Turning Around a Troubled Property: A Practical Roadmap for Facility Managers

"Progress is absolutely possible — but it happens through consistent steps, not overnight miracles."

---

Walking into a troubled property can feel overwhelming. Years of deferred maintenance, inconsistent repairs, poor documentation, and “band-aid fixes” pile up into a long list of problems that all feel urgent. But the truth is this: any property—no matter how troubled or even neglected—can be brought back under control with the right process, discipline, and starting point.

It’s also important to be realistic. Turning around a troubled property takes time. Depending on the level of damage, the amount of deferred work, and the systems involved, restoring a site to a stable, well-maintained condition can take 3 to 5 years. Progress is absolutely possible — but it happens through consistent steps, not overnight miracles.

This post gives you a clear roadmap for getting started. Whether you’ve just taken over a troubled site or you’re trying to reset a property that’s been slipping for years, these steps will help you gain clarity, stabilize operations, and build momentum toward long-term improvement.

---

Start With an Honest Assessment

Before you can fix anything, you need a complete and unfiltered understanding of the property’s true condition. This means physically walking every space, opening panels, checking mechanical rooms, looking above ceilings, inspecting exterior areas, and documenting anything that’s unsafe, failing, leaking, or questionable. Good notes and photos will help with prioritizing items and gaining approval for repairs or replacement.

The goal is not perfection — it’s visibility. You’re building the raw information needed to make decisions, prioritize risks, and stop surprises from blindsiding you later.

A critical part of this assessment is focusing on the safety of the building and its occupants. Ensure all required inspections and certifications are current, including:

• Fire alarm and fire sprinkler system inspections

• Boiler and pressure vessel inspections

• Elevator inspections

• Any other legally required safety certifications

This ensures that before you address deferred maintenance or repairs, you have verified that the building meets minimum safety standards and reduces immediate risks to people on site. Use the information you gathered to start a preventive maintenance list.

Stop the Bleeding Before You Start Improvements

With dozens (sometimes hundreds) of issues competing for attention, it’s crucial to focus on the systems that directly impact safety, operations, and property protection. This means identifying the handful of infrastructure components where failure creates major damage, tenant disruption, or massive expense. Identify repairs need to be done immediately or in the next few months as funds allow.

Prioritize life-safety systems first — fire protection, elevators, critical electrical and mechanical systems — then operational systems that protect the building envelope and prevent catastrophic failures. Key operational systems include roofing, building envelope and waterproofing, HVAC and heating systems, plumbing—especially leaks and drainage, electrical and other any system where failure could lead to major damage.

By stopping the bleeding, you stabilize the property — giving yourself breathing room to plan smarter, deeper improvements later without fighting fires every day.

Establish Daily Rounds Immediately

One of the fastest ways to maintain control of a troubled property is to implement structured daily rounds. This means walking key areas at the same time each day, checking equipment, listening for unusual noises, looking for early signs of failure, and documenting what you find. Always include a safety check during rounds: ensure fire exits are clear, emergency lights are functional, sprinklers are unobstructed, and any safety hazards are addressed immediately.

Daily rounds help you stabilize the property by catching small problems before they become big ones, and they quickly teach you the building’s habits and trouble zones.

Create a 30, 90, and 180 Day Plan

A troubled property cannot be fixed all at once, so you must break the work into structured phases. A 30-, 90-, and 180-day plan provides clarity on what to tackle first, what can wait, and how progress will be measured. This timeline helps prevent overwhelm, ensures early wins, and begins shifting the property from a reactive environment to a predictable, proactive one. Use the 180-day mark to begin planning long-term improvements and capital replacement, particularly for safety-critical systems.

30 Days: Stabilize and stop emergencies

90 Days: Tackle meaningful repairs and documentation

180 Days: Build the foundation for preventive maintenance

Build Your Asset Inventory

Once you know what’s broken, the next step is knowing what you own. An accurate asset inventory is the foundation of long-term maintenance, budgeting, and planning. This means physically locating every major piece of equipment, capturing model and serial numbers, noting age and condition, and recording where everything is located. Without this information, you’re guessing — and in a neglected property, guessing leads to wasted money and repeated failures. The asset inventory can also be used to identify equipment and systems that will need regular preventive maintenance.

Include safety-critical assets first, such as fire systems, boilers, elevators, emergency generators, and life safety equipment, so they are accounted for in your maintenance plan.

Develop a 10-Year Capital Replacement Plan (With a 5 Year Focus)

Once the property is stabilized and you have a clear picture of your assets, it’s time to build a long-term capital replacement plan.

This plan outlines when major systems — like roofs, boilers, HVAC units, pumps, electrical panels, and large plumbing components — will reach the end of their life and need replacement. For a neglected property, the most important part of this plan is the next 1-3 years, since that is where most of the damage from deferred maintenance will surface. Prioritize safety-critical systems first to prevent failures that could put occupants at risk. Your capital plan might include major renovations of room or even whole buildings. Done in phases can help to lessen disruptions and even out spending.

Creating a 10 Year Capital Plan:

• List every major asset and its estimated remaining useful life

• Prioritize high-risk, high-cost, and safety-critical systems

• Estimate replacement costs using vendor quotes or historical pricing

• Build a timeline covering 10 years, but highlight the critical 1-3 year needs

• Update the plan yearly and as conditions change or new information emerges

Build the Culture You Want

Fixing a property is not just about repairing equipment — it’s about changing habits.

You need a culture where issues are reported consistently, work orders are documented properly, equipment is maintained on schedule, and communication is clear. Create a preventive maintenance schedule for equipment and systems to keep them in good working order. Emphasize safety accountability in this culture, making sure that staff report hazards immediately and follow safety protocols. This cultural reset ensures that once you get the property back under control, it stays under control instead of slipping backward.

Track Wins and Show Progress

A neglected property can feel like a bottomless pit unless you measure and celebrate progress. Tracking completed repairs, preventive maintenance tasks, cost savings, and restored equipment proves that the work is paying off. Include safety improvements as key wins — a repaired fire alarm, completed elevator inspection, or cleared exit path is just as important as any other repair.

---

You Can Take Control-One Step at a Time

Turning around a neglected property isn’t quick work — it can take two to five years of steady effort to fully recover a site that’s been ignored or poorly managed. But with a clear roadmap, consistent discipline, and a focus on safety, the transformation becomes not only possible but inevitable.

To recap, your path forward is simple:

• Assess the property honestly, focusing on safety

• Focus on the critical systems

• Start daily rounds immediately, including safety checks

• Stop the bleeding before improving

• Use 30, 90, and 180 day plans

• Build your asset list

• Build a 10-year capital replacement plan, prioritizing the next 2–5 years

• Rebuild the culture with safety accountability

• Track your progress, including safety wins

Every one of these steps brings you closer to stability, predictability, and a well-run, safe facility.

If your property is in rough shape, start today with Step 1: walk the site, document hazards, and check safety-critical systems. Momentum begins with that first round — and from there, the turnaround begins.

---

If you have questions or need more help with your plan, send me an email at acohlinger@gmail.com I have executed this plan for other buildings and can help you plan a clear path forward.