When the contractor can’t get in

The challenge is that many access arrangements were designed around the assumption that someone will always be available to hand over a key. That can become increasingly difficult when contractors are attending in the evenings, at weekends or at short notice, particularly when avoidable access problems start adding cost to already tightly managed maintenance budgets.

Across a multi-site estate, these avoidable incidents can add up.

The cost of an access problem

If nobody is there to provide access or the keyholder is delayed getting to the site, the contractor may have little choice but to leave. The job remains outstanding, another visit must be arranged and the original missed visit may still incur a charge.

However, the cost goes beyond the obvious. A missed contractor visit is not simply a scheduling inconvenience. It can create additional work for the FM team.

Someone will need to rearrange the appointment, contact the site and coordinate a new access arrangement. Meanwhile, the original issue remains unresolved.

For reactive maintenance, the consequences can be more significant. A leaking pipe, damaged equipment or building fault does not necessarily wait for the next available appointment. The contractor may be left waiting at the door, potentially charging for the time lost while access is arranged.

Removing the dependency on the keyholder

This is where access control can change the process, helping organisations avoid missed-visit charges and get the job completed on time.

While there are many fully digital systems on the market, remote access control with visit auditing does not necessarily mean replacing all keys and locks at each site.

Smart key management systems like SentriGuard allow physical keys to be stored securely at the property while authorised contractors can be given controlled access when they need to attend.

For commercial applications, however, security must be considered on both sides of the system. The physical keyholding equipment needs to be independently certified to an appropriate security standard, such as LPS 1175, while the digital access management platform needs to have appropriate cybersecurity and data management controls.

For an out-of-hours maintenance visit, such keyholding systems allow the facilities management team to grant access remotely before the contractor arrives. The contractor can then obtain the key and carry out the work without waiting for a keyholder.

The same principle can apply to planned maintenance, inspections, cleaning, servicing and other contractor visits where access needs to be available at a particular time.

A more practical approach to multi-site access

For organisations managing a distributed estate, removing the need for individual keyholders makes access arrangements more consistent between sites.

A contractor who can access the required key when they arrive is less likely to become a missed visit simply because nobody was available to let them in. For FM teams, that can mean fewer avoidable callouts, fewer access-related charges and less time spent coordinating the same job twice.

Access may only be one part of a contractor visit, but when it fails, it can affect everything that follows. Making sure the key is available when the contractor arrives is a relatively simple part of keeping the wider operation moving.