Integration of Capital and Maintenance Planning

We are well into Winter 2026, but we’re still working our way through our blog series on the major trends and themes that emerged during the Fall 2025 conference season. The good news is that things in the facility and asset management space don’t move so fast that the trends have become outdated.

Today’s post focuses on one of the biggest shifts we saw in 2025: the move toward integrating capital planning and maintenance planning processes. This trend surfaced early in the year but picked up significant momentum as 2025 went on.

By far, “Finding the Holy Grail – Integrating Capital and Maintenance Planning” — view the recording here — was the most requested presentation topic from our slate of offerings. I presented it at four conferences and at two industry association webinars for APPA and NASFA.

Just as we saw a surge of FCA presentations at conferences, many institutions appear to be getting more comfortable with their capital planning processes — particularly with developing prioritized, multiyear capital plans. With that increased confidence, organizations are now looking for ways to build on their progress and take their programs to the next level.

Historically, capital planning and maintenance have been handled by different teams — or silos — within most organizations. That separation has typically produced two very different programs running independently of one another.

The potential benefits of integrating capital and maintenance planning are substantial. For example, spending limited maintenance resources on Preventative Maintenance (PM) tasks for equipment scheduled for replacement in the next year or two is not an efficient use of funds.

By reviewing maintenance information alongside capital planning data, teams can make smarter estimates of the Remaining Useful Life (RUL) of an element.

If PMs are consistent and reactive work orders are low, you can likely extend the life of the asset and spread its cost over a longer period.

If PMs are inconsistent and reactive work orders are high, you may need to shorten the expected life of the asset, even if it hasn’t technically reached end of life — reducing the risk of unplanned failure and program disruption.

If you’re ready to move toward fully integrating your capital and maintenance plans but aren’t sure where to start, I highly recommend watching any of the presentations linked above. They provide a solid introduction to the concepts, the benefits, and the “how-to” of building an integrated program.

We’re now more than two months into this series (holiday break included), and next week we’ll wrap up with our final trend of the season: why Cooperative Procurement is for Services too. Can’t wait to dive into that one!