The only maintenance "contracting" we do is lighting. We lose a little bit of money on this, charging a small fee for inspection and relamping once a month or once a quarter, having one of our lower payed workers performing the relamps. Lamps are not included in this contract price, and are billed in addition to the regular fee.
What this does for us is gets us the repair work, which adds up quite a bit. Ballast and fixture replacements, photocells, time clocks, misc. repairs, etc., are all billed at full pop after the problems are reported to the property management and the proposals approved.
Quite a bit of more involved electrical work of every variety and level is thrown our way as a result of these relamping contracts, because now we have a relationship and trust built up with the customers.
In addition to this, we also get quite a bit of company exposure (logos & phone numbers on t-shirts, trucks, etc.) from being on these sites regularly, and we've gotten quite a bit of work as a result of this exposure. The more you work, as they say, the more work you get.
It's proven to be a good business strategy for us, and definately keeps the money tube pumping between the big construction projects.
As for other types of maintenance "contracts", I cannot say. I'm sure ITO knows of what he speaks, and you should heed what he said above.
Whatever you decide to do after weighing your research, good luck!
