8.4 Creating an annual maintenance schedule
8.4.11 Developing the schedule further
To finish off the examples of maintenance schedules we can show what the next stage of developing this might be. We have merged the four seasonal maintenance schedules into a complete 12-month one, plus we have also added a new column that includes estimated timings for how long it might take to carrying out each activity. Clearly the actual timings will depend on many factors, not least the type, size and efficiency of the equipment being used, ground conditions, as well as skill of the operator. The pitch is still aiming to be maintained to be a minimum of a grade 3 quality for the entire football season.
Once all the estimated figures have been put into then schedule then an estimate of the total time planned for each activity and month can be determined. Further analysis can show peak month/s, trough month/s, the average input and an average input per game played. All of this, and more, can help towards a further stage of development, which would be a work programme and can be used by a manager to better manage staff and other resources in achieving optimum pitch performance and cost-effectiveness of provision. However, this would all be for another course, but it does start to show how the course can be further applied for practical purposes that offer tangible benefits to groundskeeper and grounds managers.
This is something you might like to explore and develop after the course
Note: We've started this one in August, just to contrast with our quarterly ones where August was the third month of the summer schedule.
| Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Total (Hours) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Planned games:→ Time (Hour)↓ |
||||||||||||||
| Mowing1 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Aeration2 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Combination tool3 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Decompaction | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Line marking4 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Chain harrowing: Smooth side5 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Watering of established sward6 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Pre-match checks7 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Post-match repairs8 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Sweeping / Vacuuming | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Apply fertiliser9 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Apply biostimulant | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Apply soil conditioner | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Localised sanding10 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Set out pitch11 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Erect and/or take down goal posts12 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Repair, clean, posts, nets etc. | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Apply weedkiller | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Renovation work: | ||||||||||||||
| Scarify (heavy duty)13 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Aeration14 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Apply main top-dressing15 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Overseeding16 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Apply fertiliser17 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Light watering of seeds & seedlings18 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Post-renovation top-dressing19 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Localised grass seeding20 | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Other works [1] | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Other works [2] | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Other works [3] | 0 | |||||||||||||
| Month Totals (hours)→ | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Analysis: Maintenance inputs in hours:
Lowest month/s: N/A | Highest month/s: N/A
Average per month: 0
Average input per game: N/A [0 annual input ÷ 0 games]
The activities that have notes (numbered 1 to 20) are explained on the page "8.4.6 Notes and assumptions made in the schedules".
For now, congratulations on completing this Module 8. We will now have a brief summary of the module and a short recall section. Hopefully you have managed to complete some or all of the quarterly maintenance schedules for your own pitch. If not, we recommend that you revisit those sections because actively doing tasks like this help to significantly reinforce learning.