Services
Facilities Expertise Without the Full-Time Overhead
You may be considering a full-time FM hire. Or maybe your office manager is already handling facilities on top of everything else. Fractional facilities management gives you the expertise, the vendor network, and the accountability, without the headcount.
A dedicated facilities professional, not a full-time employee
The fractional model works the same way a fractional CFO does. You get a senior professional with established systems, vendor relationships, and operational processes on a structured schedule scaled to your actual needs. You do not carry the salary, the benefits, the management overhead, or the coverage risk.
For most commercial operators in DFW whose portfolios do not justify a full-time facilities hire, the volume of facility work still demands dedicated expertise. Deferred maintenance compounds. Vendor accountability erodes without oversight. Documentation gaps become liability exposure. The work needs to get done. The question is whether it needs a W-2 to do it.
Proportional FM delivers the oversight, coordination, and documentation that a full-time facilities manager would provide, structured around what your portfolio actually demands. The engagement scales with your needs, not ahead of them.
For the conversational framing of why most operators eventually find this engagement, see Your Staff Wasn't Hired to Walk the Building.
Scope Breadth
One governance lane across twelve work categories
Fractional FM is not narrow. A typical engagement consolidates the full operational scope of a building into a single point of accountability: HVAC, janitorial, landscape, grease trap, refrigeration, fleet, AV, vendor coordination, parking, insurance verification, consumables, and ownership-facing reporting.
Each spoke is work your staff no longer coordinates. Proportional FM owns the vendor selection risk, the follow-up, the execution, and the standby.
Engagement Flow
How the engagement unfolds
Every fractional engagement begins with a Facility Condition Assessment and scales from there. No ramp-up ambiguity. No guessing where the first month goes.
01
Facility Condition Assessment
Non-invasive documented baseline of every accessible system. Photos, priority tiers, capital planning input. The deliverable you would have wanted before the office manager left.
02
Scope proposal
Written proposal with defined service lines, monthly cost, vendor administration terms, and what is in and out of scope. No surprise invoices.
03
Vendor audit and consolidation
Current vendors assessed for compliance, rate benchmarking, and performance. Retained vendors move into the governance lane. Gaps filled from our trusted network.
04
Recurring delivery
Monthly site visits, vendor coordination, consolidated invoicing, preventive maintenance cadence, documentation rollups. The incumbent reviews, not manages.
05
Quarterly review
Condition deltas, spend by category, vendor performance, open items, capital planning input. Ownership sees the portfolio on one page.
Recurring delivery and quarterly review cycle continuously.
What is included
Facility Condition Assessments
Recurring documented assessments of every system in every location. Establishes the baseline and tracks conditions over time.
Recurring general maintenance
Scheduled preventive maintenance blocks covering multi-trade general upkeep. Structured cadence increases the likelihood that issues are identified before they escalate. Onsite facilitation available as an add-on.
Vendor coordination and oversight
A single point of accountability for your entire vendor network. Scope verification, invoice review, and quality documentation on every job.
Consolidated invoicing and reporting
One invoice for coordinated vendor work. Monthly rollups of spend by category, work completed, and open items. Ownership sees one document, not twelve.
Bid management and cost benchmarking
Competitive bidding on projects above defined thresholds. Benchmark pricing against known trade rates. Bids shared with ownership on request.
Insurance and compliance verification
Every vendor in the working set carries verified general liability, workers comp, and applicable licensing. Re-verification on a schedule, not on complaint.
Minor project coordination
Small-scope repairs, vendor-managed improvements, and maintenance projects coordinated remotely. Major capital improvements available as a separate project management engagement.
Documentation cadence
Photo-documented records of building conditions, vendor work completed, open items, and upcoming needs. Ownership-grade reports that create a defensible record.
Retained operational record
Your portfolio's work history, vendor performance trail, and condition record accumulate inside the engagement. Available continuously, exportable on departure. Ownership keeps the operational picture, not just the maintenance receipts.
Remote emergency coordination
When something fails after hours, Proportional FM coordinates the response remotely. Vendor dispatch, scope authorization, and documentation without pulling your team off their real jobs. Onsite emergency response available as an add-on.
The Real Cost of a Full-Time FM
What a full-time facilities manager actually costs
Most operators price fractional facilities management against the wrong number. The real comparison is not against an hourly rate. It is against the full loaded cost of carrying a facilities manager on payroll. Base salary is only the start.
Base salary
$85,000 - $130,000 / yr
Experienced DFW commercial facilities manager role. Higher end for portfolios with multi-site or technical complexity.
Benefits + payroll taxes
+ 20% to 30%
Health insurance, retirement, payroll taxes, PTO. Applied on top of base salary. Typically $17,000 to $39,000 annually.
Recruitment + onboarding
$15,000 - $30,000
Recruiter fees, sourcing time, interview cycles, background and reference checks. Before day one.
Ramp-up to full productivity
3 to 6 months
Time to learn the portfolio, build vendor relationships, and establish documentation cadence. Paid at full rate during this window.
Coverage gaps
PTO, sick, turnover
Work does not pause when the FM is out. Backfill costs or deferred work compound over the year.
The Proportional FM Positioning
Fractional facilities management delivers senior expertise, an established vendor network, and documented systems at a fraction of a full-time hire.
Pricing has too many factors to publish as a single number. Location count, total square footage, building type, access requirements, trade mix, cadence, and whether the engagement includes onsite presence all move the figure. What we can commit to is this: a written proposal before any work begins, a predictable monthly fee once scope is set, and a model that scales with your needs rather than ahead of them.
Request a scoped proposalHow fractional FM compares
Three common options for operators needing facility oversight: hire a full-time employee, engage a 1099 contractor, or work with a fractional provider. They are not interchangeable.
| Proportional FM | Full-time employee | 1099 contractor | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost structure | Predictable fee | Salary + 20-30% benefits | Per-engagement rate, typically narrow scope |
| Payroll taxes & benefits | None | 20-30% on top of base | None |
| Headcount impact | None | Adds headcount, requires HR | None |
| Administrative burden | None | High (management, PTO coverage) | Medium (coordination, oversight) |
| Specialized expertise | Senior, multi-trade, DFW-specific | General FM, requires ramp-up | Narrow, project-based |
| Vendor network | Established, vetted, insured | Their personal contacts only | Typically limited to their trade |
| Compliance & risk | Vendor status, defined deliverables | Employee protections apply | 1099 misclassification risk |
| Coverage continuity | No single point of failure | PTO, sick, turnover gaps | Between engagements |
| Flexibility | Scope scales monthly | Fixed role | One engagement at a time |
Salary and benefits figures reflect general industry ranges for DFW commercial facilities manager roles. 1099 misclassification risk is a material consideration for organizations using contractors in a role that meets employee criteria.
Composite Case
The Richardson multi-use nonprofit
A forty-year-old Richardson nonprofit serves more than 26,000 neighbors annually across a 46-square-mile area. The facility houses a client-choice food pantry, a clothing closet, case management and mental health services, a partner medical clinic, an adult literacy center, and a community rental space. Refrigerated trucks run mobile food distribution. Donation drop-offs arrive weekly. Three different customer archetypes use three different areas of the building every day.
When a long-tenured office manager departed, the coordination work landed on an operations leader whose actual mandate was programmatic. The landscaping scope drifted. Refrigerated fleet maintenance became reactive. HVAC preventive cadence on dozens of rooftop units plus refrigeration splits was being triaged. Grease trap inspections slipped. Audiovisual systems in the community rental space accumulated usability issues that staff worked around rather than fixed.
None of this was failure. It was scope beyond the role the incumbent had been hired to perform. Fractional facilities management, in this scenario, is not a substitute for the departed office manager. It is a scope reallocation across twelve work categories into a single governance lane.
Who fractional FM is for
Multi-use nonprofits
Organizations running a food pantry, clothing closet, mental health services, medical clinics, and community rental space in one facility. Janitorial runs across three different use areas. HVAC covers dozens of rooftop units and refrigeration. Fleet maintenance for mobile distribution vehicles. A fractional model consolidates all of it.
Multi-location medical and dental practices
High-accountability environments where HVAC uptime, plumbing reliability, and documented maintenance directly affect patient scheduling and revenue.
Commercial property owners and managers
Operators managing multiple assets who need consistent oversight across their portfolio without adding headcount.
Daycare and childcare operators
Facilities where condition affects enrollment. Parents notice what staff stop seeing. Recurring assessments and scheduled maintenance keep locations consistently tour-ready.
Retail chains and multi-unit operators
Brand consistency depends on facility consistency. Fractional FM standardizes maintenance, vendor accountability, and documentation across every location.
Organizations in the incumbent squeeze
A long-tenured office manager left. Facility coordination landed on someone whose real job is something else. Fractional FM lifts the operational drag off the incumbent and returns her to her primary role.
For FM Teams
Bandwidth for your facilities team, not replacement
Your team stays. We fill gaps. For operators who already have internal facilities staff, Proportional FM covers the work your team does not have capacity, coverage, or specialized scope to absorb.
Overflow capacity
Busy quarters stretch internal teams beyond what they can absorb. Proportional FM handles the additional assessments, projects, and vendor coordination that would otherwise slip until conditions demand attention.
Geographic coverage
Multi-state portfolios rarely justify a dedicated FM in every market. Proportional FM extends your reach into DFW without relocating a team member or rebuilding a local vendor network.
Specialized assessments
Facade condition, electrical documentation, roof inspections, ADA audits. Focused scopes that a generalist internal team is not staffed to execute. We deliver; your team retains ownership.
Frequently asked questions
What does fractional facilities management mean?
Fractional facilities management means you get a dedicated facilities professional on a structured schedule rather than employing one full time. You receive the expertise, the systems, and the accountability without carrying a full-time salary, benefits, or management overhead. The engagement is scoped to what your portfolio actually requires.
How is this different from hiring a facilities manager?
A full-time hire comes with salary, benefits (typically 20-30% on top of base), recruitment costs, training time, management overhead, and coverage gaps during PTO, sick days, and turnover. Fractional FM is a predictable monthly fee with no HR burden, no coverage gaps, and no ramp-up period. You get an established vendor network, documentation systems, and operational processes from day one.
Does fractional FM replace our existing facilities staff?
No. Fractional FM can serve organizations with no existing FM staff, or it can supplement an internal team. For operators with internal FM, we provide overflow capacity, geographic coverage into DFW, or specialized assessment scope that the internal team is not staffed to execute. The internal team retains ownership; we fill the gaps.
What size portfolio needs fractional FM?
Fractional facilities management is designed for operators managing 1 to 10 commercial locations. Below that threshold, ad hoc support may be sufficient. Above it, a full-time hire may be justified. For most operators in between, fractional FM delivers the right level of expertise without the overhead of a dedicated employee.
Can you cover fleet, grease traps, janitorial, and other non-building scope?
Yes. Fractional engagements routinely include preventive maintenance for refrigerated and delivery vehicles, grease trap compliance, janitorial oversight across mixed-use areas, landscaping scope and cadence management, audiovisual systems, parking lot condition, and consumables. The common thread is vendor coordination and documentation, not the trade itself.
How does pricing work?
Pricing is a predictable monthly fee defined in a written proposal before any work begins. Too many factors move the figure to publish a single number: location count, total square footage, building type, access requirements, trade mix, cadence, and whether the engagement includes onsite presence. The comparison that matters is against the full loaded cost of carrying a facilities manager on payroll, where fractional delivery is a fraction of the total.
What is billed separately from the monthly fee?
Vendor-delivered repair work, capital projects, parts, and third-party vendor charges are quoted and billed separately through Proportional FM with scope verification and consolidated invoicing. Administrative and risk management structure for coordinated vendor work is defined in the proposal, not on the website.
Can I start small and scale up?
Yes. Most operators begin with a Facility Condition Assessment to establish a baseline, then layer in recurring maintenance and vendor coordination as the engagement matures. The scope grows with your needs, not ahead of them.
What's the difference between a facility manager and a property manager?
Property management is tenant-facing (lease administration, rent collection, tenant communication, vacancy marketing). Facility management is building-facing (vendor coordination, preventive maintenance program design, condition documentation, capital planning support). In Texas, commercial property management for compensation typically requires a TREC broker license. Facility management does not. Proportional FM is a facility management firm; we do not perform property management.
How do facility managers justify CapEx to a CFO?
Four building blocks, presented together: the documented backlog (the request is part of a larger plan, not a one-off), the cost-of-deferral math (what the same work costs delayed 1, 2, or 3 years), the project-by-project case (ROI for revenue-affecting projects, risk-mitigation framing for compliance or safety), and the multi-year capital plan. A structured FCA produces all four inputs. The facility manager presents the case; ownership decides.
Does fractional facility management require a TREC broker license in Texas?
No. The Texas Real Estate Commission license is required for commercial property management performed for compensation: lease brokerage, tenant placement, rent collection on behalf of an owner. Facility management is building-facing work and is not within TREC's jurisdiction. Proportional FM does not hold a TREC license and does not perform property management work. For operators with both needs, a separate property management firm typically handles the TREC-licensed scope while Proportional FM handles the facility-side scope.
Start with a facility assessment
A Facility Condition Assessment establishes the baseline. From there, we scope the engagement to what your portfolio actually needs. We respond within 1 business day.
Request a facility assessment