Preventive maintenance
Preventive vs reactive maintenance: where the line sits
When to schedule, when to react, and how to tell the difference before it costs you a weekend.
Mend team · 5 August 2026 · 8 min read
Preventive maintenance is not about servicing everything. It is about servicing the small number of assets whose failure ruins a day.
Rank assets by what failure costs
A cool room failing on a Friday night costs stock, service and reputation. A meeting room blind failing costs an apology. Both belong in your system; only one belongs on a schedule.
Use real history, not manufacturer guesses
Service intervals in a manual assume average use. Your history knows better. If a unit needed attention three times in six months, the interval is wrong for your site.
Know when to stop repairing
Add up the labour, parts and downtime across the last twelve months. When that number crosses roughly half of replacement cost, you are funding a replacement in instalments and getting none of the reliability.
