Facility management FAQs

As an indicative market range, facility management for a Hyderabad gated community is commonly quoted at roughly ₹2.50 to ₹4.50 per sq ft per month. The figure depends on amenity load, manpower deployment, MEP and STP complexity and reporting standards. Treat it as a sense-check on any quote rather than a fixed rate — your community’s actual cost depends on its scope.

Both methods are used. Per-sq-ft billing shares cost in proportion to the area each owner holds, which most mixed-size communities find fair. Per-flat billing is simpler and is sometimes preferred where flats are similar in size. Neither is inherently fairer — what matters is that the basis is agreed transparently and the same cost heads sit behind it.

The monthly fee usually covers deployed manpower, routine consumables, scheduled preventive maintenance and the management fee. Items charged separately typically include major repairs, asset replacements, specialised AMCs the community adds, and one-off works like deep cleaning. A good quote states clearly what is in scope and what is billed extra, so there are no surprises at invoicing.

A quote far below the market range has to cut something — usually manpower numbers, consumables, supervision or statutory compliance. The community then pays through poor upkeep, staff churn, breakdowns and, in the worst case, EPF or ESI liability landing back on the association. The cheapest top-line frequently becomes the highest real cost once those gaps surface.

During the early phase the builder often sets interim charges; after handover the RWA or management committee owns the decision and approves the budget, usually at a general body meeting. The FM company proposes a costed scope, but the association sets the final per-sq-ft or per-flat charge. The operator should never be the only party deciding what residents pay.

It runs the daily operations of your community as one accountable team — security, housekeeping, MEP, water and STP, gardening, pest control and vendor coordination — instead of your committee managing each contractor separately. You get verified staff, defined response times for complaints, statutory compliance handled for you, and a single monthly report covering everything that happened on the ground.

PropSquare self-delivers its core trades — the security, housekeeping and MEP teams are deployed and supervised under one accountable operation rather than passed to separate sub-agencies. This keeps supervision and statutory liability in one place and avoids the margin-stacking and finger-pointing that come with a heavily subcontracted model. It is the structure most residential communities are better served by.

Water and STP operations are part of PropSquare’s core MEP scope, run by our own technical team with the necessary AMCs in place. Lifts are kept on a competent annual maintenance contract and their statutory inspections tracked. The aim is single-point accountability for the technical systems a community depends on, not a chain of disconnected vendors.

A manpower agency supplies staff and largely stops there — you still supervise them and own the outcome. A facility management company takes responsibility for the operation: it deploys and supervises staff, runs preventive maintenance, manages vendors, carries compliance and reports against SLAs. You are buying a managed result, not just bodies at the gate.

Yes. High-rise communities add lift coordination, higher MEP and pumping load, STP/WTP operation and clubhouse and amenity upkeep — all of which sit within PropSquare’s scope. The deployment and AMC plan is sized to the building’s actual amenity load, and a named manager owns the whole operation so nothing falls between separate teams.

Once the site survey and scope are agreed, a typical transition is mobilised within about two weeks, depending on community size and the notice period for the outgoing vendor. The switch is planned so security, housekeeping and essential services continue without a gap on the changeover day — continuity is the first priority, not speed for its own sake.

We assess the current team first. Capable staff can often be retained and brought onto compliant rolls; gaps are filled with verified hires. The transition is planned so there is no break in security, cleaning or essential services on the day we take over, and so the community keeps faces residents already know where it makes sense.

We can represent the association during handover — inspecting common-area assets, checking commissioning and O&M documents, and building the snag list while the builder is still liable — then operationalise the community from day one. Taking over at HOTO, rather than after, is what catches asset and warranty issues while they are still the builder’s responsibility to fix.

No — avoiding a gap is the whole point of a planned transition. Deployment, statutory onboarding and reporting setup are scheduled around the changeover so the gate is manned, common areas are cleaned and essential systems run continuously. A rushed, unplanned switch is where gaps appear, which is exactly what a structured transition is designed to prevent.

For a vendor changeover we need the current deployment and scope, staff records and any AMC details. From a builder we need the asset register, as-built drawings, commissioning and O&M manuals, warranties, statutory approvals and NOCs, and existing vendor contracts. Having these ready makes the takeover clean and protects the community’s warranty and compliance position.

PropSquare does. All on-ground staff are deployed on compliant rolls with EPF, ESI and minimum-wage obligations met, and the records are available for your committee’s audit. This removes the statutory liability that a society takes on when it employs staff directly — one of the main reasons communities move to a professional operator in the first place.

Background and police verification of deployed staff is part of responsible onboarding, particularly for security personnel, and verification records are maintained. Resident communities should always expect their operator to verify the people working on site and to be able to produce that documentation — it is a basic safeguard, not an optional extra.

Staff are paid at least the notified minimum wage for the relevant category and state, with statutory bonus and gratuity as due, and the required registers and returns maintained. Because the staff are on the operator’s compliant rolls, the association is insulated from the labour-law liability that direct employment would place on the committee.

Deployed staff are covered under the statutory schemes that apply — ESI where applicable, and the cover that comes with compliant employment. The operator carrying the employment relationship means the associated liability sits with the operator rather than the society. Confirm the specific cover in your contract so the committee has it documented.

Installed fire systems are kept tested and serviced, and we track the community’s statutory items — fire NOC, STP consent from the pollution-control board, and lift registration and AMC — on a renewal calendar. Keeping both the equipment functional and the approvals current is what protects the committee if there is ever an incident or an inspection.

The practical differences are self-delivery of core trades, a single accountable manager per community, transparent itemised billing, and monthly reporting the committee can put in front of residents. Rather than asking you to take that on trust, we encourage you to score us on the same factors as any other operator — an honest comparison is the point.

In-house can suit a small community with simple needs and a committee that has time to act as an employer. As a community grows and adds amenities and MEP load, the compliance and continuity burden of direct employment usually tips the decision towards an outsourced operator that self-delivers. Our guide on in-house vs outsourced FM compares both honestly.

Yes — they do different jobs. An app digitises gate entry, billing and complaints, but it does not deploy guards, run the STP, fix the lift or supervise housekeeping. The app is the software layer; the FM company is the operating team. Most well-run communities use both, and a good operator works alongside whatever app you already have.

We report against the operational measures that matter to a committee — helpdesk turnaround, preventive-maintenance completion, manpower attendance and consumable usage — in a monthly MIS pack. During evaluation we can walk you through the reporting format and, where consent allows, discuss comparable communities, so you can judge the operation on evidence rather than promises.

A fair contract includes a defined notice period and a clean exit — proper handover of records, assets and any retained staff documentation back to the association. We would always rather fix a problem through the monthly review than lose a community, but the committee should have a clear, reasonable exit clause in writing. Avoid open-ended contracts with no exit.