Our Mission
The Grounds and Building Maintenance Department is dedicated to the professional stewardship of Princeton University facilities while exceeding expectations for service.
We do this by:
- Providing responsive, courteous service with due consideration for the needs of all our customers.
- Providing a supportive work environment that encourages and empowers our employees to excel.
- Providing opportunity for personal growth through participation and education.
- Working to provide an environment that promotes academic excellence.
- Carrying out our work professionally, with high quality workmanship, and in a cost effective manner.
- Encouraging innovation and suggestions that will improve our competitiveness and the quality of our work.
- Preserving and enhancing the unique quality, beauty, and integrity of the campus with its historic traditions.
- Working to provide a safe, healthy, secure campus.
- Striving to achieve a cooperative, diverse workforce where each person is treated fairly.
- Taking appropriate action when these goals are not being met.
The Shops: The Department of Grounds and Building Maintenance (GBM) is responsible for repairing, maintaining and improving the physical and mechanical features of our grounds and buildings. A total of 15 trade shops and 6 special facility groups provide the technical skills needed to maintain our campus. There are five architectural trades shops: Carpenters, Locksmiths, Masons, Painters, and Roofing/Tinsmith. The mechanical electrical trades consist of the HVAC Shop, HVAC Controls, Electric, Alarms, Plumbing/Heating, and Fire Protection. Within Grounds, three shops maintain the main Princeton campus, off-campus grounds, and operate a greenhouse and horticultural nursery. The Garage services and repairs University-owned motor vehicles for all departments as well as our own equipment.
Special Facilities. Several of our facilities with special building systems or use patterns have their own dedicated maintenance staff who, while members of GBM, work very specifically for the occupants of these facilities. These six groups cover the buildings listed below.
- Engineering School complex.
- Richardson Auditorium.
- Frick/Hoyt/ Firestone Library.
- Guyot/Moffett/Lewis-Thomas/Carl Icahn/ Frist/McCosh Infirmary.
- Jadwin/Fine/McDonnell Halls.
- Forrestal.
Occupants of these facilities normally refer all maintenance issues directly to their assigned facilities shop or indirectly through the Facilities Service Center. If the assigned Special Facility group requires assistance, it will refer the problem to the central maintenance shops in the MacMillan Building.
Our primary work as stewards of Princeton’s facilities, is to maintain these facilities in as good a condition as possible while prudently managing limited resources. Success will be measured by how well the campus community is provided with a comfortable environment conducive to teaching, learning, and research. The Department strives to achieve a high degree of customer satisfaction by professionally completing required tasks in a timely manner. We are funded to maintain, repair and replace the components of all buildings and welcome your feedback when that is not occurring.
Customer Funded Work. Our budget is not designed to fund new work such as rearranging an office. The shops do take on such projects in support of Housing and Physical Planning when they have obtained Capital, Major Maintenance or other funding.
We are not funded for repairs and replacement of furniture. Our shops are skilled at repairing and refinishing furniture if you choose to fund the work rather than replacing high quality items. We also can build and install bookshelves, white boards or hang items when the customer can fund such work.