Operations

Our friendly staff take great care in keeping our campus, buildings, classrooms and restrooms clean each and every day.
Facilities Operations includes multiple groups responsible for maintaining our beautiful campus, inside and outside buildings, as well as above and below ground. Please don't hesitate to contact our Facilities Customer Service Center if you need our help, 609-258-8000.
Operations Groups
Building Services
Our staff in Building Services have a daily presence in every building on Princeton campus, and are responsible for cleaning, moving, logistical support of campus events and running the Resource Recovery program. We manage several warehouse complexes for rental equipment, document storage, resource recovery items and a few important artifacts that come out once a year. We also maintain student laundromats, campus fire extinguishers, and the University waste and recycling stream. Our teams clean over 10,000,000 square feet daily, deliver, setup and take down over 125,000 pieces of rental equipment each year, manage nearly 100,000 square feet of warehouse space, and remove over 5,000 tons of waste and recycling each year.
Campus Grounds
Our Campus Grounds staff are responsible for the maintenance, horticulture, and arboriculture needs of the entire campus; management of the University fleet, and coordination of many high-profile exterior events each year. Grounds services include mowing, landscaping, forest management and snow and ice removal. This team is also responsible for planning and executing multiple special events each year, including alumni and trustee events and reunions.
Civil & Environmental Engineering
Our Civil and Environmental engineers maintain our utility distribution systems, roads & parking lots, keep us in environmental compliance and provide rigging services to move heavy objects or specialized equipment.
Maintenance
Our Maintenance staff are responsbile for stewardship of the buildings, labs, and special facilities on our main and Forrestal Campuses, as well as off-campus graduate housing, faculty and staff housing, and commercial properties. Our services include carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, HVAC, roofing, electrical & elevator work, as well as major event & reunion support. Over the course of a year, we respond to a majority of the 60,000+ service requests received by our Facilities Service Center.
Major Maintenance - Special Projects
Our Special Projects team design and oversee interior renovations, masonry repair, large scale exterior envelope repairs, maintenance and upgrades such as roof and window work.
Service Center
Our friendly Service Center representatives are your central point of contact into our large organization. Just call (609) 258-8000, submit a service request online or email us for help. The Service Center is open from 7:30am to 5pm every weekday and ready to help you get the services and resources you need. The Department of Public Safety answers the phone when the Service Center is closed and reaches out to Facilities if a situation is urgent.
Site Protection
Our staff in Site Protection test, inspect, maintain and manage the University’s Fire Protective Safety Systems (FPSS), Card Access Control System, Security Systems (CACS), Campus Video Management System (CVMS), the Keyless Locking System (KLS) and the Locksmith Shop. We oversee the design, required testing code compliances and practices as it pertains to all of these systems. Located at 306 Alexander Street we also provide a 24 hour/7 day on-site Response Team to support these systems as well as other emergency needs of the University.
Helpful links:
- List of services
- Request a service
- Sustainable practices
- Can I recycle this? (external Sustainability website)
In The News
Many people encounter public restrooms day to day. And in an era when more attention is being paid to the spread of disease, a reimagination of the public toilet could help limit the future spread of pathogens.
The P-rade had a new caboose this year. Following the long stream of orange and black was a new green message. The sanitation team in Building Services debuted its new truck during the event, complete with a new wrap emphasizing the sustainability efforts happening across Princeton University.
We are happy to announce Resource Recovery's warehouse fully reopens this week and we return to our normal pre-pandemic hours. Chairs, desks, bookcases, and much, much more.
Here's how to shop with us:
Wednesdays 9 am-Noon, for Non-profit organizations. Thursdays 8:30 am – 9:30 am, for University personnel, and 10:00 am…“The University’s recycling achievements have been the result of the collaborative planning and hard work of the Building Services and Office of Sustainability teams,” said Seward. “I thank them all for their labor and striving to improve the environment for our future generations. I am honored to accept this award on behalf of the University…
In Spring 2020 a campus-wide COVID signage working group was tasked with developing clear COVID signs to support and share the University's evolving COVID-19 policies. The working group partnered with Applied Wayfinding, a London-based company that specializes in dealing with complex information, to develop signs to clearly and effectively share our COVID policies. The new suite of Princeton University COVID signs provide safety information using colorful graphics and icons developed around 4 types of signs.
Did You Know
The Service Center (609-258-8000) is a centralized call center for every Facilities department. They handle approximately 60,000 inquiries per year via phone, web, and email.