Three Aspects to Great Maintenance

For a while we've heard that the key to resident satisfaction is providing excellent maintenance. Now although you know I think that is really only half of the equation, it is still vital to keeping your residents from running around with pitchforks trying to tar and feather your onsite team. But what exactly does providing great maintenance truly entail? Well, here are my three important aspects to providing great maintenance:

1) Understand The Problem - As I'm sure you know, residents will sit on maintenance issues for a long time without informing the office. This can be due to not being able to come into the office during work hours, getting a voicemail on the phone, or sometimes just plain laziness on the part of the resident. However, even if you are not aware of the problem, you will be blamed for it in their eyes, no matter the cause. I know that sounds ludicrous - how are you supposed to help them if they don't tell you? Well, sometimes life isn't fair, so you have to be more proactive in making sure all their problems are taking care of.

First, make sure they have plenty of avenues to contact you. Maybe you have one night a week where you keep the office open late, or maybe you have a resident portal they feel confident will get the message to you in a timely manner. Second, I recommend asking your resident if there is anything you can do for him or her every time they call. For example, if they call to find out about pet restrictions, take the time to ask if everything else is ok and if they have anything you need to take care of. This will make a great impression on your residents and will make sure you have full knowledge of the community around you.

Lastly, make sure you take the time to fully understand the problem and clearly communicate to your maintenance team. If your maintenance personnel have to leave the unit to get additional parts, it is wasted time and not efficient. Plus, it extends the time in the resident's apartment, which can be frustrating.

2) Communication - This is INCREDIBLY important in the service request process, but is often done very poorly. Residents not only want their issue resolved, but they want to feel like they are "in the loop" on the process. There are several ways to do this, from a website where your residents can check on the process to a simple "heads up" call that your maintenance techs are on the way. This heads up call can also improve efficiency as you may learn of an additional problem that your maintenance techs need to be ready for. But in the end, residents appreciate knowing that somebody is on the way, so that they can get the pets locked up and they can feel "presentable."

This part of the communication loop is most important when it comes to your maintenance technicians. There is one of two things they need to do on every maintenance call. If the maintenance has been completed successfully, they need to find the resident and clearly state that the job was done, giving the resident ample time to look over the work. This process must not be rushed! However, if additional parts are needed, the maintenance tech must clearly explain to the resident the issue and give a timeframe to the best of his or her ability. Keep that timeframe written down and if it changes, update the resident. If additional parts or tools are needed but are located on site, the maintenance tech must also let the resident know he/she is leaving to pick something up and give a time he/she will be back, even if it is only five minutes. I've been on the resident side where I didn't realize the maintenance guy had left but the job was clearly not done. It definitely left an uneasy feeling with me, which would have been alleviated if I had known what was going on.

In the end, you will find that residents are MUCH more understanding and relaxed if they feel informed, which makes them feel like they have some sort of control over the situation. Residents who feel out of control or more likely to cause problems in the long run!

(Don't let bad communication turn your resident ugly)

3) Getting the Job Done - This is the obvious part, which I won't go into detail on. If you don't fix what you say you are going to fix, or wait 3 weeks to do it, no amount of communication will save you. Remember that your business is renting apartments that work in the way the resident expects it to. Your maintenance team makes that happen, so in many ways they are the most important people in your team. I've seen way too many situations where they are subjugated because they are "manual labor." This would be a huge mistake - pay your maintenance personnel well and, most importantly, give them the proper respect. That will help you keep the most qualified people and provide great service to your residents.