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Educating Residents Reduces Complaints & Costs

Educating Residents Reduces Complaints & Costs

Shortly after completing construction on a brand new Class A apartment community in Michigan, residents began complaining about the operation of their dishwashers. The common complaint, the dishes on the top rack were not getting clean. The problem, the owner chose a low end dishwasher that did not have an arm under the top rack to help circulate the water. Many of our residents were accustomed to using higher end models that did not require a lot of attention to detail. The only way to resolve this problem, outside of purchasing new dishwashers and ensuring the hot water heaters were set at the appropriate temperature was to educate our residents on how to properly pre-rinse, stack and purchase the right dishwashing detergent so that their dishes on the top rack could be cleaned to their satisfaction.

 In an effort to mitigate these complaints a flyer was created telling residents how to use their new dishwashers. They received this flyer during the move-in process. We soon recognized that if we did not verbally give the instructions to the residents until after they realized their dishwasher was not working to their satisfaction that our answer to their complaint was unacceptable. However, if we gave the instructions and verbally discussed the operation of the dishwasher before the residents used it, the complaints dramatically decreased.

The lesson here is if one tells their residents what to expect rather than leaving them to their own expectations, they will be more accepting of the conditions so long as those conditions are reasonable. Every community and its homes have a unique nature.  By educating residents about the equipment in their apartment both in writing and verbally on their move-in day, they will resolve certain situations on their own thereby reducing service requests and labor costs.  

Also, think about the common things residents call about such as their garbage disposal is not working or their air conditioner is not cooling and provide instructions on how to use, reset and clear a jammed disposal or how to avoid frozen evaporator coils. Don't forget to include instructions on obvious items because not everyone knows where the emergency water shut-offs are or where their circuit breaker box is located.

Make an easy to read flyer with helpful diagrams and place it in a plastic sleeve under the resident's kitchen sink or on the inside of a cabinet or pantry door. Review it with the resident(s) in their apartment on their move-in day.  Residents will remember to use it and in the end will be more satisfied with their home.

To READ MORE of Gabriele Preston's journal entries, go to: http://www.multifamilymanagmentconsultants.com

 
This comment was minimized by the moderator on the site

Great post - I know while with another company, they had established a move-in process with a checklist and reviewed all of those important maintenance items down to where the dumpsters where with each resident upon move in - then left an informational guide on things like circuit breakers, sprinklers, smoke detectors, etc. after the move-in tour.

This is such an important process to get the resident started on the right foot and turn this new resident into a renewing loyal resident. It would be like buying a car with navigation/XM satellite/OnStar and not getting a demonstration on how any of it works...same applies to apartment home living.

  Tammy Elam

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