The Physical Plant Area includes nine departments: Grounds, Building Services, Carpenters, Electrical, HVAC, Locksmith, Painters, Plumbers, and the Power Plant. In addition to ongoing housekeeping and maintenance, Physical Plant provides support and guidance for capital improvement projects: from oversight of construction, installation and updating of fire protection services to the creation of new living spaces.
During regular business hours, faculty, staff, and students should submit a work order request via the SchoolDude platform for all NON-emergency work, such as moving a file cabinet, maintenance-related repairs, and painting, transferring records to storage, etc.
For more information about requesting services, please see Contact Us.
Services
Building Services
The Building Services Department includes Building Service Workers and the Materials Management group, which includes a mail person and truck driver. Building Services is responsible for the daily cleaning of all campus buildings, delivery of mail and supplies, event and conference set-ups and take-downs, office relocations, and, in partnership with Cove/Halcyon, the consolidation and pick-up of recyclable materials.
Building Trades Group
The Building Trades Group consists of three departments who are responsible for maintenance and repair of buildings campus-wide. These are the Carpenters, Painters and Locksmith.
The Carpenters repair and maintain buildings. Their tasks range from screening repairs, to roofing, to glazing, to renovation and repair projects.
Electrical Department
This department maintains all electrical systems, including the electrical distribution to all buildings, exterior lighting, and interior building systems. They also administer fire alarm testing, which is done semi-annually in all buildings, and do all the necessary repairs for issues discovered as a result of testing. This group coordinates the audio and electrical setups for daily events and, if needed, provides coverage for all major events. If an emergency arises, electricians will respond quickly since they are on-call 24 hours a day.
Grounds Department
The Grounds Department’s primary responsibility is maintaining the Wheaton campus, including athletic fields. While their main activity is mowing over 50 acres of grass and planting and caring for trees, shrubs, and flowers, the department is also responsible for snow and ice removal and sanding during the winter months. Additional tasks include rubbish and recycling pick-up, pest control, maintaining a fleet of 17 vehicles and over 100 pieces of equipment, moving furniture and supplies, cleaning drains and gutters, and providing jump-starts to motorists in need. During the summer, Grounds hires several temporary workers (often students) to supplement the regular staff.
Locksmith
The Locksmith Office is responsible for installing, maintaining, servicing, replacing, and updating all locks used to secure college-owned keys. This responsibility includes all designs of lock systems, maintenance and service of locks, issuance of keys, and maintenance of cores, keys, and records. No outside vendor may perform any work at any of the College’s owned or leased facilities without prior approval from the Manager of Dry Trades and/or Locksmith.
Mechanical Trades
The Mechanical Trades Group is made up of the Utilities Department, the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning) Department, the Plumbing Department, and the Power Plant who all report to the Chief Engineer.
For more information about our departments, please see the Physical Plant page of insideWheaton.