A leading national pet care provider struggled to maintain consistently high standards of facilities quality across its nearly 2,000 locations. Apart from the challenge of improving standards and optimizing spend, the retailer sought a facilities partnership with a provider that understood the unique challenges facing a pet care environment. Many of the retailer’s spaces housed veterinary facilities, grooming centers, and shelter for live animals—making stable and superior facilities a critical priority. Impressed with our service quality and our commitment to a facilities program centered on the urgent priorities surrounding animal care, the retailer signed a contract through 2024.
Challenge
Animal safety and comfort comes first for this national pet care provider. However, former service partners didn’t have experience serving the pet care industry, making it difficult to align on priorities and goals for long-term spending. Expensive maintenance trip costs, steep labor rates, and avoidable emergency and high-priority maintenance charges meant the retailer was routinely spending beyond their budget. Without consistent access to a network of qualified, specialist providers, many maintenance issues weren’t solved on the first visit—hurting location performance as well as the retailer’s budget.
Solution
SMS Assist prioritized facilities work according to the customer’s mission of providing safe, comfortable, and reliable pet care solutions. By rolling out preventative maintenance strategies, SMS Assist managed critical assets, reprioritized reactive work, and designed contingency plans for emergency scenarios.
Provided a single point of contact for all facilities needs
SMS Assist simplified the pet retailer’s path to getting personalized expert support. Whenever they had a complex issue, they knew that they could get in touch with a dedicated contact—one with a deep knowledge of the retailer’s company culture, business operations, and ongoing facilities needs.
Enabled access to a network of more than 20,000 vetted, qualified providers
By eliminating the uncertainty and guesswork in finding the right fix—and one delivered by a trusted maintenance provider, SMS Assist’s network of fully-vetted, credentialed, and highly-skilled service providers is available nationwide, ready for work in more than 55 trades.
Improved first-time fix rates to 87 percent
Getting it fixed the first time is key to improving overall portfolio performance and reducing sources of unnecessary spend. Provider sourcing and performance management techniques raised first-time fix rates across the retailer’s portfolio to 87% within the first year.
Became a one-stop shop for the pet retailer’s facilities needs
From solving the complexities of provider sourcing and performance management to handling vendor payment and consolidated billing to delivering data and reporting on asset data and energy usage, SMS Assist became an all-inclusive source of solutions and expertise for the retailer’s facilities operations.
Outcome
Through the implementation of a tailored pet-centric maintenance initiative, SMS Assist improved the retailer’s approach to maintenance, ensuring the security and well-being of pets during unexpected emergencies. In the first year, the pet care provider experienced:
- 87% first-time fix rate across all locations
- 5.3% in annual savings in the first year alone
- Clean and consistent data for assets, locations, work order history
As a result, the retailer could offer a haven of safety and tranquility for pets, reinforcing their reputation as a truly pet-friendly establishment.
A well-functioning maintenance strategy is essential to the success of any modern-day facilities portfolio. To make sure your facilities maintenance strategy is meeting your needs, request a demo to learn more about how our programs can help you.
