How much does missing infrastructure documentation cost your facility? Small oversights and inaccuracies quickly turn into big expenses, costing your facility thousands of dollars a year in downtime, insurance premiums, contractor bids, and more. The right documentation—well-maintained, reliable, and accurate—can save you just as much in labor, dollars, and stress.
Knowledge Gaps & Dollars Lost
When you fail to document your facility piping systems well, you’re forced to operate in the dark. Ultimately, that means you face more downtime, higher operating costs, and increased risk of contamination. Where do you feel the lack of piping schematics most?
- Downtime
- Maintenance Hours
- Contractor Costs
- Insurance
Without a clear picture of your facility and critical piping systems, you’re at risk of increased downtime and labor hours spent on preparation and response. Missing information can increase outage prep time by up to 20% and outage execution by 10%. Labor hours during maintenance activities could be reduced by a whopping 23% with access to up-to-date schematics. Additionally, contractors charge up to 50% more when bidding on undocumented piping systems to cover the knowledge gaps and resulting potential for unknown conditions that will take additional time and resources.
Depending on your insurance provider and loss history, you could also be spending 10-20% more on insurance premiums with outdated, inaccurate, or missing piping schematics. On the flip side, system knowledge leads to better prevention and response, which results in better insurance rates.
What You Could Be Saving (or Losing)
The potential savings from maintaining accurate piping schematics depend largely on the size and complexity of your facility and piping system(s): The greater the square footage, the more opportunity to see a return. With larger facilities, piping systems have more valves and greater complexity, leaving you open to the risk of more cross-connections.
- A 100,000 sq. ft. facility, on average, has:
- 116 valves
- 44 unprotected cross-connections
- A 300,000 sq. ft. facility, on average, has:
- 351 valves
- 134 unprotected cross-connections
- A 500,000 sq. ft. facility, on average, has:
- 585 valves
- 223 unprotected cross-connections
While specifics differ depending on each facility’s unique purpose, piping systems, and connections, what we see is consistent across the board: unprotected cross-connections exist in facilities of every kind and size. Renovations, shifting usage, and other factors mean your piping systems change on a regular basis. And with that change comes a renewed risk for cross-connections.
So, how much money can piping schematics save these theoretical facilities (and your actual facility)?
- The 100,000 sq. ft. facility can save ~ $5,000/year
- The 300,000 sq. ft. facility can save ~ $14,000/year
- The 500,000 sq. ft. facility can save ~ $23,000/year
These are general estimates with real ramifications for your facility. Depending on how much you currently spend on insurance, maintenance, and downtime, and how outdated your existing documentation is, the potential for thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars in savings is significant.
Better Documentation, Better Operation
Accurate piping schematics save you time, money, and headaches—and allow you to focus on your core responsibilities. So, how can you start navigating your piping systems like a pro and seeing a return on your investment?
How HydroCorp Helps
With HydroCorp, schematics are as easy as 1, 2, 3:
- Expert field technicians conduct a visual survey of your facility’s piping infrastructure.
- We create highly detailed field drawings and convert them into a “digital twin” CAD file.
- We provide a detailed report, inventory, and list of recommended corrective actions to help you improve and protect your facility.
Start saving money, reducing downtime, and ensuring safe operations in your facility with proper documentation to guide your way.
Ready to learn more about how HydroCorp can support your facility’s safety, compliance, and efficiency goals?
