Topic: Maintenance Staff Costs

I'm looking to find how much maintenance staff costs the property above their hourly wage (taxes, health insurance, benefits, business liability insurance, etc.). Even just a percentage of salary (i.e. hourly + 18%). I would appreciate the help!

Also, if you have any links to national or regional statistics, it would be greatly helpful.

The national average hourly wage for a maintenance person is $14-$18 per hour.

Here in Wisconsin:

Average hourly wage for maintenance person: $16.50/hr
Liability insurance is fairly cheap AS LONG as they don't go on the roofs!
Workers Compensation insurance: fairly cheap
Unemployment Insurance: typically small percentage of hours paid to worker (~5-7%)
Benefits: Dental, vision, health, 401k: you determine the employer contribution, usually a percentage. Though benefits are not required to be paid...they're a nice perk for the employee.

There are other costs that go into having employees like: training, attire, work vehicles, equipment & tools, paid vacation, PTO etc.

There are a couple different types of "maintenance" people.

1. Maintenance person that handles your maintenance CALLS.
2. Maintenance person that does the daily walk throughs, basic cleaning of parking lots & common area etc.

Which one are you looking for?

It also really depends on your portfolio. If you have a very large portfolio with thousands of units, then a maintenance team might be a good thing. Folks with a smaller portfolio usually do better with subbing out their maintenance to save on costs of having maintenance employees.

Before hiring any maintenance staff you should answer these types of questions:

1. How often do your units get maintenance requests?
2. What type of tenants do you have? Low income tenants usually cause more damage, but higher income tenants might call in the most because they expect everything to be perfect in their unit.
3. How old are the buildings and the interior workings? (bathtubs, electrical, fridge?)

If you're getting daily maintenance requests, then hiring a full-time maintenance person might be your best bet. Ask an accountant how much a full-time person would cost you. Simply give them the wage YOU could afford and they'll dial it back by including the taxes and everything else. Example: if you wanted to pay someone $15/hr you'll actually be paying more like $17-$19/hr (depending on your state and offered benies). Can you afford the $19/hr? Or can you only afford $16/hr? IF you can only afford the $16/hour, tell your accountant that's your top expense and you need them to figure out a wage that you could tell your employee how much they're being paid per hour. It might be a weird number like $14.37/hr.

Unfortunately in our industry, it's hard to keep maintenance staff around. Most of them flake out after a few months and you're stuck in the same situation. Another property manager offers them a dollar more and boom they're gone without notice. Now you're stuck with pissed off tenants wanting their maintenance requests filled. :pinch:

best regards :)