# From the floor.

The guides answer one job. The shorter notes are the habit around the register.

- [Put the quote on the job before you approve it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/quote-on-the-job.md): A price in a text message is not an approval. The job holds the figure you said yes to.
- [Tell a member the status, not the internal argument](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/tell-the-member-the-status.md): The useful sentence is whether they can use it, and whether you already know. The part number is not for the floor.
- [A spare machine in the back is not a strategy until it is in the file](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/spare-machine-is-not-a-strategy.md): The treadmill in the corridor is either in service, stored with known faults, or scrap. It is not a secret backup.
- [Reset the rig to a known plan after class](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/functional-rig-class-reset.md): A rig left as the last workout set it is a different machine. The closer puts it back and notes what broke.
- [Find the model and serial number on gym equipment](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/find-model-and-serial-number.md): The model and serial are on a plate on the frame or inside the console bay. Photograph them. If the plate is gone, say so. Do not invent a number.
- [Rain and mud arrive on the first machines](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/rain-mud-and-the-entrance.md): The bikes and treadmills nearest the door take the water. Their faults are often the entrance, not the brand.
- [A manual you cannot find at the machine is a missing manual](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/manuals-and-where-they-live.md): If the only copy is a link in a leaver’s email, write ‘not on file’ and obtain one.
- [When the timetable changes, watch the assets it leans on](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/class-programme-wear.md): A new class can double the hours on four bikes and none on the rest. The faults will follow the hours.
- [A physio corner inside the gym needs its own assets](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/physio-corner.md): Treatment beds and small devices are not the gym floor’s leftovers. They have owners, faults, and a status.
- [Repair or replace gym equipment](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/repair-or-replace-gym-equipment.md): Replace when the part is gone, the same fault keeps returning, or the machine is unsafe while you wait. Use the spend you recorded. Do not invent a lifespan.
- [Kit in a children’s area is still equipment](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/children-areas.md): Smaller does not mean informal. A broken hold, a loose bolt, or a torn mat is a fault with a status.
- [Clearance is a condition of the machine](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/clearance-and-mirrors.md): A treadmill too close to a mirror, or a rack too close to a walkway, will be reported as the machine’s fault. Measure it once.
- [After a move, assume something loosened](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/loose-after-a-move.md): Feet, shrouds, console leads, and anchors shift in a move. Check them the same day, on the same asset.
- [Belt dust is a maintenance clue](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/belt-dust.md): Black dust under a treadmill is not only dirt. It is the belt or the deck telling you they are wearing.
- [Rowing machine maintenance](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/rowing-machine-maintenance.md): Service the chain or strap, the rail, and the handle connection. An air rower, a water rower, and a dynamic erg are not the same parts.
- [A hot smell is a stop, not a note for later](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/hot-electrics.md): Hot insulation, a warm plug, or a console that smells sweet and sharp: take the machine off and do not switch it back on to ‘see’.
- [A new noise is a signal, a familiar noise is a note](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/noise-as-a-signal.md): Ask whether this sound is new. New, rhythmic, or linked to one part of the movement deserves a fault.
- [Accessibility equipment is not a side cupboard](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/accessibility-equipment.md): A lift, a ramp, or an adaptive machine that is out of service is a closed door, not a spare.
- [Indoor cycling bike maintenance](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/indoor-cycling-bike-maintenance.md): Pedal play closes a studio bike before a dark console does. The drive belt, the saddle post, and sweat on the bolts are the service.
- [Outdoor kit rusts, fades, and still needs a status](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/outdoor-kit.md): Weather is not an excuse to leave a seized pivot unrecorded. The public uses it when you are not looking.
- [When a repair is really a replacement](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/when-a-repair-is-really-a-replacement.md): Purchase date, warranty, and what you have already spent belong on the asset — before you approve the next expensive fix.
- [A small studio still needs one file per machine](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/personal-training-studios.md): Ten assets are not ‘small enough to remember’. The trainer who is off this week is the proof.
- [A 24-hour floor has to close a machine without a person present](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/twenty-four-hour-floors.md): If the only way to make a treadmill safe is to wait for morning staff, the night is unmanaged.
- [Elliptical and cross trainer maintenance](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/elliptical-maintenance.md): An elliptical fails at the pedals, the rollers, the arms, and the ramp. It does not have a treadmill belt. Do not order one.
- [A hotel gym is unstaffed more often than it looks](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/hotel-and-residential-gyms.md): Guests will not find a technician. The sign, the status, and a working way to report are the whole morning shift.
- [Read the register at the end of the year](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/year-end-of-the-register.md): The year-end is a reading of what failed, what waited, and what you retired. It is not a new system.
- [A service contract is a set of jobs, not a feeling of cover](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/service-contracts.md): Know what they will attend, how fast, and what you still record. A contract does not replace the history.
- [The equipment inspection before you open](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/pre-opening-equipment-inspection.md): Walk the floor before members train. A stop that fails, a broken cable strand, or a missing collar closes that machine before the door opens.
- [Delivery damage is a record, not a scuff to ignore](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/delivery-damage.md): Photograph it before the packaging leaves. A dent you mention next month is a dent you own.
- [Record a new machine before members use it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/new-equipment-arrival.md): The arrival hour is when the serial is readable and the damage is still obvious. After the first class, both get harder.
- [A preventive maintenance plan for a gym floor](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/preventive-maintenance-for-a-gym.md): Build the plan from hours and classes, not from a copied calendar. A missed week is written down. A perfect spreadsheet that nobody walks is not a plan.
- [Point the new machine at the one it replaced](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/link-the-replacement.md): The new asset starts empty only if you let it. The reason it was bought sits on the old file.
- [Retire a machine without deleting it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/retiring-a-machine.md): Gone from the floor is not gone from the record. The next purchase needs the reason this one left.
- [Replace when the next repair is the same story](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/when-to-replace.md): The signal is repetition: the same failure, a growing spend, and a machine that no longer matches the programme.
- [Weight stack maintenance](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/service-a-weight-stack.md): A stack that sticks under load is out of service. Clean the guide rods, check the pin, and do not oil a stack because it squeaks.
- [Repair when the file says the machine is still the right one](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/when-to-repair.md): A clear fault, a known part, and a history that is not already a list of the same failure: that is a repair.
- [Expected life is a planning note, not a promise](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/expected-life-without-a-myth.md): Write the date you would be unsurprised to replace it. Do not invent a manufacturer’s lifespan you do not have.
- [Keep the purchase next to the machine it bought](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/purchase-records.md): The price, the supplier, and the date belong on the asset. A finance folder that nobody on the floor can open does not help the next repair.
- [How to replace a cable on a selectorized machine](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/replace-a-selectorized-cable.md): Replace a cable when a strand is broken or the line is kinked. Do not splice it. Record which run, and the length from the old cable.
- [Put the warranty on the asset before you need it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/warranty-on-the-asset.md): A claim starts with dates and a serial, not with a search through an inbox on the morning something fails.
- [After a busy weekend, look for what loosened](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/after-a-busy-weekend.md): High use shows up as walked belts, sweaty posts, loose collars, and faults reported late.
- [Monday is for what the weekend actually did](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/the-monday-list.md): Do not start Monday with a plan you wrote on Friday. Start with the faults the weekend left.
- [How to service a treadmill deck](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/service-a-treadmill-deck.md): A deck is flipped once, dressed with the specified product, or replaced. A new belt does not repair a grooved deck.
- [Train a new floor lead on the open list, not on the settings](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/training-a-new-floor-lead.md): The first week is: find a machine, open a fault, close one honestly, and hand over. Menus can wait.
- [When a machine changes site, the history goes with it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/history-when-a-machine-changes-site.md): A ‘fresh start’ at the new gym deletes the repairs that explain the next failure.
- [Brand the public page only as far as it stays clear](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/branding-on-the-public-page.md): A member scanning a code needs the status. A full marketing skin that hides the status has failed.
- [When to replace a treadmill running belt](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/replace-a-treadmill-running-belt.md): Replace the belt for cords, a cup you cannot track, or slip under a normal step. Measure the old belt. Do not order from the logo.
- [Add a field only when you have used the note three times](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/custom-fields-that-earn-it.md): A custom field for every idea becomes a form nobody finishes. A repeated note deserves a field.
- [A chain needs the same file, read across sites](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/what-a-chain-needs.md): Head office does not need a different kind of truth. It needs the same jobs, visible together.
- [A single site needs a short report, not a dashboard](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/reporting-for-one-site.md): The useful monthly page is: what was unsafe, what waited, what you spent, and what you will do next.
- [Commercial treadmill maintenance](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/commercial-treadmill-maintenance.md): What to check on a club treadmill between belt changes: tracking, heat, the deck, the incline, and the stop.
- [The cost of a stop is not only the part](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/cost-of-a-stop.md): A closed treadmill through the busy hours has a cost in lost use. You do not need a fake formula to see it.
- [Count downtime as time members could not use it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/downtime-what-to-count.md): A machine in pieces on a Tuesday night is not the same as a machine closed through a full class day.
- [See what is overdue without a second spreadsheet](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/overdue-without-a-spreadsheet.md): If the real list lives in a sheet, the register is a brochure. Due and late belong on the jobs.
- [A recurring plan is a job that already knows when it is next](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/recurring-plans.md): If the next belt check depends on someone remembering, it will land in the week you are short-staffed.
- [Photograph the fail, not the whole gym](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/photo-evidence-on-inspections.md): An inspection photo is useful when it shows the defect and which machine. A panorama of the floor is a postcard.
- [The person who looked is the person who signs](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/who-signs-the-inspection.md): A manager’s name on a walk they did not do makes the next fail unbelievable.
- [A failed inspection has to create work](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/a-failed-inspection.md): Fail, then nothing, is how the same note appears next month in a different handwriting.
- [A checklist people finish is shorter than the one you admire](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/checklists-people-finish.md): If the list is longer than the attention of the person opening the gym, it will be ticked in the office.
- [Count the shelf you claim to have](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/a-simple-stock-count.md): A stock figure nobody has checked is a wish. A short count of the parts you rely on is enough.
- [An issue is not a work order](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/an-issue-is-not-a-work-order.md): The problem and the job are different objects. Mixing them is why the board gets noisy and the history gets thin.
- [Write the lead time on the job when you order](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/lead-times.md): A part that takes three weeks is a status, not a surprise to announce when the member asks again.
- [Name the part on the job, not in someone’s memory](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/name-the-part-on-the-job.md): ‘The usual cable’ is not a part. The next order will be wrong, and the history will not show what was fitted.
- [Do not stock parts you cannot fit or identify](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/parts-you-should-not-stock.md): A shelf of unknown boards is not preparedness. It is a puzzle for the next person.
- [Stock the parts that actually stop the floor](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/parts-worth-keeping.md): A shelf of random leftovers is not stock. Keep the parts that turn a closed machine into an open one this week.
- [The sign on the frame and the status in the register must match](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/signs-that-match-the-register.md): Tape without a status, or a status without tape, is how a member uses a machine you closed.
- [Members do not repair the equipment](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/members-do-not-repair.md): A helpful member with a multitool is not a work order. The machine comes out of service, and the repair is yours.
- [Separate cleaning from maintenance](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/cleaning-versus-maintenance.md): A wipe-down is not a service. A service is not a reason to skip the wipe-down. The register should not mix them.
- [Power leads on the floor are a fault, not a layout](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/power-and-cables-on-the-floor.md): A cable across a walkway, a stacked adaptor, or a warm plug is not something to step over until Friday.
- [Emergency stops have to be reachable and real](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/emergency-stops.md): A stop hidden by a bottle, a towel, or a console menu is not a stop. Test the ones that are supposed to kill motion.
- [A squeak is a note until there is play](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/bearings-and-squeaks.md): Noise alone is usually comfort. Movement in a joint that should be tight is a fault. Learn the difference on each machine.
- [Torn upholstery is comfort until it is not](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/upholstery.md): A split cover is ugly. An exposed edge, a sliding user, or soaked foam is a reason to take it out.
- [Lubricate only what you mean to lubricate](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/lubrication-without-guessing.md): The wrong grease on a belt or a pivot is a new fault. If you are unsure, clean, record, and stop.
- [Anchors and wall fixes are safety checks, not decoration](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/anchors-bolts-and-wall-fixes.md): A rig, a rack, or a wall ball target that moves is already a fault. Tightening it ‘when we have time’ is the wrong status.
- [The floor under the machine is part of the machine](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/flooring-around-equipment.md): A torn tile, a wet patch, or a platform that rocks will be reported as a fault on the treadmill standing on it.
- [A dead console is not always a dead machine](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/consoles-and-screens.md): Decide, per machine, whether the screen is the product or only a display. Write that limit on the status.
- [Recovery kit still needs a status](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/stretch-and-recovery-kit.md): Rollers and mats are not ‘just foam’. A split roller and a frayed suspension strap are faults.
- [Rigs fail at the attachments, not at the upright you notice](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/rigs-and-attachments.md): The rig looks permanent. The j-cups, the bands, and the straps are what leave the floor in a bag.
- [Dumbbells and plates need a file too](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/free-weights-and-dumbbells.md): A cracked dumbbell is an asset, even if it never had a serial number. The set is not one vague pile.
- [Selectorized machines: the pin, the guide rods, and the stack](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/selectorized-stacks.md): If the pin does not go through the plate, the machine is not ‘a bit stiff’. It is not selecting the weight the user thinks.
- [Benches and racks fail at pins, feet, and welds](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/benches-and-racks.md): A rack is quiet until a pin does not seat or a foot rocks. Those are the checks, not the upholstery.
- [Rowers fail at the chain, the rail, and the handle](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/rowers.md): A dusty rail and a dry chain are ordinary. A frayed connector where the handle meets the chain is not.
- [Service bikes for play, belts, and the thing members hit](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/bikes-and-air-bikes.md): Cranks, pedals, seats, and fans take the abuse. The console is what people complain about first.
- [Read a treadmill belt before you replace the motor](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/treadmill-belts-and-decks.md): Walk-off, glaze, and a hot smell have a short list of causes. The motor is not the first guess.
- [Look at cables along their whole run](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/cables-and-pulleys.md): The fray you can see at the handle is the easy one. The one at the pulley, inside the shroud, is the one that fails in a set.
- [Treat heat and humidity as maintenance, not as weather](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/heat-humidity-and-cardio.md): A cardio room that runs hot eats belts, consoles, and patience. The room is part of the asset’s conditions.
- [Use the monthly check for what the weekly walk cannot see](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/monthly-deeper-checks.md): Weekly catches what is obvious. Monthly is for shrouds, torque, wear that hides, and the machines nobody likes to service.
- [Keep a weekly inspection that fits one site](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/weekly-inspection-rhythm.md): A weekly pass is a rhythm, not a manual. The same route, the same checks, a note only when something fails.
- [Write down what the outside technician actually did](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/outside-technician-notes.md): A contractor’s visit is a job. “They came” is not a resolution.
- [Keep the estimate and the actual cost on the same job](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/estimated-and-actual-cost.md): The interesting number is not the invoice alone. It is how far the job moved from what you thought it would cost.
- [Write labour time the way the job actually went](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/honest-labour-time.md): A round hour on every job makes the history useless. Ten minutes and a return visit are both real.
- [Put before and after on the job, not in a camera roll](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/before-and-after-on-the-job.md): The fault photo shows the complaint. The job photos show what you actually changed.
- [Resolved means someone wrote down what fixed it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/resolved-means-written-down.md): A closed fault with an empty resolution is a hidden message. The next person will open the same problem as if it were new.
- [Stop collecting gym faults in a group chat](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/stop-collecting-faults-in-chat.md): A stuck cable is useful as a message for ten minutes. After that, the gym needs a record attached to the machine.
- [Record waiting on a part as a state, not a pause](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/waiting-on-a-part.md): A job that is quiet because a cable is on order is still an open job. The machine’s status has to say so.
- [Move the job out of the group chat](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/work-without-the-group-chat.md): The chat can announce that a machine is closed. It cannot be the place where the history lives.
- [Separate a comfort complaint from a safety fault](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/comfort-or-safety.md): A hard seat is a comfort note. A rocking bench, a hot smell, or a frayed cable is a reason to stop use.
- [Ask for a photo when the fault is something you can see](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/a-photo-on-the-fault.md): A picture of the torn pad saves a visit. A picture of a black screen does not. Ask only when it helps.
- [Use a priority the floor will actually apply](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/priority-the-floor-actually-uses.md): Five levels of urgency become one level by Friday. Three words are enough: unsafe, unusable, and everything else.
- [Treat the second report as a signal, not a second job](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/the-second-report.md): Two members describing the same catch in the lat pulldown are not two repairs. They are one fault heard twice.
- [A rating is a signal, not a work order](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/a-rating-is-not-a-job.md): Stars tell you someone was unhappy. They do not tell you which bolt to turn, or whether the machine should be closed.
- [Take a fault from the floor without making the member a technician](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/a-fault-from-the-floor.md): The report should capture what the person saw. It should not ask them to diagnose the motor.
- [Show members the name and the status, nothing else](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/what-the-public-page-shows.md): The public page is for the person standing at the machine. Cost, blame, and internal notes do not belong there.
- [Hand the shift over on the register, not in the doorway](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/shift-handover-on-the-register.md): A conversation at the door disappears. The open faults and the unfinished jobs do not, if they are written on the assets.
- [Decide who may take a machine out of service](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/who-may-take-a-machine-out.md): If only the manager may close a machine, the unsafe one stays open until the manager is back from lunch.
- [Close the floor with the jobs, not with a feeling](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/the-closing-walk.md): The last walk should leave a clear list: still out of service, waiting on a part, or safe to open in the morning.
- [Walk the floor before the first members arrive](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/the-opening-walk.md): The opening walk is a short list: what is out of service, what was left unfinished, and what looks newly wrong.
- [Move a machine without starting a new history](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/moving-a-machine-without-losing-it.md): A new corner is not a new asset. The faults, the jobs, and the warranty move with the frame.
- [Make every status mean one thing](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/statuses-that-mean-one-thing.md): If “out of order” sometimes means dirty and sometimes means unsafe, the floor will stop trusting the sign.
- [Keep the manual and the invoice next to the machine](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/documents-next-to-the-machine.md): A document that lives only in someone’s inbox is missing the moment that person is off shift.
- [Take photos you can still use in six months](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/photos-you-can-use-later.md): A dark close-up of a bolt is not a record. The useful set shows the machine, the place, and the thing that is wrong.
- [What to do when the serial plate is gone](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/when-the-serial-plate-is-gone.md): A missing plate does not make the machine unidentifiable. It means you need another mark, and a note that the plate is missing.
- [The file a machine needs before anyone reports a fault](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/the-minimum-asset-file.md): Category, name, place, and status are enough to start. The rest can arrive with the first real job.
- [Draw zones a person can walk](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/a-zone-you-can-walk.md): Floors, rooms, and zones are how someone finds a machine without calling the person who installed it.
- [Name every machine so the next shift can find it](https://gymmaintain.com/blog/name-every-machine.md): A nickname that only one trainer understands is not an asset name. The floor needs a name that survives a handover.

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Source: https://gymmaintain.com/blog
Language: en