14 High-Impact Facility Management KPIs To Track For Improved Operational Efficiency

Facility teams today aren’t measured by how many tasks they check off. They’re judged by how intelligently they operate—how well they control costs, reduce risk, and deliver performance across every square foot they manage. And the only way to measure that kind of impact is with the right KPIs.

Not just any metrics—the ones that actually matter. Some teams focus on the wrong numbers. Others track everything, but don’t act on what the data is telling them. And even when you get the right insights, you still need the right system to work with them—efficiently, at scale, across locations.

That’s exactly what this guide is here to help with.

We’ll break down the most critical facility management KPIs, show you what each one reveals about your buildings, explain how to use them to drive real outcomes, and how a CMMS solution turns data into action through customizable dashboards and real-time reporting.

What are facility management KPIs (and why they matter)?

Facility management KPIs are the critical indicators that reveal how well your team, your buildings, and your vendors are performing against operational goals. They convert activity—like work orders completed or dollars spent—into measurable business signals. And for operations leaders, those signals are everything.

A strong KPI strategy doesn't just tell you what happened. It highlights inefficiencies, flags rising costs, and justifies every decision you take—whether you're defending a budget increase or rethinking your maintenance strategy.

Knowing how facility management works in practice helps teams move past surface-level data and focus on insights that drive real portfolio value. They align every KPI to a goal—cost control, uptime, compliance, occupant satisfaction—and use those KPIs to drive action.

Because in the end, a KPI is only as powerful as the workflow it triggers.

How facility management KPIs drive down costs

Every facility team is under pressure to do more with less. But if you don’t know where the inefficiencies are hiding, you’ll end up overspending without even realizing it. That’s where KPIs become more than reports—they become a cost-control system.

Here’s how the right KPIs help teams cut costs without compromising performance:

1. Spot hidden inefficiencies before they become expensive.

Whether it’s a reactive-heavy maintenance model, a high repeat request rate, or energy waste creeping in unnoticed, KPIs surface the issues that drain budgets slowly and silently.

2. Justify every budget line with data.

Finance leaders don’t just want to see spend—they want proof that it’s working. KPIs help validate hiring decisions, vendor contracts, capital planning, and every OPEX line item.

3. Make smarter trade-offs based on performance trends.

If preventive maintenance is slipping or utility costs are trending up, the data gives you the confidence to course-correct early—before year-end firefighting kicks in.

4. Reduce labor, utility, and asset lifecycle costs.

Tracking KPIs like labor productivity, maintenance cost per square foot, and asset downtime helps eliminate waste and make spending more predictable.

5. Support long-term asset planning—not guesswork.

Over time, KPI trends help you anticipate failure, compare vendor performance, and prioritize capital upgrades that actually move the needle.

Smart teams don’t wait for cost overruns to show up in finance reports. They spot them early—with the right indicators.

KPI vs. metric: How FM leaders separate signals from noise

Every facility management system collects data. But without context, data turns into clutter. What matters is knowing the difference between numbers that describe activity—and numbers that drive outcomes.

• Metric: A number. (e.g., total work orders logged)
• KPI: A number that reveals performance. (e.g., average time to resolve work orders)

Here’s how they compare:

Tracking more data doesn’t always mean better visibility. It often means more noise. The best FM leaders define a clear set of KPIs—usually fewer than 10—that align tightly with what matters most: reducing cost, improving uptime, and delivering better occupant outcomes.

14 key facility management KPIs every FM team should track

Each KPI in this list reflects a key area of operational performance—cost, efficiency, occupant satisfaction, or long-term asset value.

Start with the ones most relevant to your current priorities, then build out your tracking as your goals evolve.

1. Occupant Satisfaction Score

Facilities don’t exist in isolation—they serve people. And the true measure of building performance often shows up in feedback forms, not dashboards.

Tracking occupant satisfaction helps you uncover friction points that hard data can’t always surface. Recurring comfort complaints? Low scores around restrooms or HVAC response? These are signals—not noise.

Modern FM leaders track this KPI monthly or quarterly using short digital surveys. The goal isn’t just high satisfaction; it’s fast recovery when satisfaction dips.

Target: 85% or higher positive feedback across key service areas

2. Average Work Order Resolution Time

This is one of the clearest indicators of operational maturity. Long resolution times usually point to problems upstream—poor triaging, overloaded technicians, or lack of asset data at dispatch.

Tracking this KPI helps you spot where the system breaks down. Are priority requests taking too long? Are certain vendors consistently underperforming?

Target: Under 12 hours for non-critical issues; 2–4 hours for priority items

3. Planned vs. Reactive Maintenance Ratio

This KPI reflects whether your strategy is proactive or firefighting-led. A healthy balance leans heavily toward planned—because that’s what drives cost control, asset longevity, and fewer disruptions.

Reactive maintenance is 3–5x more expensive than planned. Yet many FM teams fall into reactive loops due to limited resources or lack of asset data. This KPI forces the conversation: are we planning enough? Or are we just patching problems?

Target: At least 70% of total maintenance should be preventive

4. Workforce Productivity

It's not just about technician utilization—it’s about whether work is being completed on time, to standard, and without repeated follow-ups. High productivity reflects strong scheduling, task clarity, and training.

Productivity also shows how well your work order volume maps to available headcount. If this KPI starts to drop, the issue might not be performance—it could be poor planning or overwhelmed teams.

Target: ≥ 90% of assigned tasks completed on time

5. Gross Facility Management Cost per Square Foot

This KPI gives you a high-level read on overall spend efficiency. It rolls up costs across maintenance, utilities, cleaning, staffing, security, and admin—normalized by area.

But alone, it's not diagnostic. To use it meaningfully, segment by building type, vendor, or cost category. A seemingly high value might reflect best-in-class service in a hospital—or overspend in a low-occupancy office.

Recommended range:$2.00–$4.00/sq. ft. for standard CREUp to $5.50/sq. ft. for hospitals, labs, or heritage properties

📌 Use this KPI to trigger deeper cost reviews—not to judge value in isolation.

6. Complaint Volume

Complaint volume acts as a real-world indicator of service performance and user satisfaction. But the key insight isn’t quantity—it’s recurrence and resolution trend.

High complaint counts that cluster around specific zones or services (e.g., HVAC, washroom cleanliness) indicate systemic breakdowns, not one-offs.

Baseline to aim for:< 0.1 complaints per occupant/month—but rate of change matters more than static numbers.

7. Maintenance Cost per Square Foot

This is your asset-level cost lens—directly tied to your PM strategy and vendor performance. Preventive-heavy portfolios typically trend lower over time, while reactive-heavy environments drive up both short- and long-term costs.

Red flag indicators:

• Maintenance costs increasing while resolution time worsens
• Large swings between similar building types or regions

Target zone:$1.50–$3.50/sq. ft., depending on asset age, type, and maintenance maturity

8. Operations Cost per Square Foot

This KPI captures total OPEX: energy, cleaning, admin, and all soft/hard services. It’s essential for budgeting, benchmarking, and capex justification.

But don't use it alone. Always correlate it with KPIs like occupant satisfaction and complaint trends. High OPEX + low satisfaction = misalignment. Low OPEX + rising complaints = underinvestment.

Typical range:$6.00–$9.00/sq. ft.Adjust for regional labor costs and service expectations.

9. Utility Cost per Square Foot

A core efficiency KPI that measures how much you're spending on power and water per square foot.

But it’s only meaningful when paired with energy use intensity (EUI), occupancy levels, and seasonal patterns. Unexpected spikes often trace back to override misuse, failing HVAC, or lighting left on in low-use areas.

📊 Watch for: sudden jumps in low-occupancy zones—often caused by automation failures or baseline drift.

Typical range: $1.00–$2.50/sq. ft., but varies heavily by HVAC load and climate.

10. Cleaning Cost per Square Foot

This KPI helps balance hygiene outcomes with operational cost.

It varies widely by building type—offices cost less, retail and medical cost more. A steady spend with rising complaints usually means scope mismatch, while increasing cost without performance gains points to over-servicing.

Benchmark: $0.50–$1.50/sq. ft.Higher for medical, food, or high-traffic spaces.

📌 Watch for cost creep without matching improvement in service quality or complaint reduction.

11. Security Cost per Square Foot

This KPI reflects how much you're spending to secure each square foot—via staff or access control systems.

Stable costs are good, but unexplained increases often stem from outdated contracts or unoptimized coverage. Use this KPI alongside incident data and cost per access point to assess real ROI.

Range: $0.75–$1.25/sq. ft. depending on access model (tech-enabled vs. staffed).

12. PM vs. RM Trend Over Time

This KPI tracks how your maintenance strategy is evolving. A rising PM share means fewer surprise breakdowns, smoother scheduling, and more budget control. A declining trend usually signals deeper issues: missed schedules, poor data, or vendors skipping checks.

Goal: >75% PM, and rising 5–10% YoY

Flat or declining trend—especially when paired with reliability indicators like mean time between failures (MTBF)—can signal deeper issues in asset performance or scheduling logic.

13. Capital Spend: New Equipment vs. Repairs

This KPI tracks how much of your capital budget goes toward strategic upgrades versus band-aid fixes.

If most of your capex is spent on patch repairs, you're not managing assets—you’re extending their pain. This ratio tells leadership if your program is reactive or future-ready.

📌 Why it matters:

• Makes a compelling case for proactive investment
• Justifies phasing out high-cost, failure-prone systems
• Helps predict next year’s cost pressure from aging assets

Healthy range:≥ 60% of spend on replacements, retrofits, or upgradesAnything below 50% often signals deferred lifecycle planning or executive buy-in issues

14. Average Work Request Response Time

This KPI doesn’t track how fast something is fixed—but how fast someone hears back. And that first touchpoint defines your team’s reputation.

Even if full resolution takes time, quick acknowledgment builds trust.

📌 How to use it:

• Track average acknowledgment time (system-generated or human)
• Set internal SLAs: e.g., 30 mins for urgent requests, 2 hrs for non-critical
• Pair with satisfaction follow-up to measure perception vs. actual timing

Recommended range:< 30 minutes for critical issues< 2 hours for standard requests

How to choose the right facility management KPIs for your strategy

You don’t need all 14 KPIs from day one. The most effective FM leaders start by aligning metrics with real operational goals and day-to-day FM processes.

Industry tip: One useful reference point is the O&M manual, which often outlines recurring tasks, asset protocols, and maintenance benchmarks worth tracking.

Here’s how to narrow in on the right set of KPIs:

1. Anchor KPIs to your top operational priorities

What are you trying to prove—or improve—this quarter?

• If it’s cost control, focus on FM cost/sq. ft., utility cost, and workforce productivity.
• If you’re aiming for better service delivery, start with response time, resolution time, and complaint volume.
• If leadership wants proof of ROI, bring in capex ratios and PM vs. RM trends.

Don’t measure for measurement’s sake. Pick the 3–5 KPIs that reflect what your team can actually move.

2. Prioritize what stakeholders care about

Your CFO doesn’t want to hear about task count. They want defensible metrics tied to budgets, contracts, and ROI. Your building managers want indicators that flag risk before it escalates.

 Map your KPIs to audience:

3. Start lean, then expand

Trying to track everything from day one guarantees noise and dashboard fatigue. Start with a focused set of KPIs, lock in accurate data, and build a rhythm of reviewing, acting, and reporting. Then layer on complexity.

Industry Insight: The best FM teams revisit their KPI stack quarterly—not just to review results, but to revalidate relevance. If a KPI isn’t helping you decide or improve, it’s not worth tracking.

Common data sources for measuring FM KPIs

To track KPIs that actually reflect how your facilities perform, you need reliable data — and that starts with knowing where to pull it from.

Turning KPIs into outcomes: What a CMMS actually enables

Tracking KPIs is only the first step. What truly matters is being able to act on them — consistently, quickly, and across every location you manage.

That’s where a CMMS steps in. Facilio’s CMMS does more than visualize data. It builds the workflows, alerts, and role-based insights that help facility teams turn KPIs into decisive action — at speed, at scale, and across every site.

Everyone gets a tailored view of facility performance with real-time dashboards that reflect live conditions across sites, not outdated reports.

Here’s how that works in practice:

• Workflow triggers based on thresholds: Set rules for KPIs like MTTR, SLA breaches, or overdue work orders. When performance slips, the right teams get alerted, the right actions are triggered, and nothing gets missed.
• Role-based dashboards: Whether it’s an ops lead monitoring turnaround times or finance tracking cost per asset, everyone gets a tailored view — so they see what matters to them.
• Cross-site visibility: Benchmark performance by location, vendor, or team. Spot underperformance early and adjust with data, not assumptions.
• Mobile app access: Field teams can log updates, receive alerts, and view real-time KPI data — all from their phones. No delays. No gaps in reporting.
• Predictive maintenance enablement: Use KPI trends with live data to forecast potential failures. Proactive repairs become routine, helping consistently reduce equipment downtime across sites.
• Seamless integrations: Bring data from BMS, meters, or third-party systems into one platform. No silos. Just one connected view.

Tip: Facilio lets you assign KPIs at the asset or location level, build workflows around them, and monitor execution in real-time. You get full visibility and follow-through — without juggling spreadsheets or third-party tools.

What this looks like in the real world

• CIT Ltd. implemented Facilio, and found their fault detection accuracy improved by 15% and eliminated manual routing through automatic work order creation based on KPI rules.
• PD7 Technologies reduced asset breakdowns by 80% and downtime by 40% just eight months into using KPI-linked maintenance through Facilio.

From data to results: Put your FM KPIs to work

Facility leaders don’t just need more metrics; they need clarity. Clear indicators of what’s slipping, what’s improving, and where to focus next.

When chosen and applied effectively, KPIs surface the patterns that matter most: rising costs, delayed work, recurring failures, or top-performing teams. However, the true value lies in connecting those insights to daily operations, enabling you to take timely and informed action.

That’s exactly what Facilio enables. From centralized visibility to site-level execution, Facilio helps you track the right KPIs, assign accountability, automate follow-through, and measure the impact — all in one connected system.

Because at the end of the day, reports don’t prove your value — your outcomes do.

Get started now.

Track the right KPIs. Act on them faster. See how Facilio helps you make every number count.

GET A DEMO

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is a KPI in facility management?

A KPI (Key Performance Indicator) in facility management is a measurable value used to evaluate how effectively a facility team is achieving its operational goals.

FM KPIs help track performance across areas like asset uptime, work order completion, energy efficiency, and preventive maintenance. The right KPIs give facility managers visibility into what's working—and what’s not—so they can optimize processes and prove ROI.

2. What is the difference between an SLA and a KPI in facility management?

KPIs and SLAs both track performance, but they serve different purposes. SLAs are externally agreed upon; KPIs are internally managed metrics that help ensure those SLAs are met.

A KPI measures internal operational performance—like preventive maintenance completion rate or asset downtime. 

An SLA (Service Level Agreement), on the other hand, defines the performance standards expected from a service provider—like responding to a critical HVAC issue within 2 hours. 

3. How do you measure facility management performance?

Facility management performance is measured by tracking KPIs across key operational areas—such as asset reliability, energy consumption, work order aging, and preventive vs. reactive maintenance ratios. 

Advanced teams also use metrics like the Facility Condition Index (FCI) to evaluate infrastructure health. A CMMS can centralize this data to create real-time dashboards and benchmark trends across sites.

4. What is the Facility Condition Index (FCI)?

The Facility Condition Index (FCI) is a standardized metric that helps assess the physical condition of a building or asset. It’s calculated by dividing the cost of needed repairs by the asset’s replacement cost. 

A lower FCI indicates better asset health. FM leaders use FCI to prioritize capital planning, justify investments, and track portfolio-level infrastructure performance over time.