The case for Scheduled Maintenance has been made over and over, ad nauseum for the last 50 or 60 years since Air Conditioning became popular in the 40s. Many who are far more intelligent and learned have recited all the reasons why this is the way to do things. Instead of trying to re-invent the wheel , I would like to recall some of the reasons that I have heard out in the field for NOT doing maintenance. I promise to try my best to defend these positions.

“We just don’t do maintenance contracts.” – Obviously this organization sees the folly of getting trapped in a contract. Now they don’t say they don’t do maintenance they just don’t do contracts. We all know that the best way to shop for something is on the spur of the moment, right! Why would you want a relationship with a Vendor anyway? Everybody knows that Vendors are all out to get you.  

“The unit is still in warranty.” – This gets at the heart of how a warranty should work.  If you offer a 10 year 100,000 mile power train warranty, you need to manufacture a product that will last for 10 years and 100,000 miles regardless of what the end user does or doesn’t do!

“We just don’t have the time/resources to do maintenance.” – How can you schedule preventative maintenance when you are fixing all that broken equipment? Besides, there are a lot more hours and jobs generated this way. Let’s keep America working!

“The energy savings that you receive from maintenance just aren’t worth the recurring cost.” – A 10, 20 or 30 percent savings on a $5000.00 a month electric bill is piddly compared to the staggering cost of a maintenance contract. (Let’s see 10% of $5000 is $500 a month vs. $800 a month for maintenance…… see there’s no way to come out on it. You are $300 in the hole every month!)

The next time someone wants to talk about PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE, just throw some of these tried and true reasons at them. I am sure that they will make haste to leave and never darken your door again.