Preventive maintenance has a reputation for being complicated, and it does not deserve it. A good program is just a walkthrough list, done on a schedule, written down every time. Here is the list we use as a starting point for commercial properties in Fairfield County. Adjust for your building's age, traffic, and tenant mix.
Walk monthly: the things people touch
High-touch and high-traffic items fail first, and they fail in public. Every month, walk the entries and check that doors close, latch, and lock. Test ADA operators. Scan walls and corners for damage worth patching before it spreads. Look up: stained or sagging ceiling tiles are your earliest warning of a leak. Check restrooms for loose partitions, failed caulk, and running fixtures. And walk the customer path the way a customer does, because that is the part of the building your revenue sees.
Walk quarterly: the envelope and the finishes
Each quarter, widen the loop. Inspect flooring transitions and trip edges. Review paint and finish condition in tenant-facing areas. Check exterior doors, thresholds, and weatherstripping. Look at signage, railings, and site furniture for loosening hardware. Quarterly is also the right rhythm for reviewing the running punch list: what got fixed, what is aging, what should be bundled into the next planned visit.
Walk seasonally: before the weather arrives
Connecticut buildings live on a freeze-thaw cycle. Before winter: door sweeps and weatherstripping, caulk joints, and anything that lets cold air or water in. After winter: check what the salt, plows, and ice did to entries, floors, and thresholds. Before summer: shade, ventilation paths, and the wear that peak season traffic will amplify. Specialty systems like HVAC belong on a licensed contractor's seasonal schedule; your walkthrough's job is noticing symptoms early and getting the right trade in.
Write everything down
A walkthrough that lives in someone's memory is worth almost nothing to the next manager, the owner, or the insurance file. Date every walk, photograph what you find, and keep one running list per property. Condition reports are how small problems get budgeted instead of discovered.
Who should do the walking?
You can absolutely run this in-house, and this article is enough to start. The reasons owners hand it to us are time and follow-through: a schedule only works if it survives busy months, and findings only matter if someone prices and fixes them. A FaciliSite program packages the walkthrough, the report, and the repairs into one accountable loop.