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Home Insider Blogs Jen Piccotti's Blog Resident Retention: Maintenance Issue? Blame the Office Staff!
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Mar 31
2010

Resident Retention: Maintenance Issue? Blame the Office Staff!

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Posted by: Jen Piccotti on Mar 31, 2010 12:04

What??? That can't be right. And yet, that's the perception residents often have. If a service request has not been completed as quickly as the resident expects, or if something wasn't done quite right, residents will often blame the office staff rather than the maintenance team. Why?

 

 

Everyone loves the maintenance team! They are the ones who swoop in and save the day. They stop that annoying leak, put new weather stripping around the bedroom window to keep out the draft,  fix the oven just hours before the family comes over for a birthday dinner! It's more convenient to blame the office staff.

As we all have experienced, however, the key to resolving service requests is approaching them as a cohesive team. Everyone plays a critical role in resolving maintenance issue:, from taking the request, to doing the repair, to cleaning up, to following up. So, what are some things you can do to bring the team together and make service request resolution everyone's super-success?

Here's an idea. Format a Word document into 3 columns:

1. First Column. As a team, identify the 10 most frequent maintenance issues at your community. Every community is different, from slab leaks to mysterious light switches, to termites, to bed bugs, to aging appliances.  

2. Column 2. For each issue, note whether there is a troubleshooting tip that can be offered to the resident for that issue. Example: Garbage disposal won't work. Troubleshooting tip: Have you tried hitting the reset button? It is located here (describe where to find it).

3. Column 3. For each issue, identify 3 - 5 questions the office staff can ask the resident to provide the most useful information possible for that particular service request.

At the end of this exercise, you will have a 1-page cheat sheet for the office team to use when taking service requests. 

What tips and tricks do you and your team use to keep communication clear and consistent between the maintenance team and office team?

 Jen Piccotti is the VP Consulting Services for SatisFacts Research. www.SatisFacts.com


Comments (8)Add Comment
2106
written by Johnny Karnofsky, March 31, 2010
When I take maintenance requests; I always ask questions so the maintenance team has as much information is possible and brings the right tools/supplies for the job...


Your faucet is leaking? Sure, no problem. Is it leaking above the counter, or below? Is this your kitchen or your bathroom?

Your toilet is about to overflow? Can you please reach underneath and turn off the water supply while I radio maintenance? This will control the amount of water and minimize damage.

Are you home now? Do we have permission to enter? Is there a pet we need to know about?
211
written by Jen Piccotti, March 31, 2010
@Johnny - Great examples! I'll bet your maintenance team and residents love you for it! I especially like that you ask about pets. A dog or cat darting out the door unexpectedly is any team member's nightmare.
1013
written by Tara Smiley, April 03, 2010
At my properties, i have always gotten the resident's phone number so that the maintenance could reach the residents themselves. My maintenance team calls the resident if they have questions about the issue and when the work order is completed to let the resident know personally who did the work and what they did. What we have seen from this process is more informed and educated residents, reduced recitivism of ocupied calls, improved reported level of satisfaction in customer service and a greater sense of ownership by our team. It puts the praise where it belongs!
211
written by Jen Piccotti, April 05, 2010
@Tara - What a great practice! Asking the resident for their phone number while taking the request not only makes it easy for the maintenance team to call if they have questions, it's also a quick and easy way to update your property management system with the latest and greatest contact info! And I admire your maintenance teams' dedication to following up personally with those residents. A sure-fire relationship builder between residents and staff!
2456
written by Melinda Rigler, April 06, 2010
We supply an indexed excel worksheet that allows Leasing Consultants to review common issues, and pertinent questions to ask. It's a SOP manual of sorts. I like the tip of the 1 page cheat sheet for the top 10 issues. Thanks for the tip!

Tara - getting the number is a great tip as well. To make it even better, we train our people to always make sure the new contact information is checked against our property management software. This is a perfect chance to get the information updated.
211
written by Jen Piccotti, April 06, 2010
@Melinda - I love your idea of the indexed spreadsheet. And I give you a standing ovation for making it an expectation that any contact information gathered is checked against your PM system (and the crowd goes WILD!!!!!!!!)! Thanks for sharing these best practices.
3945
written by neil lapham, April 12, 2010
Property management software generally has the capability to collect information, track statuses of requests and compile the information for reporting to identify trends and trouble spots. it has been my experience these features frequently are grossly under utilized. As Yardi Voyager consultants, many times we find the advice we offer is not necessarily anything that is overwhelmingly difficult, but simply taking the steps to properly analyze workflow, design modifications for improvement, implement the changes, and finally measure your results and tweak if necessary.
211
written by Jen Piccotti, April 13, 2010
@Neil - Thanks for sharing your perspective. I've seen this occur as well: the tools are there but they are not used to the greatest advantage. often it is because of a lack of training, so the team simply does not know what it doesn't know. This is a great reminder for properties to check in with their supervisors and ask for training on their PM system so all team members are getting the most value out of the systems.
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