Tips to Help Manage Your Properties

If you own a few rental properties, you will likely be able to take care of much of the maintenance without having to hire an outside service. There are going to be times when you will need to hire a service, however, for things such as air conditioning repair or perhaps large-scale repairs on the inside of the properties. If you own a large apartment community, however, you will find that it is necessary to employ a staff of maintenance personnel to take care of the jobs as they occur. What are some of the duties of the maintenance staff, and how can you make sure that they are operating as smoothly as possible?

One of the obvious chores that is going to be taking care of by the maintenance staff is the running of any tickets that are sent into the office. These can range from simple tickets, such as unclogging a toilet to more difficult tickets, such as fixing an air-conditioning unit. You will want to make sure that you have somebody on the staff that is able to handle the difficult items as well as those that are going to run the easier tickets. You can then arrange the day's activities as well as making sure that you leave some time for any unexpected items that may occur.

Getting empty apartments ready for the next tenant is also something that will be the responsibility of the maintenance crew. You may also find it to your benefit to hire outside services who will take care of specific tasks, such as cleaning the carpets or painting the units. You can then have your maintenance personnel or a subcontractor go in to do a punch list of any remaining items. These can include changing the toilet seats, hanging blinds, caulking, replacing damaged sinks, and making sure that everything is in order.

Do you use some type of CMMS software system to run your maintenance staff? This can help to improve your productivity by quite a bit. It will allow you to keep track of everything that is being done by the maintenance staff, and at the same time, help you to track the inventory. This type of asset tracking software can be incorporated in with the CMMS system so that it runs seamlessly. It may also alert you to any upcoming maintenance needs so that you will be able to take care of them before the problem gets too large to handle.

One thing that you will notice is the fact that your maintenance staff will generally have a high turnover rate. People are going to move to other areas of the company or they may find a better job at a maintenance facility in your local area. Continue to look for high quality maintenance personnel and hire out some of the work to outside services. You will find that you are at times, down to a very thin staff, but if you choose that staff wisely, you will be able to overcome those problems easily.