Short answer: to choose a facility management company in Bengaluru, look past the monthly quote and check five things first: whether they have run a building like yours, how they plan maintenance, who owns your statutory compliance calendar, how they staff and supervise the site, and what the contract lets you measure. The 12 questions below turn each of these into something you can verify on a site visit.
Most owners compare facility management (FM) proposals on price per month. That’s the one number that tells you least. Two proposals with the same price can mean very different buildings a year later: one where equipment is serviced on schedule, and one where the DG fails the day the power goes out.
What are you actually buying?
An integrated facility management (IFM) contract puts one company in charge of everything that keeps a building running:
- Technical services: electrical, HVAC, plumbing, DG sets, lifts, STP and WTP, fire systems, BMS.
- Soft services: housekeeping, security, pest control, landscaping, front desk.
- Compliance: tracking and renewing the approvals, inspections and consents your building needs.
- Vendor and AMC management: negotiating and supervising annual maintenance contracts with OEMs and specialist vendors.
The alternative is managing separate vendors for each. That can work for a small building. As the building grows, the coordination work usually lands on the owner or the admin team.
The checklist
Experience
1. Have they run a building like yours?
Ask for two live sites of similar type and size: a tech park, a Grade A office, a mixed-use building or a luxury residence. Then visit them, and speak to the facility head on that site, not only the sales contact.
2. How long have they kept their oldest client?
FM contracts are easy to win and hard to keep. Long relationships are the best evidence that the work holds up after the first year.
Maintenance
3. Can they show you an asset register from a live site?
Every light, pump, panel and AHU should be listed with its exact location. If a work order can’t say “West Wing, floor 4, fourth light”, the technician spends the first half hour finding the problem.
4. Can they show you a 52-week planned maintenance schedule?
Ask what share of their work orders on that site is planned versus breakdown. A strong operator knows this number and can show you how it has moved since they took over.
5. What system do they use, and can you see it?
Work orders, maintenance schedules, inventory and purchase orders should live in software you can log into, not in a register and a spreadsheet. Ask to see how a complaint is raised, assigned, closed and reported.
Compliance
6. Who owns your compliance calendar?
A commercial building in Karnataka can need fire safety clearances, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board consents (for STPs and DG sets, for example), electrical inspectorate approvals, lift inspections and a set of AMC renewals, each with its own renewal date. Which of these apply depends on the building’s size, height and use. Ask the FM company to show you a compliance calendar from a live site, with who is responsible for each renewal and how far in advance they start.
People
7. How will the site be staffed and supervised?
Ask for the manpower plan by shift, who supervises at night and on weekends, and what happens when someone doesn’t turn up. “We’ll manage” isn’t a plan.
8. Are they meeting their obligations to their own staff?
Ask how they handle PF, ESI and minimum wages for the people deployed at your site, and whether they will share monthly proof of payment. As the principal employer, you can be held responsible if a contractor defaults on these.
9. How do they train for safety?
Ask about permits for hot work and work at height, PPE, and how often site teams are trained. Ask to see a recent incident or near-miss report, and what changed because of it.
Commercials and contract
10. Is the pricing broken down?
A clear proposal separates manpower cost, management fee, consumables and AMCs. Ask who negotiates the AMCs and who keeps the savings.
11. Are the SLAs measurable?
Look for response and resolution times by priority (a stuck lift is not the same as a flickering tube light), what goes into the monthly report, and what happens when targets are missed.
12. What happens in the first 90 days, and at exit?
Ask for a written transition plan: an asset audit, handover from the current vendor, a snag list and the date the planned maintenance schedule goes live. Read the exit clause too. A good partner doesn’t need to lock you in.
Red flags
- No live site you can visit, or only the sales team ever shows up.
- A price well below the others. It’s usually paid for with underpaid staff or skipped maintenance.
- SLAs written as “prompt response” with no times attached.
- “We’ll take care of compliance” with no calendar behind it.
- No software, or software you’re never given access to.
How to compare proposals
Score each shortlisted company out of 5 on the areas above and weight them by what matters most for your building. A starting point:
| Area | Weight |
|---|---|
| Experience with similar buildings and references | 25% |
| Maintenance planning and systems | 25% |
| Compliance ownership | 20% |
| Staffing, supervision and safety | 15% |
| Pricing clarity and contract terms | 15% |
Adjust the weights to your building. A data centre will weight maintenance and compliance higher than a small office.
How Nanya Realty works
Nanya Realty has been running buildings in Bengaluru since 2012. Our integrated facilities management teams handle technical services, soft services, statutory compliance and AMC management under one contract, with energy, water, EHS and ESG audits. Every site runs on a digital maintenance platform: planned maintenance schedules, work orders, inventory and purchase orders in one place. You can see what the team at SKAV 909 does, or read what our clients say.
If you’re comparing FM partners, we’re happy to walk your building with you and tell you what we’d check first, whether or not you choose us. Call +91 98804 94957 or contact us.
Frequently asked questions
What is integrated facility management?
Integrated facility management (IFM) is one contract and one point of contact for all the services that keep a building running: technical maintenance, housekeeping, security, compliance and vendor management.
Is integrated facility management cheaper than hiring separate vendors?
Not always on paper. The savings usually come from fewer breakdowns, better-negotiated AMCs and less time your own team spends coordinating vendors.
How long does it take to switch facility management companies?
It depends on the building’s size and the condition of its records. Ask every bidder for a written transition plan with dates. If they can’t give you one, they haven’t thought it through.
What should a monthly facility management report include?
Planned maintenance completed against schedule, complaints raised and closed against SLA, compliance renewals due in the next 90 days, energy and water use, and any incidents with the action taken.
