If you’ve worked in FM long enough, you know how this story goes.
You don’t get called because everything’s fine. You get called because a client “smelled something hot” near a panel, a breaker keeps tripping, the UPS room feels warmer than usual, or someone spotted discolouration on a termination during a routine check.
And then comes the classic line:
“Can you just get someone to scan it… and send the report today?”
This is exactly why electrical thermography can either become a money pit… or one of the best value services you can offer as an FM company.
Because the real cost isn’t the scan.
It’s the admin, delays, inconsistency, and rework that follow when reporting is slow, unclear, or unusable.
That’s why the model that actually works in the real FM world is:
- Outsource the inspection to certified specialists who know what they’re doing (and can handle live environments safely)
- Standardise the deliverable using SnapCor — powered by TICOR — so every report is consistent, action-ready, and delivered on-site (not next week)
The part outsiders don’t get: FM isn’t “maintenance” — it’s coordination under pressure
Thermography sounds simple until you’re the one trying to deliver it across:
- 12 sites
- 4 different client formats
- 3 different access rules
- multiple shutdown windows
- and a facilities manager who wants one clear “what do I fix first?” summary
A typical FM thermography day looks like this:
- Permit-to-work paperwork
- “This panel can only be opened at 2AM”
- “No shutdowns this week — it’s peak season”
- Security escort required
- Panels blocked by storage (because of course they are)
- And an engineer asking, “Where do you want this in the report?”
So yes — thermography is technical.
But in FM, it’s also logistical, commercial, and political.
Which brings us to the real question:
Do you want to run thermography as a headache… or as a scalable FM service line?
Why electrical thermography is FM gold (when it’s done properly)
Let’s be blunt: most electrical failures don’t “happen suddenly.” They build quietly — resistance rises, heat climbs, insulation weakens — until the day it trips or burns.
Electrical thermography is one of the few tools that can catch this early without touching anything.
For FM companies, that translates to:
- fewer emergency callouts
- fewer “why didn’t you flag this earlier?” conversations
- less downtime risk
- and stronger audit/insurance confidence (especially on commercial assets)
If you’re managing high-risk sites (data centres, hospitals, malls, industrial), thermography isn’t just “nice to have” anymore. It’s part of how you demonstrate control.
The hidden cost FM companies underestimate: reporting (and re-reporting)
Here’s the real FM pain:
You might get the scan done Monday… but the report lands Friday… and by then:
- the client has chased you twice
- someone’s raised a complaint
- the fault has worsened
- and your ops team is stuck explaining why there’s “no actionable summary yet”
Worst case: the subcontractor sends you a PDF that looks like a science project:
- no clear location references
- inconsistent severity wording
- missing load context
- images not tied to asset IDs
- no clear “do this first” list
And now you’re stuck cleaning it up — because the client doesn’t care who scanned it. They care that it’s your FM contract.
This is where TICOR changed the game years ago — real-time inspection-led reporting (not after-the-fact Word documents).
And it’s why SnapCor exists now — a modern reporting workflow built on TICOR’s proven engine.
Why outsourcing thermography to specialists is usually cheaper than in-house
A lot of FM leaders assume bringing thermography in-house saves money.
On paper, yes.
In real life? Not always.
1) “We’ll train someone internally” sounds great — until scheduling hits
You might have one capable person… until they’re on leave, stuck on reactive jobs, or moved to another contract.
Thermography becomes a bottleneck. And bottlenecks cost FM companies far more than specialist callouts.
2) The risk is real (and it lands on the FM provider)
Thermography is often performed on live electrical equipment in sensitive environments.
If an in-house tech misses a critical hotspot (or documents it poorly), your FM business is the one dealing with the consequences — not the camera brand, not the software, not the electrician.
3) Scaling across multi-site portfolios is brutal
The minute you go from 1–2 sites to 20+ sites, internal thermography becomes:
- a scheduling nightmare
- a reporting inconsistency problem
- and a QA challenge
Specialist providers already have the capacity, process and quality control.
For example, Ti Thermal Imaging Ltd operates as a specialist thermography provider with an inspection + reporting model designed for real client deliverables — not “a folder of images.” (See their approach to Electrical Thermography Reports.)
The model that works: specialists for the scan + SnapCor for the deliverable
Here’s the setup that actually scales in FM:
Step 1: Outsource the inspection delivery
Use specialists to inspect:
- LV switchgear, boards, busbars
- UPS systems and distribution
- PDUs / RPPs / critical panels
- busway joints + tap-offs
- high-load plant feeds (motors, MCCs)
Step 2: Lock the reporting format using SnapCor
SnapCor is built around one thing FM needs desperately:
Consistency.
When you standardise how issues are captured and reported, you remove the chaos.
With SnapCor, you can ensure:
- consistent report structure across sites
- consistent severity grading
- consistent terminology and recommended actions
- clear asset/location logging (so maintenance teams know where to go)
And because SnapCor is powered by TICOR, you’re not relying on “new software hype” — you’re relying on a reporting engine that’s been field-tested across years of real inspections.
Step 3: Deliver the report while the engineer is still on-site
This is the win.
FM teams don’t need a report “eventually.” They need something they can act on today.
SnapCor makes the inspection workflow report-first — so instead of post-processing for hours, you produce:
- structured fault tables
- thermal + visual image pairing
- severity and recommendations
- clear client-ready PDFs …right there on site.
Want to show your clients what this looks like? Point them to the SnapCor YouTube channel — it’s a great way to demonstrate the workflow visually.
What a proper FM-ready thermography report should include
If you’re delivering this under an FM contract, the report should answer:
- Where is it? (exact location + asset ID)
- How bad is it? (severity with context)
- What’s the likely cause? (loose connection / overload / imbalance etc.)
- What should we do? (clear action + urgency)
- Can we prove we managed it? (audit trail + recurring checks)
If your report doesn’t do this, your maintenance team wastes time… and your client loses confidence.
What FM companies actually save with this approach
Here’s where the savings really show up:
✅ Less admin time
No chasing, no reformatting, no “can you resend page 14 with labels?”
✅ Less back-and-forth with clients
When the report is clear, the conversation becomes: “Here’s what we found, here’s what we’re doing.”
Not: “What does this image mean and where is it?”
✅ Faster close-out on critical issues
When you get the report immediately, you raise work orders immediately.
Less exposure time = less risk.
✅ Stronger client retention
Clients don’t renew contracts because you “own a thermal camera.” They renew because you reduce risk and communicate clearly.
A practical rollout plan for FM teams
If you want to implement this across your client portfolio:
- Standardise report format (severity rules, language, minimum fields)
- Decide which site types get annual vs more frequent inspections
- Assign inspections to specialists (or approved subcontractors)
- Use SnapCor as the reporting standard for every site
- Deliver reports same-day
- Raise work orders directly from severity tables
- Re-scan post-repair and trend recurring faults
The Takeaway (FM truth)
Outsourcing thermography doesn’t cost more when you run FM at scale. It costs less — because it removes risk, reduces rework, and protects your client relationship.
And using SnapCor (powered by TICOR) makes the deliverable consistent, fast, and client-ready — which is what FM contracts are actually judged on.
