How facility condition assessments help campuses plan ahead

Tony TufanoAsset Management Framework Engineering Team Lead, Sodexo Campus

Key takeaway

Every campus carries a backlog of deferred maintenance, but few leaders know exactly what's coming due, what it will cost or when. A Facility Condition Assessment inspects every building and system on campus and turns that uncertainty into a realistic, budget-aligned capital plan, helping institutions replace systems on their own schedule instead of in an emergency.

We spoke with Tony Tufano, Asset Management Framework Engineering Team Lead for Sodexo, who assesses college and university campuses across the country, about what an FCA reveals, how it changes the conversation about capital planning in higher education, and where leaders should start.

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See how a facility condition assessment works in practice.

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With a background in mechanical engineering, I did design and contract sales work for a fire engine company early in my career. Then I worked for a company that designed and built large CNC machines. The first was bought out and relocated to Florida. The second started running out of work. So I sent a blanket email to everyone I knew, and one reply changed my direction. A friend's mother worked in campus facilities for Sodexo, and she wrote back to say they had a construction manager position open.

I took it. Today, I am an Asset Management Framework Engineering Team Lead for Sodexo, and my job is to assess the entire campus and walk every building, outside and in, from the basement mechanicals to the roofline.

When most people look at a campus, they see quads and residence halls. I see a timeline: when the boiler will need replacing, when the roof is due, when the turf field will wear out. Knowing that years in advance gives campus leaders time to plan, budget and even upgrade to more efficient equipment, instead of scrambling when something fails. My job is to make sure they won’t be caught off guard.

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What is a facility condition assessment (FCA) for a college campus?

A facility condition assessment is a risk assessment of every building and system on a campus. We look at everything, inside and out. The fit and finishes like carpet, ceiling tiles and paint, as well as fire alarms, boilers, electrical systems and every mechanical system in between. Then we give the institution a clear picture: Here are all the systems on your campus, and here's how likely each one is to fail.

I think of it as an insurance policy. Imagine you're buying a car and the dealer offers an extended warranty. Now imagine they offered something else: They'd tell you exactly when you'll get a flat, when your alternator will quit and when your fan belt will snap in the middle of the road for the next 10 years. What would that be worth to you?

That's what an FCA does for a campus.

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When does a college or university need a facility condition assessment?

Most institutions realize they need an FCA in one of two moments: when a major expense blindsides them, or when an accrediting agency asks for one.

The first is sticker shock. A turf field comes due, and nobody warned them. Maybe they moved grounds staff elsewhere because they no longer needed to mow, but they never set that savings aside for the replacement. Large-ticket items like that catch institutions off guard all the time.

The second is accreditation. More and more, accrediting agencies want to see a facility condition assessment, and specifically a capital action plan, before they renew a college's accreditation. Public K–12 schools are being asked for them, too. For colleges and universities, it depends on the accrediting agency, but it has become much more common over the last five to 10 years.

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Walking through a facility condition assessment on campus

During an FCA, our team inspects every building and system on campus, inside and out, using the same methodology every time. If you walked with us, you'd get bored quickly. People are surprised by how repetitive it is, and that consistency is the point.

We cover every building, along with grounds, utilities, parking lots, sidewalks and trees. At each building, we start outside and photograph every system: brick, siding, windows, doors, gutters, and any generators or transformers. Then we go in through the basement, where the mechanicals usually are, and look at boilers, fire alarms and electrical systems. We finish by walking the rest of the building for fit and finish: carpet, paint, ceiling tiles, lights and bathrooms.

Across a whole campus, we average about 100,000 to 120,000 square feet a day.

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The levels of a facility condition assessment, and how it’s customized for each campus

Facility condition assessments range from Level 1, which looks mostly at building age and major systems, to Level 4, which records the make and model of every system. Our building-by-building method never changes, but the level of detail does, and we often mix levels. For example, we might go to Level 3 or 4 on HVAC and keep everything else at 1 or 2.

We also decide how finely to divide each system. A library might have 20,000 square feet of carpet, but lobby carpet takes a beating and may need replacing every five years, while carpet on a quiet upper floor could last 30. At one college, a 12-story residence hall was going to be renovated in sections over several years, following the layout of its mechanical systems. So we split the building into north, south, east and west sections to match how they planned to do the work.

We don't have to decide everything at the start. On a first assessment, we often begin broad and refine the data later, once planning conversations reveal how the institution will actually use it.

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How an FCA becomes an actionable capital renewal plan

An FCA becomes actionable when the full deferred maintenance backlog is reprioritized to fit what the institution can realistically spend each year.

After the audit, we clean the data and integrate any earlier capital quotes and renewal plans into one database. In my experience, that first pass typically shows around $20 million in deferred maintenance due in year one.

That number is accurate. It's a true snapshot in time. But it isn't a useful deliverable, because nobody spends $20 million a year.

So we ask the institution what it can realistically commit each year, and we reprioritize everything to fit that budget. That gives them a realistic plan for Years 1 through 4. The rest of the backlog doesn't disappear. Maybe $16 million is still sitting in Year 5. But now they have a plan they can actually carry out.

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Does an FCA provide engineering solutions?

No. A facility condition assessment is a risk identification process, not an engineering solutions package, and that's the most common misconception campus leaders bring to the process.

If we find siding pulling away from a building, we'll flag it, and we may even estimate what a structural engineer's review will cost. But a structural engineer still has to come in and do that work.

Priorities are the other piece. When clients ask what to do first, I tell them my order: life safety systems, then roofs, then HVAC. Beyond that, it depends on the institution. They may need to modernize bathrooms or upgrade residence halls to compete for students. A finished plan requires their input.

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How often should a campus conduct an FCA?

Every five years. At Sodexo, it's built into our contracts. We come back, reassess every building and system on campus, and rebuild the plan based on what's changed.

That cycle is why the actionable plan covers Years 1 through 4. By Year 5, we're back on campus, looking at what was replaced, what has aged, and what's newly at risk. The first assessment is often broad, and each one after that gets more precise as we learn how the institution actually plans and spends.

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What is the Facility Condition Index (FCI), and how is it used to benchmark campus buildings?

The Facility Condition Index is the percentage of a building's value identified for renewal or replacement in the next five years. It was created by NACUBO, the National Association of College and University Business Officers, to give college CFOs a way to rank the condition of their buildings.

Because it uses a rolling five-year window, it can be frustrating. A campus might put $1 million into a building this year, but if a $1 million roof enters the window next year, the FCI doesn't move. Leaders ask why their number didn't go down, and the answer is that something just as expensive is now within five years.

Where the FCI really helps is in treating the campus as a real estate portfolio. You can compare academic buildings against residential, or athletic against support. If a category makes up 30% of your square footage and 30% of your value, it should carry roughly 30% of your deferred maintenance. When it doesn't, you can see exactly where investment is lagging.

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The true cost of deferred maintenance for campuses

When major systems fail unexpectedly, emergency replacement can cost three to four times as much as a planned replacement, and the campus also loses the chance to upgrade to more efficient equipment.

I split deferred maintenance into two categories. Cosmetic items, or fit and finish, don't carry a direct cost, but they affect recruitment and student retention. Worn carpet and dated bathrooms shape how prospective students see a campus.

Major systems are different. When a chiller goes down without warning, you're renting temporary equipment, paying monthly rental fees and paying for expedited shipping on a replacement. That's where the three- to four-times premium comes from.

The hidden cost is harder to measure but just as real. Picture a facilities director in January. It's 10 degrees outside, and a boiler goes down. The first move is to find that exact same boiler somewhere in the country, ship it as fast as possible and install it with as few changes as possible, because the building has to stay open and the students have to stay warm. Now the campus is stuck with outdated technology for another 20 or 30 years, along with the utility costs that come with it.

With an FCA, you see that failure coming years in advance. You can plan to switch to a high-efficiency condensing boiler or heat pumps two years out. Contractors can schedule the work and have equipment ready, and there's no emergency premium. You avoid the markup and gain the efficiency savings on top of it.

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How should campus leaders start addressing deferred maintenance?

Start by accepting that the goal is not to reach zero deferred maintenance. The goal is a plan that shows where your risk is and what it will affect.

Everybody has deferred maintenance. The deck on my house is due. It won't get done this summer. Probably next summer. What matters is knowing where your risk is, understanding its impact and making decisions based on what it means for your facilities and operations.

Think about move-in day. It's mid-August, first-year students are arriving and excited, it's 95 degrees outside, and the chiller goes down. Those students are miserable, and some of them start wondering whether they want to stay.

That's the moment an FCA is designed to prevent. Nobody should be blindsided by a failure in the middle of the night or the middle of move-in weekend. The number I show campuses on Day 1 is always big. What matters is what they do next, and helping them make that plan is the most important part of my job.

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What's coming due on your campus, and when?

A Facility Condition Assessment answers that for your buildings and systems. The Comprehensive Campus Care Insights Report shows what's at stake in the answer: how the condition of your facilities shapes enrollment, belonging and retention, and how cleaning, grounds and building operations work together as a single strategy for keeping students. See where campus care can move the numbers that matter most.

Download the insights

Comprehensive Campus Care report cover featuring student dining, classroom learning, facility maintenance, and campus services, highlighting how integrated facilities management supports student success and retention.

Every building on your campus deserves a plan

A Facility Condition Assessment gives campus leaders realistic capital budgets, the documentation accreditors are asking for and the lead time to upgrade to more efficient equipment instead of replacing systems in a crisis. Talk with a Sodexo facilities management expert about what an FCA would reveal on your campus and how the findings translate into a plan you can fund.

Speak with an FCA expert

Get the full picture of campus care

Download the Comprehensive Campus Care Insights Report to see what the data reveals about how a well-maintained campus shapes enrollment, belonging and retention — and shows how an integrated approach to facilities connects everyday cleaning, grounds and building operations into a single strategy for keeping students. The same principle that turns hundreds of confusing utility bills into actionable insight applies across campus care. The numbers are already there, waiting to show you where to act. You'll come away with a clearer view of where campus care can move the numbers that matter most on your campus.

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How facility condition assessments help campuses plan ahead

Key takeaway

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What is a facility condition assessment (FCA) for a college campus?

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When does a college or university need a facility condition assessment?

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Walking through a facility condition assessment on campus

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The levels of a facility condition assessment, and how it’s customized for each campus

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How an FCA becomes an actionable capital renewal plan

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Does an FCA provide engineering solutions?

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How often should a campus conduct an FCA?

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What is the Facility Condition Index (FCI), and how is it used to benchmark campus buildings?

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The true cost of deferred maintenance for campuses

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How should campus leaders start addressing deferred maintenance?

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What's coming due on your campus, and when?

Every building on your campus deserves a plan

Get the full picture of campus care

Read our latest stories

Campus

How Campus Dining Shapes the Student Experience

Campus

Higher education facilities management: The view from both sides of the table

Facilities Management Services

How campuses can find savings using Utility Expense Management

Campus

How AI is driving change in higher education

Key takeaway

Integrated facilities management can drive student success and retention