From the Boiler Room to the Boardroom

A recent conversation with ARC Document Solutions Chief Financial Officer Jorge Avalos offered a powerful perspective on the relationship between Finance and Facilities.

The Numbers That Tell the Story

The financial case for prevention is hard to ignore:

• A hospital can lose $7,900 per minute during downtime.
• Unplanned downtime across all industries costs up to $1.5M per hour.
• 82% of companies experienced at least one unplanned outage in the last 3 years—at an average cost of$260,000 per hour.
• Preventive maintenance delivers a 10:1 ROI over reactive fixes.
• Buildings now hold 30% more connected equipment than they did 10 years ago—which increases both operational complexity and risk.
• Every hour of continuity preserved doesn’t just protect revenue—it eliminates hundreds of internal calls, complaints, and operational detours.

When things go wrong, they rarely go wrong quietly. A flood, a fire, a power outage—these moments test our systems and our communication.

That’s why this message resonated during the ARC Facilities webinar “CFOs & Risk Leaders: Stop Paying for Preventable Catastrophic Events.” The data makes it clear: preventing losses isn’t just fixing things… it’s enabling financial resilience.

Bridging the Gap Between Budgets and Boilers

“The facility group needs to move from the boiler room to the boardroom.”

That line captured the spirit of the conversation. Facilities teams must make their work visible to the people who make capital allocation decisions. Jorge Avalos—20+ years in finance—said it best:

“Conversations happen in threes. Educate them, collaborate on the analysis, then you’re ready for the investment conversation.”

Educate → align language → then investments make sense.

Facility managers know where risk is born. Finance knows where capital lives. Put those two worlds together, and you shift from cost center to value engine.

The Price of Waiting Too Long

Avalos made it clear: finance is not backward looking; it isfuture probability management.

“It’s not just about repair costs—it’s the cascading effects on operations, brand reputation, insurance impact, and stability.”

AK–12 school district had documentation accessible on their mobile devices. When a small fire broke out, the facilities manager used that info to guide team members remotely—cutting power, isolating damage, avoiding a campus shutdown. Students were back in class Monday. Most districts would have lost weeks.

That’s the ROI that doesn’t show up in the P&L… until it does.

Losing the Old Guard

Then came the workforce reality: the retirement wave.

“For every one person entering facilities, five are leaving.”

That’s 110 years of institutional knowledge walking out the door with every five retirements.

And it’s not just staffing.

It’s all the accumulated knowledge:

• Where the shutoff valves are
• What breaker feeds which wing

Avalos noted CFOs rarely see this as a financial exposure—until they live through a crisis and feel it in real dollars. Knowledge capture is not optional. It is risk mitigation.

Lessons From the Front Lines

• Talk early, talk often—bring Finance in BEFORE things break.
• Plan like it WILL happen—because statistically, it will.
• Capture knowledge before it retires.
• Show your work—data converts maintenance into strategic investment.

“Continuity first,” Avalos said. “Keep things humming.”

This entire conversation was really about that hum. The quiet, predictable rhythm of buildings that run well, teams that share information, and organizations that invest in prevention—not reaction—because financially, strategically, and operationally… it is cheaper to prevent than to repair.