The Financial Pressure Cooker

FM Insight Series

Written by Tim Ballard | ConnexFM

You came in this morning and it’s time to pay the piper.

You’ve just started checking your expenses for this service cycle, and you notice that procurement costs have gone up again. You had some expensive repairs done last month. Also, it seems like service contract renewals have climbed once more. And did that HVAC controls upgrade really cost that much? Now you’re going to have to pause updates across other locations. Budgets are getting tighter. Costs are getting harder to justify. It’s getting hot in here.

Welcome to the Financial Pressure Cooker of FM.

It comes as no surprise to a cost-conscientious professional that expenses have gotten expensive. FM hasn’t been spared either, and industry benchmarks suggest that between 2005 and 2025, general commercial facility management costs went from about $7 per square foot on average to around $15 per square foot. That’s roughly a 100% increase in expenses over just 20 years, including the notable spike many FMs experienced following the pandemic. That kind of cost increase has put steady pressure on weaker-performing locations across retail, office, and service portfolios.

Thankfully, the good professionals of FM know how to adapt, and are doing so without cutting corners or having to lower facility management standards.

To learn more about how organizations are responding to rising costs, we spoke with Scott Graversen, Director of Facility and Dental Equipment Management for Smile Brands. One of Scott's core beliefs is that facilities teams should build systems around avoiding having to solve the same problem twice. Whether it's a repair issue, recurring equipment failure, or a procurement challenge, he advocates documenting what happened, how it was resolved, and what can be done to prevent it from happening again. For Scott, the value isn't just in solving problems as they arise, but in creating a record of proven solutions that can be referenced later. Combined with modern data management technology, that institutional knowledge can help teams reduce costly repeat mistakes, identify emerging risks earlier, and make more informed decisions about future FM-related investments.

We asked Scott about both modern and historic financial pressures affecting facilities teams and the strategies his organization uses to stay ahead of them.

Q: What are the biggest economic challenges currently impacting facility management professionals, and how have they changed over the past 10 to 20 years?

A: The most significant challenges facing facility managers today include persistent inflation, ongoing supply chain volatility, and increasingly severe weather events. These pressures have shifted the role toward more proactive, data-driven asset management and lifecycle planning. Compared to 10–20 years ago, today’s environment demands greater agility and resilience to manage both cost volatility and operational disruption.

Q: As operational and procurement costs rise, where do organizations risk cutting corners, and how can facility managers avoid compromising operational quality?

A: As costs rise, organizations risk deferring maintenance or making reactive replacement decisions—both of which can increase total cost of ownership over time. Facility managers can avoid this by leveraging data to define the right scope of work, make informed repair-versus-replace decisions, and prioritize proactive investments. Focusing on KPIs and protecting high-impact, revenue-generating locations is critical to maintaining operational quality.

Q: What strategies, technologies, or operational shifts have helped organizations reduce costs while maintaining effective facility operations?

A: While reducing costs outright can be challenging, organizations can effectively manage and mitigate cost increases through disciplined operations. Key strategies include leveraging robust work order systems, strengthening asset management planning, and building strategic vendor partnerships. Engaging vendors early and pre-negotiating rates helps reduce procurement friction and avoid unnecessary cost escalation.

Scott left us with a final observation to help keep the grand scheme of FM principles in perspective, “In a rising cost environment, it’s critical to stay grounded in the “3Ps”: People, Property, and Profits—in that order. If we create environments where people want to work and customers want to do business, the financial results will follow.”

This kind of outlook is one we encourage all facility managers to share in the face of expense adversity. Most of the time when it comes to operations, profiting follows the actions of the people who look after the property, and to neglect those aspects could end in your expenditures getting burnt to a crisp in the Financial Pressure Cooker of FM.