Maintenance That Happens On Schedule, Not After Failure

Set recurring work orders by calendar or by usage, and ClearFM generates each job when it’s due. Filter changes, inspections and service visits happen on time without anyone keeping a spreadsheet of due dates.

70 of 70

long-open preventive maintenance work orders reviewed by Virginia’s Inspector General had been deferred at least once.

Source: Virginia Office of the State Inspector General, Facilities Maintenance Performance Audit (2025)

Preventive maintenance usually lives in a spreadsheet, a wall calendar or one coordinator’s head. Quarterly filter changes, annual backflow tests, monthly generator runs, fire extinguisher checks. As long as that person is there and paying attention, it works. When they’re out, the schedule slips quietly, and nobody notices until something fails.

Calendar-only schedules have their own problem. Equipment doesn’t wear out by the calendar. A rooftop unit running around the clock at a distribution center needs service far sooner than the same unit at an office that’s closed on weekends, but a quarterly reminder treats them the same. You over-service one and under-service the other.

ClearFM generates recurring work orders on a calendar schedule or from usage, assigns them like any other job, and keeps a record of every visit against the property and the equipment.

Planned work shows up on time, reaches the right person, and leaves a history you can show an auditor, an insurer or an owner.

What you get

Schedules that run themselves

Set the interval once: every 90 days, the first Monday of the month, every spring. ClearFM creates the work order when it’s due, so the schedule doesn’t depend on someone remembering to check it.

Triggers based on usage

Some equipment should be serviced by hours run rather than by date. Usage-based schedules generate the work order when the equipment reaches its threshold.

Proof the work happened

Each generated job is a work order with an assignee, a status and a sign-off. When someone asks whether the backflow test was done, you open the record instead of hunting for a paper tag.

How it works

Pick the work

Choose the property or the piece of equipment and describe the task: filter change, inspection, test or service visit.

Set the trigger

Set a calendar interval or a usage threshold, and a default owner, whether that’s in-house staff or a provider.

Jobs generate when due

ClearFM creates each work order on schedule and routes it to the owner, with the scope and site details already attached.

Close and keep the record

The assignee completes the work and someone on your side signs it off. Every visit stays on the property and equipment history.

Why teams run this on ClearFM

The schedule survives turnover

A preventive maintenance plan that lives in one person’s spreadsheet leaves with that person. Schedules in ClearFM keep generating work orders whoever is in the coordinator seat, and a new hire can read the whole plan on day one.

Fewer emergency calls

A filter changed on time costs a few dollars. A frozen coil in July costs an emergency service rate, a lost day of trading and an angry tenant. Planned work moves spend from the second column to the first.

Service matched to how equipment is used

Usage-based schedules service hard-working equipment more often and lightly used equipment less, so you stop paying for visits a unit doesn’t need and stop skipping the ones it does.

Inspections you can prove

Insurers, auditors and owners ask for evidence. Every generated job has a date, an assignee and a sign-off, so the record of last year’s inspections comes out of the system rather than a filing cabinet.

Vendors held to the service schedule

When a provider has a quarterly service contract, each visit is a work order they complete and you sign off. A missed visit shows up as an open job, not as something you find out about at renewal.

Budgets built from the plan

Recurring work orders tell you what planned maintenance will look like next year before the year starts. Combined with repair history, that’s the basis for a maintenance budget you can defend.

Built for Real Estate & Facility Teams

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Questions people ask

What's the difference between calendar and usage schedules?

A calendar schedule creates a work order at a fixed interval, like every 90 days or every April. A usage schedule creates one when equipment reaches a threshold such as run hours. Use calendar schedules for inspections and compliance tasks, and usage schedules for equipment whose wear depends on how hard it runs.

Can preventive maintenance go to an outside provider?

Yes. Each schedule has a default assignee, which can be in-house staff or a provider. The generated work order reaches them the same way any other dispatched job does.

What happens if a scheduled job doesn't get done?

It stays open with its due date, so it shows up on the open list rather than disappearing. Overdue planned work is visible to the coordinator and to anyone else with access to that property.

Do preventive maintenance jobs count toward property and equipment history?

Yes. They’re work orders, so their cost and history roll into the same property and equipment records as every other job. That’s what lets you tell whether planned work is reducing emergency calls at a site.