Work Orders vs. Preventive Maintenance: Understanding the Difference

In facility management, both work orders and preventive maintenance play important roles—but they serve different purposes. Understanding the distinction between the two can help facility teams improve efficiency, reduce costs, and ensure that critical systems and assets remain operational over time.

Whether you manage a hospital, school, museum, or any other facility, knowing when to issue a preventive maintenance work order versus a corrective work order is key for long-term operational success. Here's a closer look at what each entails and how the right strategy (and software) can help your team stay ahead.

What is a Work Order?

A work order is a formal request to perform a specific task—typically related to repairs, inspections, installations, or maintenance. Work orders are often reactive, generated in response to something that’s already malfunctioning or in need of attention.

For example:

• A broken light fixture in a hallway

• A leaking pipe under a sink

• A door that won’t close properly

Work orders are crucial for tracking task completion, assigning responsibilities, documenting repair histories, and ensuring accountability across your maintenance team.

What is Preventive Maintenance?

Preventive maintenance (PM) refers to the routine, scheduled servicing of equipment and systems to keep them in optimal working condition and prevent unexpected failures. Unlike reactive maintenance, which occurs after a breakdown or issue has already happened, preventive maintenance is planned in advance. Its primary goal is to extend the lifespan of assets, minimize downtime, and avoid disruptions to daily operations.

In a facility setting, preventive maintenance is applied across a wide range of systems and equipment. This includes everything from HVAC units, fire alarm systems, and electrical panels to elevators, plumbing infrastructure, and even backup generators. Each piece of equipment has its own maintenance schedule based on manufacturer guidelines, usage levels, regulatory requirements, or internal operational standards.

Preventive maintenance tasks can range from inspections and testing to lubrication, filter changes, and software updates. These activities are typically scheduled on a recurring basis—weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually—and are tracked through a maintenance calendar or software platform.

For example, instead of waiting for a rooftop HVAC unit to fail on a sweltering summer day, a facility manager using a preventive maintenance strategy would schedule seasonal inspections, change filters regularly, and monitor performance metrics year-round. This helps avoid emergency repairs, protects the comfort and safety of occupants, and ensures compliance with safety codes.

Ultimately, preventive maintenance is not just a maintenance strategy—it’s a risk management tool that protects your assets, your team, and your bottom line.

The Key Differences Between Work Orders and Preventive Maintenance

While both work orders and preventive maintenance play a role in keeping facilities operational, their core purpose and approach are fundamentally different.

Work orders are typically reactive. They’re created in response to something that has already gone wrong—whether it’s a malfunctioning HVAC unit, a flickering light, or a clogged drain. These tasks are often unplanned and can disrupt operations, requiring immediate attention to resolve the issue and restore normal function. In many facilities, work orders also serve as a communication tool, helping maintenance teams prioritize requests and track task completion.

On the other hand, preventive maintenance is proactive. It involves regularly scheduled tasks designed to service equipment and systems before problems occur. Instead of waiting for a failure, preventive maintenance aims to reduce the likelihood of one happening in the first place. These tasks are typically planned months in advance and follow a recurring schedule—such as monthly generator checks, quarterly HVAC filter replacements, or annual inspections of emergency lighting systems.

Another major difference lies in how each impacts the overall health of your facility. Work orders help address immediate issues and keep daily operations moving. Preventive maintenance, however, focuses on the long game. It preserves equipment life, reduces the frequency of reactive maintenance, and supports long-term cost savings by minimizing major repairs and asset downtime.

In short, work orders solve today’s problems. Preventive maintenance prevents tomorrow’s. An effective facility management strategy should include a healthy balance of both, supported by tools that help track, schedule, and document each type of maintenance efficiently.

How Facility Management Software Bridges the Gap

Modern facility management software allows organizations to manage both types of tasks through a centralized system. With FacilityONE’s UNITY Solutions Suite, you can:

• Easily generate and assign corrective work orders in real-time

• Set up recurring preventive maintenance work orders with built-in reminders

• View task history, priority level, and technician status in one location

• Use interactive facility maps to visually locate equipment and link tasks to asset data

• Ensure documentation is centralized for compliance and reporting

Why Preventive Maintenance Work Orders Should Be a Priority

Relying solely on reactive maintenance is a costly strategy. Preventive maintenance work orders ensure that critical equipment is maintained consistently, helping facilities:

Extend the life of high-cost assets

Reduce emergency repairs and avoid unplanned downtime

Improve compliance with regulatory standards

Create more predictable budgeting for maintenance costs

Take Control of Your Facility Maintenance Strategy

Work orders and preventive maintenance work orders both have a place in your facility operations—but understanding how and when to use each one is the key to better performance. With the right software, your team can balance day-to-day maintenance needs while proactively protecting your facility’s most important assets.

That’s where F1 WORKS, part of FacilityONE’s UNITY Solutions Suite, makes a real difference. F1 WORKS gives facility teams the ability to create, assign, prioritize, and track both corrective and preventive maintenance work orders in one centralized platform. With mobile access, real-time updates, and visual mapping integration, your team can respond faster, stay organized, and reduce costly downtime. It’s everything you need to streamline maintenance operations and keep your facility running at peak performance.

Ready to streamline your work order and preventive maintenance processes?