Last week, I started a post on Equipment Inventory and Preventative Maintenance Planning, which I will pick up again in the coming weeks.  However, I wanted to take a momentary pause and climb up on my soap box for a minute.  

We at Roth IAMS are on a mission to abolish the term Deferred Maintenance (DM).  I have posted before about this previously, but I wanted to come back to it.  I have given a number of presentations recently where the message was really well received and as a result I am seeing more and more people moving away from the term DM.  With the bit of momentum that we have built I want to try to keep it going.

So why is this a battle that we feel is worth fighting?  DM is pretty much ubiquitous within the Facility Asset Management world.  So why not just leave it alone?  

If you have ever spent much time around me you have probably heard me say “Words Matter”.  Our crusade to abolish DM from people’s vocabulary is really all about Words Matter.  

When you look at nearly every organization’s current “DM,” most of the costs are not associated with maintenance.  Instead, the greater costs are related to deferred capital renewal/replacement issues.  Calling it DM is easy and quick to say.  However, it is also wrong.  I have heard from a number of clients over the years that their finance and administration staff push back when they are given huge numbers associated with DM.  “How can we possibly have $1 Billion in maintenance needs?”

As a result, we are pushing the term Deferred Capital Renewal and Maintenance (DCRM) instead of DM.  We haven’t done away with the Maintenance aspect totally, we are simply adding the Capital Renewal element to the term.  It is a little more awkward to say, but it is far more accurate.  

The best example of changing the terminology we see is in my new home state of Florida.  For years, the Florida State University System Board of Governors were responsible for all the State funded schools in Florida.  They had been trying to get more funding for DM, to no avail.  In 2022, in response to feedback from the State legislature (similar in context to the feedback we mentioned above regarding the term DM), the State formally revised its definitions and terminology in statute to clarify the issue.

The following are the two definitions/ terms that the State has chosen to go with:

1. Deferred Maintenance and Repairs (DMR) – Maintenance and Repair activities not performed when they should have been or scheduled to be due to a lack of resources (e.g. funding, labor, time) or other management action. As such, the needed repairs/maintenance are not performed and deferred to a later date. This includes preventive maintenance and/or repairs needed to preserve or maintain the asset, and failure to perform it leads to asset deterioration and ultimately, asset impairment. 
2. Deferred Capital Replacement and Renewal (DCRR) – postponing the replacement of infrastructure and/or building systems (e.g. roofing systems, HVAC, boilers, chillers, sprinkler systems, etc.) after they have reached their mechanical life expectancy based on the manufacturer’s stated timeline or that of industry standard, whichever is longer.

The proof is in the pudding.  Shortly after the redefinition of the problem and the roll-out of the new definitions, the state was able to secure almost $900 Million in additional funding to address DMR and DCRR.  

Whether you use the term DCRM, break it out as two different terms/values like Florida did or come up with your own definition for your organization, it doesn’t matter.  Just please stop saying/using DM.  I cannot guarantee that you will get an extra $900 Million to address your needs, but I can tell you that I think you will get a heck of a lot closer.