Building maintenance requires many trades people

Jump Start - by Joe Cameron

Here's the monthly look at some training, education, job hunting and networking opportunities, along with career-related information from other media:

Calgary is booming. And with all this new growth comes commercial construction. Once constructed, these buildings need to be maintained because if there is one constant in life, it is that things eventually break down. When they do break down it can seriously affect the building and the company or companies inside. That is when we rely on the diverse skills of building maintenance professionals.

All office buildings, shopping centres and industrial complexes provide some level of general building and office maintenance services. Smaller buildings usually contract out or share staff of a management company. Most of the larger buildings usually have on-site staff to handle difficulties as they arise. A typical building has one maintenance person for every 100,000 square feet of office space to take care of everything from broken windows and electrical outlets to keeping the elevators running.

There are many occupations to choose from. Just to name a few; janitorial staff offer cleaning services like cleaning garbages, emptying ashtrays, and dusting off desks and office equipment. Windows typically get cleaned inside and out twice a year in office towers. What goes up must come down -- at least the people on the 20th floor hope so, anyway! We need elevator constructors to get us to the top floors. As an elevator constructor or mechanic, you make sure people in elevators don't get stuck. You could be the hero of claustrophobics everywhere!

We need window washers so we can keep an eye on the weather and roofers and air conditioning/heating systems mechanics to keep the weather out. If you're a window washer or roofer and you're working above two stories, don't step back to admire you're work! Power engineers, sometimes called stationary or steam engineers, operate and maintain machinery and boilers to provide power, heat, refrigeration and other utility services to heavy industry and large buildings.

Perhaps you would prefer working in an office environment co-ordinating and supervising the work of others and dealing with people. A few typical duties of building managers or building operators may include: property inspection and ensuring they are well maintained, supervising janitorial services, building operators and contractors.

The educational requirements for building maintenance occupations vary from on-the-job training to four-year apprenticeships. A few ways to become a part of this growing industry include:

Education/Training