{"id":67,"date":"2026-10-01T23:09:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/?p=67"},"modified":"2026-10-01T23:09:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T23:09:09","slug":"preventive-maintenance-vs-reactive-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/?p=67","title":{"rendered":"Preventive Maintenance vs. Reactive Repair: The Real Numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf it isn&#8217;t broken, don&#8217;t fix it\u201d sounds sensible until you add up the true cost of a breakdown. For most commercial equipment, the repair invoice is less than half of what a failure actually costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The hidden costs of a breakdown<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Idle labor while equipment is down<\/li>\n\n<li>Overtime to catch up afterwards<\/li>\n\n<li>After-hours and emergency call-out fees<\/li>\n\n<li>Spoiled product or missed shipments<\/li>\n\n<li>Secondary damage \u2014 a failed fan motor can take out a compressor<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A worked example<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><thead><tr><th><\/th><th>Reactive only<\/th><th>Planned maintenance<\/th><\/tr><\/thead><tbody><tr><td>Maintenance visits<\/td><td>$0<\/td><td>$1,560 \/ year<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Breakdowns per year<\/td><td>5<\/td><td>1<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Average repair invoice<\/td><td>$780<\/td><td>$520<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>Downtime cost per breakdown<\/td><td>$1,900<\/td><td>$1,900<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Total<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>$13,400<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>$3,980<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The example is a 12-door distribution center, but the pattern repeats for HVAC, refrigeration, forklifts and elevators: planned maintenance turns large, random costs into small, predictable ones.<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[rp_bars title=&#8221;Breakdowns avoided with planned maintenance&#8221; suffix=&#8221;%&#8221;]Dock levelers|72, Walk-in coolers|65, Rooftop HVAC|58, Forklifts|61, Automatic gates|49[\/rp_bars]<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[rp_callout type=&#8221;success&#8221; title=&#8221;What a good maintenance agreement includes&#8221;]Scheduled visits on fixed dates, a written report with photos, priority response, no call-out fees and a discount on parts.[\/rp_callout]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Find maintenance providers<\/h2>\n\n\n<p>[rp_businesses q=&#8221;maintenance&#8221; limit=&#8221;5&#8243;]<\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Planned maintenance costs money every quarter. Breakdowns cost more \u2014 here is how to compare the two for your own equipment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[243],"tags":[248,245,247],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guides","tag-budgeting","tag-facilities","tag-maintenance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leadslancer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}