Some building owners and tenants view facilities managers as people who handle unexpected problems. But in many cases, the problems FMs face are predictable. The evidence: an analysis of 9 million service requests from 2024 and 2025, which revealed common patterns across geographies, building classes, and building types—patterns that remove the element of surprise and make the work of FMs much easier.
The notable patterns that emerged in the data, compiled and anonymized from users of MRI Software’s FM solutions, include:
Seasonal Swings
Requests in core categories such as HVAC, exterior and grounds, and plumbing jumped 25-50% from low months to peak months, with repeatable patterns tied to system transitions and environmental conditions.
Requests relating to HVAC increased not only in summer but also in January, October, and December—exactly when heating and cooling transitions occur. (January is effectively a transition period because so many people vacate their offices for the holidays, decreasing demand for heating during that time but bumping it up suddenly upon return.)
Exterior work requests peak in July amid an elevated period between April through October. Plumbing and water also follow cyclical patterns, with peak months in January, July, and October, reflecting weather-related risk (winter) and usage-driven stress (summer and fall).
Despite this predictability, a significant portion of work is still driven by unexpected failures rather than planned intervention. In 2025, for example, 76.8% of HVAC work was reactive.
Takeaway: There is ample opportunity for FM teams to schedule preventative maintenance to align with seasonal demand patterns. Such an approach would allow teams to get ahead of peak-period system stress and reduce reactive calls.
A Shift Toward System-Driven and Access-Related Categories
The fastest-growing areas of demand include exterior and grounds (4.1% YOY), amenities (2.9% YOY), and HVAC (2.7% YOY). Over the same period, work requests for lighting declined by 6.3%, indicating that widespread LED adoption is reducing the incidence of failures.
Takeaway: This shift holds meaningful implications for workforce planning and technical training as the more complex systems like HVAC, life safety, and access grow as a share of total work. Moreover, in many instances these systems are supported by automation, IoT, and building management systems, which further increase complexity and the need for specialization.
Evolving Amenity Demand
Although reservations for traditional amenity spaces declined by 9.4% overall (including a decline of 20.5% for conference rooms), service-oriented amenity requests increased. For example, requests for fitness center registration, room setup (+45.4%), and conference center support (+40.1%) all grew significantly.
Takeaway: The data reflects the transformation of the office environment into a desirable destination. Tenants increasingly expect hospitality-style services such as room setup and event coordination as part of their workplace experience. This shift toward active service delivery rather than passive space access has operational effects: It requires more staff hours and different skill sets, such as interpersonal communication, that should be considered in hiring, training, and staff allocation.
The Importance of Planning
The good news is that across categories, completion times improved significantly YOY, decreasing anywhere from 18-30%. Those statistics include a decline of 23.8% for HVAC and 25.6% for plumbing. Nevertheless, there is still room for better planning. Organizations best positioned for operational efficiencies, cost savings, and tenant satisfaction will use an analysis of work requests to inform strategy. The data provided here is a good starting point, but FM teams should also analyze individual building and portfolio data, especially because geographical differences, building size, building type, and building age can have a substantive effect on operations.
Conclusion
Facilities demand is not random—it is cyclical, system-driven, and increasingly predictable.
At the same time, the people responsible for managing it are being stretched. A 2025 survey of FM professionals across North America found that 81% report their responsibilities have grown over the past three years, 54% are working 6-20 hours of overtime per week, and budget constraints rank as the No. 1 job challenge. FM teams are being asked to do more, with greater complexity, often without proportional increases in resources.
The same survey found that FM professionals overwhelmingly see the future of the industry as data-driven, and they are right. The operational data in this report shows exactly what data-driven FM looks like in practice: demand patterns that are forecastable, category-specific, and visible well in advance. The opportunity is to use that data to work more strategically, not just faster.
Most FM teams maintain records of work requests. They should analyze that data and try to uncover patterns year over year, season over season, and month over month, and compare them to those of other properties, both within a portfolio and externally. Yes, knowledge truly is power, as much so in the world of FM as anywhere else. The best FM teams will mine this data and put its power to good use.
Carla Hinson is vice president of solution and innovation at MRI Software, a real estate technology company based in Solon, Ohio.