preventing major breakdowns before they occur.
Next, we have Reactive Maintenance. With this option, you don’t pay for regular servicing visits. Instead, you only call your door maintenance provider when something breaks. While this can save you money on upfront service costs, the risk is that you’ll face more downtime when a doors break unexpectedly. And when they do, it can be more expensive to fix the problem than if you’d addressed it proactively. So, it’s a bit of a gamble. In addition, this arrangement is not strictly legal, I’ve linked a video to explain further.
Lastly, there’s the Lifetime Warranty or Insurance Plan. This involves paying a lump sum, per door, each year to cover the cost of any breakdowns. These plans are designed to offer peace of mind so that you know exactly how much each door is going to cost you per year, regardless of any breakdowns. The drawback of this option is that the door manufacture has to charge enough to cover their worst-case cost if a door was to breakdown so the yearly cost can be expensive. It also works similar to insurance meaning if in one year you experience breakdowns on a door, your yearly costs (or premium) is likely to be raised in the following year. Finally, it’s worth noting, these plan don’t usually cover accidental damage like forklift collisions and operator error so you’ll need to budget more for these repairs.
Finally, a word of advice: make sure to check exactly what’s included in your door maintenance contract. Not all service plans are created equal. Some companies may simply grease the doors and leave, while others include essential repairs, like replacing cables or fixing mechanisms. Some contracts even include detailed reports on the condition of your doors, like RAG reports which can be very useful for audits. And lastly, to ensure complete compliance, always ensure works are being undertaken by qualified door engineers.
That’s it for today! If you’re negotiating a new maintenance contract get in touch with the Tekta team today, we’re here to help.