Glossary
Building Maintenance Technician Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential building maintenance technician terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key building maintenance technician vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in building maintenance technician training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Breaker
- A switch that protects circuits from overload.
- CMMS
- Computerized maintenance management system.
- Condensate line
- A drain line that removes water from HVAC units.
- Door closer
- A device that closes doors automatically.
- Flapper
- The rubber valve in a toilet tank.
- GFCI
- Ground-fault circuit interrupter: an outlet that cuts power to prevent shock.
- Lockout/tagout
- Procedures to control hazardous energy during repairs.
- Make-ready
- Preparing a vacant unit for a new resident.
- P-trap
- The curved pipe under sinks that blocks sewer gases.
- Preventive maintenance
- Scheduled tasks that prevent equipment failures.
- Refrigerant
- The fluid used in air conditioning systems.
- Shutoff valve
- A valve that stops water to a fixture.
- Spackle
- A compound for patching small holes in walls.
- Thermostat
- A device that controls heating and cooling.
- Work order
- A request that documents a repair task.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Building Maintenance Technician practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Building Maintenance Technician training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.