For facilities managers and commercial property owners, one decision shapes almost every other maintenance outcome: do you plan ahead, or wait until something breaks? Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM) and reactive repairs represent two fundamentally different approaches to keeping a commercial building running — and choosing the wrong one can quietly drain budgets, disrupt operations, and shorten the lifespan of critical building systems.
What Is Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM)?
Planned Preventative Maintenance is a scheduled, proactive approach to building upkeep. Rather than waiting for equipment to fail, a PPM contract sets out a calendar of inspections, servicing, and small-scale works carried out at regular intervals — covering everything from HVAC systems and electrical installations to plumbing, heating, and general building fabric.
The goal is simple: catch small issues before they become expensive ones. A PPM contract typically includes:
- Scheduled servicing of mechanical and electrical (M&E) systems
- Routine compliance inspections and testing
- Documented maintenance records for audit and compliance purposes
- Predictable, budgeted costs spread across the year
What Are Reactive Repairs?
Reactive repairs, by contrast, happen after something has already gone wrong — a burst pipe, a failed boiler, a tripped electrical circuit. There’s no schedule involved; work is triggered entirely by breakdowns or faults reported on the ground.
Reactive maintenance has its place — no PPM schedule can eliminate every unexpected fault — but relying on it as your primary strategy tends to cost more over time, both financially and operationally.
Comparing the Two: What FM Clients Should Weigh Up
| Factor | Planned Preventative Maintenance | Reactive Repairs |
|---|---|---|
| Cost predictability | Fixed, budgeted contract costs | Variable, often higher per incident |
| Downtime risk | Minimised through early intervention | Higher — issues surface at the worst time |
| Compliance | Built-in documentation and inspection records | Harder to evidence consistent compliance |
| Asset lifespan | Extended through regular servicing | Shortened by unaddressed wear |
| Tenant/occupant impact | Low — works are scheduled around operations | Disruptive — repairs happen without notice |
For facilities managers overseeing commercial, social housing, or multi-site portfolios, this isn’t a purely financial calculation. Compliance is a major factor. A structured PPM contract generates the maintenance records and inspection history that property managers need to demonstrate due diligence — something that’s much harder to produce retrospectively when maintenance has been purely reactive.
Why PPM Contracts Make Sense for Commercial Property
A well-structured PPM contract does more than prevent breakdowns. It gives facilities managers:
- Budget certainty — maintenance spend becomes a planned line item rather than an unpredictable cost
- Fewer emergency callouts — proactive servicing catches faults before they escalate into urgent, out-of-hours repairs
- Stronger compliance position — regular inspections and documented records support audits, insurance requirements, and statutory obligations
- Better tenant and occupant experience — scheduled works minimise disruption compared to unplanned repairs
This is particularly relevant for building services such as electrical systems, where routine inspection isn’t just good practice — it’s a compliance requirement. Our EICR testing and electrical compliance services are a good example of how planned inspection cycles keep a property both safe and audit-ready, rather than waiting for a fault to force the issue.
Striking the Right Balance
In practice, most commercial properties benefit from a hybrid approach: a solid PPM contract covering the majority of building systems, backed by a responsive reactive service for the genuine emergencies that no schedule can fully anticipate. The key is making sure reactive work is the exception, not the default strategy.
This mirrors the same principle that applies across commercial construction and building compliance more broadly — integrating planning and compliance from the outset, rather than addressing problems after they’ve already caused disruption.
Choosing a PPM Partner for Your Portfolio
Not every contractor is set up to deliver PPM well. It requires a team that can manage scheduling, compliance documentation, and multi-trade servicing (M&E, plumbing, heating, building fabric) under one contract, rather than juggling separate suppliers for each discipline.
At Lime Construction Group, our Facilities Management and M&E services are built around exactly this: planned, documented maintenance across the South West for commercial clients, property managers, and social housing providers, backed by over 30 years of combined trade experience.
If your current maintenance approach is more reactive than planned — or you’re not sure which category it falls into — it’s worth reviewing. Get in touch with our team to discuss a PPM contract tailored to your property portfolio, or browse more facilities management insights from the Lime Construction team.