Planned vs Reactive Maintenance: Pros, Cons, and Best Practices

Should you wait for things to break before fixing them, or plan your maintenance ahead of time? The way you answer that question can have a big impact on costs, downtime, and team workload.

In this article, we compare planned maintenance and reactive maintenance, so you can decide which approach works best for your business, or how to balance both.

What Is Planned Maintenance?

Planned maintenance is a proactive approach. Tasks are scheduled in advance based on time intervals, usage, or legal requirements. Think of it as a recurring calendar of work that prevents problems before they happen.

Examples include:

• Air filter replacements every 3 months
• Fire extinguisher inspections twice a year
• Cleaning routines scheduled weekly
• HVAC servicing based on runtime hours

What Is Reactive Maintenance?

Reactive maintenance, also called breakdown or corrective maintenance, happens after something goes wrong. You wait for an issue to appear, then respond.

Examples include:

• Fixing a broken light
• Replacing a leaking pipe
• Calling a contractor after a failed inspection

Pros and Cons

Planned Maintenance: Pros

• Fewer breakdowns
  Identifying and solving small issues early prevents bigger problems later.
• Lower long-term costs
  Repairs tend to be cheaper when caught early. Equipment also lasts longer.
• Better compliance
  Scheduled checks help meet health, safety, and legal standards.
• More predictable workflow
  Teams know what to expect each week or month.

Planned Maintenance: Cons

• Upfront time and planning
  You need to set up schedules, assign tasks, and monitor completion.
• Risk of over-maintenance
  You may do work that was not strictly necessary if intervals are too frequent.

Reactive Maintenance: Pros

• Simple to start
  No planning needed. You fix things only when something fails.
• Lower short-term costs
  You avoid spending time or money on unnecessary checks at first.

Reactive Maintenance: Cons

• Higher emergency costs
  Urgent call-outs, damage control, and downtime often cost more.
• More stress
  Teams operate in crisis mode, especially when issues pile up at once.
• Unpredictable workload
  You never know what will break or when, which makes staffing harder.

What Approach Is Better?

There is no one size fits all answer. Most businesses benefit from a mix of both:

• Use planned maintenance for critical systems and routine tasks
• Handle reactive maintenance when unexpected issues come up

The goal is to reduce surprises and stay ahead of preventable problems without wasting time or budget on unnecessary tasks.

How Software Helps

Facilities management software like fam. lets you create planned schedules for inspections, cleaning, or servicing, while still logging reactive tickets as they come in.

You can assign tasks, track completion, set SLAs, and view everything by location. That way, you are not guessing what is overdue or who is responsible.

Final Thoughts

Planned and reactive maintenance each have pros and cons. But waiting for things to break is rarely a strategy that scales.

The best setup combines structure with flexibility. Book a free tour of fam., a tool that helps you manage both, so your team stays ahead without burning out.