Management of the physical asset is a crucial part of the overall management process for it can significantly affect the value of the property. The appearance and condition of the building and grounds help determine the type of residents attracted, the rent structure, resident satisfaction, turn-over, and rent collection. The prime reasons given by residents who withhold rent and/or other monies are poor maintenance or inadequate response to service requests.
Prompt, effective maintenance and a courteous maintenance staff can turn resident dissatisfaction into resident cooperation, frequent breakdowns into smooth operations, and negative returns into positive cash flow.
Maintenance of the physical asset is an ongoing process. It can be broken down into four main categories:
- Corrective maintenance — the repair and restoration of items after problems are identified, but before major breakdowns occur.
- Preventive maintenance — scheduled inspections, service, and repair to maximize the level of services at a property and reduce equipment breakdowns and service interruptions.
- Deferred maintenance — needed maintenance that will not or cannot be performed until some later time.
- Emergency maintenance — corrective action that must be taken immediately to protect life, health, or property.
Our maintenance program requires support and cooperation from everyone involved in the management process. It was developed with care and will be continually reexamined to achieve the desired objectives, which include satisfying residents and maintaining the integrity of the physical asset. Our program seeks a balance among planned maintenance, responsive maintenance, and deferred maintenance.
Uncontrolled maintenance causes more confusion, hard feelings, duplicated effort, and damage than any other service in the property management business.
Control is a problem because we must deal with so many companies–roofers, plumbers, locksmiths, painters, cleaners, carpenters, electricians, etc.–each with different schedules, different skills, and different costs (and some with the same skills at different costs). Orchestrating these resources efficiently is difficult.
Since, as a property manager, all we really have to offer is service, uncontrolled, unorganized maintenance service ultimately costs us and you money. These problems tend to accumulate quietly and then explode.
Our repair and maintenance personnel will suffer the frustration and misdirection that disorganization causes. Jobs won’t be planned properly–there will be last-minute scrambles for information, directions, keys, and replacement parts. It might take repeated repair calls to fix simple problems. It will become more and more difficult to keep professional repair companies working for us under these conditions. Wasted time costs them money and they also have a business reputation to protect.
Our tenants will be unhappy with incomplete repairs and poor quality work. Worse still, because of the hassles and lack of consideration, they might fail to report “minor” problems which could later prove to be very expensive if left unrepaired. And they certainly won’t recommend our company to potential tenants or clients.
Our clients will be dissatisfied (and usually very vocal) with over-priced repairs and the gradual deterioration of the property value caused by neglect. The fact that we could oversee repair and maintenance is one of the reasons you chose to use a professional property manager in the first place.
We avoid these problems and take control of our repair and maintenance services by following the steps explained on our Property Management Process page.
