What Multi-Branch Facility Managers Should Look for in a Long-Term Partner
Financial institutions represent a large and competitive industry that thrives on customer service, client experience, and loyalty. The cleanliness, aesthetics, and comfort level of bank facilities are paramount for success, customer engagement, and return clientele. Strong facilities management services for banks can be a game-changing element in ensuring all of these integral elements come to fruition.
The industry’s own investment patterns confirm it. Banks and credit unions have added at least 1,000 branches in each of the past four years, and the median cost of a new freestanding branch runs roughly $2.5 million. Institutions are still putting serious capital behind physical locations, which makes the condition of every branch already in your portfolio a direct reflection of that investment.
As a facility manager of banks, you have a key role in creating success and maintaining high standards, and the partners you select to work alongside you are truly everything. So what are the ultimate keys?
5 Critical Elements to Look for in Facilities Management Services for Banks
1. Strong Coverage
With demand at an all-time high for trusted partnerships, it is integral to have a facilities partner that has fortified coverage for all of your bank locations, not just some of them. When we go out to a restaurant for our favorite meal, we expect the food to be delicious and the service to be excellent each time. Expecting strong coverage from the providers you select should hold to that same standard.
Branch networks rarely cluster conveniently. A single institution may operate flagship downtown offices, suburban storefronts, and rural branches hours from the nearest metro. Self-performing providers serve the markets where they happen to have technicians and leave the remainder to you. Consistency is everything, and consistency requires a national network deep enough to reach every address on your list.
2. Constant Communication
Getting detailed updates, both good news and bad, before you ask for them as a facility manager is truly everything. The strongest facility management partners communicate proactively and provide tenured account managers and program leaders who foster consistent success.
For a corporate facilities team overseeing dozens or hundreds of branches, communication has to work at two levels at once. You need branch-level detail on the location in front of you, and you need portfolio-level reporting and documentation ready for the executives, auditors, and examiners who will eventually ask. An open line of communication on a daily basis is the true standard.
3. Technical Knowledge and Consultation
Many companies can get the job done. Doing the right job for you, providing multiple options, and reviewing the strategic approach together are what make the difference. Bank facilities carry requirements most commercial buildings never encounter: vault and after-hours access protocols, drive-thru lane equipment, security system interdependencies, and ADA obligations at every public entrance.
It is imperative to have partners with knowledgeable estimators, strong technical acumen, and a consultative approach that leads to the right fixes for your financial institutions and solutions that meet your budgetary, facility, and end-goal needs.
4. Account Manager Tenure
You manage high-end facilities where the comfort level of bank staff and clients alike is truly everything from an experience, safety, and work environment standpoint. Working with knowledgeable and highly experienced account managers can change your facilities partnership for the better. No facility manager wants to be introduced to a primary account manager who started three weeks ago.
A tenured account manager knows which branches require escorted access, which locations sit under landlord-controlled HVAC, and which service windows cannot overlap with teller hours. Tenure, experience, and diligence all matter, and you deserve the best, intricate attention.
5. Consistent Pricing
Regardless of the importance of strong service, coverage, and communication, competitive pricing is a vital item in facility services partner success. CLS strives to make nominal price increases, and, of equal importance, we do that once annually. This means no mid-year price increases or fuel surcharges once the budget is established.
Anchoring increases to a single, predictable point in the year lets your team build a facilities budget that holds up through the fiscal year rather than absorbing surprises every quarter. Consistent, competitive pricing is of the utmost importance.
Build a Stronger Bank Facilities Program
As you continue to manage the HVAC preventive maintenance, HVAC emergency, electrical, plumbing, fire and life safety, and sign maintenance portions of your facilities program, consider CLS for facilities management services for banks that provide these integral elements, support your program, and bring continuous improvement and measurable results.
With more than 50 years of experience supporting financial institutions nationwide, our team understands what branch networks actually require. See how one regional banking institution built a decade-long facilities partnership with CLS, or explore the five elements behind our longest-running client relationship.