How We Manage Service Requests
When you submit a service request, we want you to understand how work is prioritized and what to expect.
UC Davis Facilities Management maintains more than 1,200 buildings, along with the utilities, infrastructure and outdoor spaces that support teaching, research and community engagement. Our teams manage thousands of systems and service requests each year. Because we receive more requests than we can address at once, we prioritize work based on safety, regulatory requirements, operational impact and available resources. Life safety, compliance and high-risk issues are addressed first. Other requests may take longer to complete.
Contact Us
Customer Experience Center
- 530-752-1655
- Submit a Service Request
For urgent issues or life-safety concerns, please call us directly instead of submitting an online request so we can ensure the fastest possible response.
How We Prioritize Work
Every service request is reviewed and assigned based on impact and urgency. This ensures that we’re focusing on the most critical issues first while still progressing on routine maintenance and project work as capacity allows. Our estimated lead times information gives an overview on the number of days it may take for certain jobs to be addressed.
Why Work Takes Time
Facilities Management supports a campus the size of a small city, with 1200+ buildings, associated systems and infrastructure components that support teaching, research and daily campus operations. On any given day, our teams are managing hundreds of active requests from replacing lights and repairing plumbing issues to maintaining complex systems in laboratories, classrooms and animal care facilities.
We are also operating with limited staffing and resources while managing aging infrastructure, increasing regulatory requirements and growing service demands. As a result, much of our work is currently reactive, meaning urgent and high-risk issues often take priority over routine or non-critical repairs.
When scheduling and prioritizing work, we balance many factors, including:
- Life safety and regulatory compliance
- Risk to teaching, research and critical campus operations
- Severity and urgency of the issue
- Building access and coordination needs — especially in labs, classrooms or occupied spaces
- Availability of specialized staff, contractors or materials
- Coordination across multiple shops or outside vendors
- Seasonal demands, weather events and emergency response
This process helps ensure that the most critical and high-risk issues are addressed first. However, it also means that non-urgent repairs, cosmetic concerns and lower-risk requests may experience longer timelines than they have in the past.
Our staff care deeply about the campus and take pride in their work. We recognize that delays can be frustrating, and we appreciate the patience and partnership of the campus community as we work to balance urgent needs with limited resources.
What You Can Do
Small actions across campus can make a meaningful difference.
- Report issues early — especially before they become urgent or cause additional damage.
- Be specific in your service request descriptions so we can assess priority and route work efficiently. Learn more about what information to include in your service request.
- Plan ahead for known needs like events, moves, renovations or special setups.
- Help prevent avoidable issues by:
- avoiding overloaded outlets and extension cords
- not flushing wipes or inappropriate materials
- disposing of chemicals and waste properly
- helping keep shared spaces clean and functional
- Be aware of changes to custodial service levels in some areas. Help support custodial staff by keeping office and cubicle waste bins clear, cleaning up shared spaces when possible and helping colleagues understand the changes.
- Understand that life safety, compliance and high-risk issues are prioritized first.
- Stay informed — check your lead times page and your work order updates for current timelines and service expectations.
- Extend patience and grace to staff managing complex challenges with limited resources.
We all play a role in helping the campus remain safe, functional and operational. Our staff care deeply about the campus and do not like that some issues take longer to resolve or that we cannot maintain every space to the level we would like. By working together, we can reduce preventable issues and focus resources where they are needed most.
Frequently Asked Questions
Service Requests and Repairs
- What counts as an emergency?
- Emergencies include issues that pose an immediate threat to health, safety, research and teaching or building integrity such as flooding, power outages, fire system issues, major HVAC failures in critical spaces or hazardous conditions. Emergency work is prioritized ahead of routine maintenance and non-urgent repairs.
- Why does a “small repair” sometimes take so long?
- Even simple-looking issues may require specialized staff, safety precautions, permits, parts or coordination with other systems in the building. Our teams are also balancing thousands of active work orders and prioritizing life safety, compliance and high-risk operational issues first.
- Can departments handle small repairs themselves?
For safety, regulatory and contractual reasons, repairs involving campus building systems — including electrical, plumbing, HVAC and many other facility components — must be performed by qualified UC Davis staff or approved contractors.
Even seemingly minor repairs can affect larger building systems, create safety hazards or require specialized training, permits or code compliance. In addition, university labor agreements require certain types of work to be completed by employees within designated skilled trade classifications.
To help protect people, buildings and campus operations, departments should not attempt repairs, modifications or installations themselves. Please submit a service request so the appropriate Facilities team can evaluate and address the issue safely and compliantly.
- Can my department hire outside contractors directly?
Campus building systems are highly interconnected and often more complex than they appear.
Many repairs require:
• Specialized licensing and technical expertise
• Coordination with utilities or other building systems
• Compliance review and campus safety oversight
• Work performed by designated skilled trade classifications under union agreements
In addition, outside contractors are often unfamiliar with the unique infrastructure and operational requirements of our facilities. Even small repairs can unintentionally affect larger building systems or create safety and liability concerns if performed incorrectly. To help ensure work is completed safely, compliantly and without disrupting campus operations, repairs and modifications must be coordinated through Facilities Management and/or Design and Construction Management, depending on your needs.
Staffing and Budget Challenges
- Why can’t Facilities just hire more staff?
Like many units across the university, Facilities Management is operating under significant budget constraints and hiring limitations. Some positions remain vacant due to funding reductions, even as campus buildings, systems and regulatory requirements continue to grow.
To help manage these challenges, Facilities Management continues to look for ways to work more efficiently through improved planning, infrastructure upgrades, preventative maintenance strategies and better use of technology and asset data.
- Why are delays becoming more common?
Over time, the campus has grown in size, complexity and regulatory responsibility while staffing and funding have not kept pace. At the same time, Facilities Management is managing aging infrastructure, rising material costs and increasing compliance requirements.
To help address these challenges, Facilities Management is:
- • Prioritizing work based on safety, operational risk and campus impact
• Expanding preventative maintenance efforts where resources allow
• Using work order and asset data to improve planning and response
• Investing in infrastructure upgrades that improve long-term reliability and efficiency
• Improving communication around service expectations and timelines
These efforts will not eliminate delays entirely, but they help us focus limited resources where they can have the greatest impact.- • Prioritizing work based on safety, operational risk and campus impact
- Why are parts or materials taking longer to replace?
Supply chain delays, increased material costs and changes in regulations have affected repair timelines. In some cases, older building systems or discontinued materials require custom solutions or upgrades before repairs can be completed.
Facilities Management continues working to improve planning and reduce delays where possible by coordinating replacements earlier, standardizing materials when feasible and prioritizing upgrades to aging systems.
- Why are preventative repairs still happening when other requests are delayed?
Preventative maintenance helps Facilities Management identify and address issues before they become larger, more disruptive and more expensive failures. While reactive repairs will always remain part of campus operations, preventative maintenance strategies can help:
• Reduce emergency outages
• Improve reliability of critical systems
• Extend the lifespan of campus infrastructure
• Reduce long-term repair costs
• Minimize disruptions to teaching, research and campus operationsFacilities Management increasingly uses data, asset tracking and preventative maintenance tools to help manage aging infrastructure more effectively under limited budgets.