Topic: Scheduling work order and unit turnover for maintenance staff

I have 2 full time maintenance staff that do all work orders and the unit turnover for 150 units. We do not outsource any of the work and they are allowed overtime. What is the best way to schedule time for work orders and unit turnover. Some Work orders are not being worked on in a timely manner and then upon final inspection of unit turnovers, items are overlooked.

Does anyone have a schedule that they have the maintenance staff on so that both current tenant work orders are done in a reasonable time and my units turnovers are done?

Erin, what is your current system and process for tracking work orders and turns?

For my 1.79 cents worth (Feel free to round up if you would like :-)

On site I tend to keep the mentality of "let's make a plan that will change with the situation". By that I mean that the scheduling is kept to a priority first basis with flexibility built in. My guess is that you are already doing this and are looking for more guidance.

As Mike Tyson used to say "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth!"

As priorities change, any plan or schedule gets redirected at first "punch". Emergency Service requests always take priority, even over pre-leased apartments due to the potential life safety issues. Beyond that the most important part of scheduling is communication.

This implies that all members of the staff have a clear goal of the objective for the day/week/month, and are continually updating their individual work to meet those goals. Since both the office and maintenance staff are working towards the same goals and priorities change both the office and maintenance need to communicate those changes in timeline, supplies, budget, locations, etc...

The times that produced the most frustration and trouble was when technicians had a plan to paint in one apartment, and the office wanted to show another apartment so it needed to be refreshed while a pipe blows in a third unit without clear communication as to what will happen when.

Hope this is of assistance....

As a side note, it's funny you quoted Mike Tyson because we scheduled a post for Monday relating to an upcoming webinar using that same quote! What a coincidence.

Erin,

It's difficult to schedule work orders, as you can't really predict when they'll come up... for turnovers, I do have a system, though. Every Monday morning I give maintenance an updated turnover schedule. It lists all upcoming move-ins (unit#, size, move in date) on one side, and all vacant unleased apartments on the other. They then schedule the turnover to be completed 3-4 days before move in, so there's time for our cleaner and carpet shampoo company to come in after them. Work orders just come in throughout the day, and one tech will stay in the apartment doing the turnover, and the other will go and finish the work order. We typically complete all work orders the day they are received, unless it comes in after about 3:30-4:00, depending on what needs done. Those work orders are then schedule for completion the next morning before anything else. Hope this is helpful.

I input work orders into our management system, print out and give to our maintenance. I dont get returned sheets right away if the work is done.

Yes I need a new plan to communicate between maintenance and the office. As the neighborhood has changed with rent going up, current tenants are expecting a lot more in terms of service right away. I do need to figure out the goals between office and maintenance.

Would 48 Hours be too long for non-emergency work orders to be fixed, if we do not have to place special orders? I feel like this would give us plenty of time, and work around any emergencies as our buildings are from 1929.

Thank you for the input.

I've found that the frustration for residents over non-emergency service requests is the lack of communication. If the resident is left with the feeling of "When are they coming?" or "Did they even get the message?" than 48 hours is too long.

Instead, if the resident can receive some form of communication (personal call is better than an email or text) letting them know that a technician will be there on "X" day that frustration will be alleviated. In addition, the staff member can ask the resident for more detail(s) which will reinforce that we are truly interested in the issue as well as speed up the overall request completion time.

The other benefit of this process will be the unintended consequence that your office staff will HAVE to talk more with maintenance to ensure that unrealistic promises are not being made to residents!

Brent wrote:

As a side note, it's funny you quoted Mike Tyson because we scheduled a post for Monday relating to an upcoming webinar using that same quote! What a coincidence.

Great minds think...

That is exactly how we do our work orders and make readies!

We have tried many different ways but this one works the best for all.

My friend, Paul Rhodes is on point about communication. Leasing and management need to have a clear understanding of the workload faced by the maintenance team, and not make promises that cannot be kept. I like to have a 10 minute "toolbox" meeting first thing in the morning with the maintenance team. We line out the day with what work we know needs to be done. We also talk about the leasing activity that happened the day before, and discuss if any parts or supplies need to be ordered. Be sure to limit this to 10 minutes, or you will find time is being wasted with chit-chat. I used a kitchen timer for this purpose. When it dinged, we were done.

Office personnel need to be careful what they say to residents, and properly set expectations. To say "I'll have someone over after lunch" means the resident expects them at the apartment home at 1:01 PM. Instead, say that the maintenance tech will by at their home before 5 PM. Of course, if an emergency arises, the office team MUST call the resident and let them know of any delays. Always quote the latest time the technician could arrive. When they are early, the resident is pleasantly surprised.

One other idea to help with scheduling is to stagger maintenance days and hours. By scheduling one maintenance tech to work Tuesday through Saturday, you eliminate over time for a Saturday call out. If they are not busy with service tickets, they can work on make readies.

You can also schedule one tech to work 8 - 5, and the other to work 9 - 6, or even 10 - 7. Most residents come home after 5 PM, and that's when they find that the A/C is not working. Having a tech working normal hours until 6 or 7 PM again controls OT, but also provides a higher level of resident service, resulting in better resident retention and word of mouth advertising.

All great comments - however in 30 years of balancing the turnover workload and day to day work orders I have a couple of tips to pass on:

1. With residents permission (of course) ALWAYS perform a PRE-INSPECTION about two weeks before the actual move out. This gives you a full two weeks to order large ticket items (flooring or blinds etc) and also enables you to assess what work is required by in house staff. After some time you will be able to walk in and say "barring unexpected or unforeseen issues, this turn should take my maintenance person 7 - 8 hours". Immediately put this turn on your Turnover Schedule, assigning it to a specific employee.

2. What works really well is to whenever possible divide the work up in either one of two ways.A. split the property into sections what comes in from one section goes to that employee who has been assigned that section. Recognizing that overlapping and coverage in cases of emergency always take precedence assigning one person to that section gives immediate ownership and responsibility to that employee - great motivator.B. If you have two maintenance personnel Assign one to only turnovers (there is always those who prefer to have repetitive schedule work and can blast through it) and the other to all workorders.

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I was given 5 units to be complete and keys turned in all in one week. Am I crazy or to my understandING and experience..i should be given 4 to 5 days per unit to complete a turnover. That's based on vendor scheduling and maintenance repairs

I'm at a student property and we turn about 98 units in 7 days. It's all about you and how good you are at scheduling. It can be done. I wish that was my biggest concern. :) Best of luck.
D

You are correct, standard is usually a 5 day turn.(depending on management co.) Usually its as follows, depending on whats needed Carpet Replacement etc. The day of installs of things may very slightly.
Day 0 Move Out Date-Pictures taken, inspection and charges filled out
Day 1 for repairs/maintenance maybe 2 days depending on condition.
Day 2 for touch up paint (in house)--Full paint we vendor out.
Day 3 Resurfacing of tub, shower enclosure, kitchen (if needed) we also vendor this out
Day 4 Unit Clean
Day 5 Carpet Shampoo (Early Morning) - Final walk/ punch list if possible
Day 6-7 Complete punch list if needed - Move In

Please keep in mind we do not always resurface tubs, and kitchen counter as we have quartz in most, which will free up a day in the turn that you can utilize to add to maintenance and repairs depending on what is needed or to occupy unit faster.

We do not have maintenance on the weekend so if any of this falls with a weeknd then dates are adjusted to reflect that.

If you are the only one onsite and all of those units moved out at the same time. Make ready dates should have been scattered a couple days apart.

Depending on the condition of units and budget, as a manager, I would have had you do 2-3 in house and vendor the other ones out, or called in a temp. to help with grounds/works orders and lend you hand with turns when he finishes those items.

Depending on your property size, which sounds about 100 or less, I also stager my lease expirations at time of rental to try to prevent the possibility of to much turn over in 1 month.

Also, as a maintenance tech/supervisor, you should be aware of units on notice as soon as they go on notice, this way you can do pre-move out inspections prior to move out and determine which ones can be fast turns and which ones should be vendored out.

The schedule regarding make ready date should be determined or estimated at this time to put on the turn board,(I use an excel spreadsheet) this way this lets office staff know the date of availability and there is no confusion. This is to prevent them from scheduling a move in too early, you trying to get it done, with little opportunity for final walks and final punchlists.

Which may affect turn quality at move in, upset resident, possible rent credits, and may have you going back in after move in to rectify any issues they may or may not had.

Hope this helps! Good Luck

As previously mentioned I would stagger their schedules out 7:30 am - 4:30 pm, Especially if office opens at 8am.

I have always scheduled one tech to come in 30 minutes prior to office opening to prepare front market window etc for that 1 early walk in, thats waiting at the door at 8am.

Other techs start at 8:30am and other tech at 9:30 am. I also find that when I have been at a property that does everything in house. Maintenance techs like to work along side each other. The intent is to finish faster with two people.

However, often times they slow each other down as they are socializing as well. When items are missed no one can be held accountable. I usualy stagger lunches and have them work independantly so they are accountable for their work. Also, I tend to have all the staff stagger lunches as the office should not be closed during business hours if you have a team of more then 1, as well as maintenance, in an instance where there might be an emergency.

We also have a turn checklist for each unit, where maintenace checks off and signs it. These are turned in to supervisor, where final walk takes place and a punchlsit is done if needed. Turn checklist eventually makes its way to office staff and gets implemented in residents file.

First thing in the morning we go over notice and rentals from previous days and what work orders are still pending and new work orders.

Turns and work orders get split between techs dependent on each tech skills and strengths.

We use a "make ready board" on an excel spreadsheet with all items and we are all aware what is happening in a turn unit on what day, wether its getting painted, cleaned resurfaced etc.

Its their responsiblity to handle their work order within a 24 hour time frame, or at least reach out to resident and let them know if the 24 hour time frame cannot be kept. However work orders should be done no later then 48 hours.

Technicians are responsible to adhere to turn schedule as make ready date is based off of this schedule and staff is offering the unit for move in per the make ready board.

Regarding scheduling of turns, scheduling of techs or delays in turns, grounds and work orders due to lacking materials or supplies, holding technicians accountable to adhere turn scheudle and work orders as well as quality, these itmes are all the Maintenece Supervisors responsibilities.

I hope this helps.

I think 48 hours is great.

It really depends on the units. If they were in need of just cleaning or was it more. 5 units, 5 days I'm thinking it had to be very minimum

Im not an employee in the apartment industry but am doing research on my own to figure out what my options are and what steps I need
to take in order to get something done in my apartment.
2 weeks ago today during a rainstorm my kitchen ceiling began to leak in 3 areas, it had not leaked any prior to this, placed trash cans ect to catch the leaks and call my apartment office the next morning since it was after hours. It rained off and on that evening and about 3 to 4 hours after the leaks started approx 1/2 of my kitchen ceiling fell down. I live on the 2nd floor of a 4 unit apartment 2 story building in a rather large Dallas, TX complex. After the ceiling collapsed there was of course debris was a mess and there was wet insulation hanging from areas where it collapsed lapsed. My light fixture in the kitchen wasn't directly affected but is right next to collapsed area and does not work now. The stove is gas and is under the collapse and there is standing water inside, not to mention there was a small hole about 2 inches wide that was open to outside. I called the office and used the option to leave message for an urgent maintenance issue and this was about midnight. No response, the next morning I was at the office when they opened and talked to apartment employee and showed her pic and she said she'd send maintence right over. No one came and that was Saturday so we cleaned the debris we could and I called and left another message also with no response. On Monday I called again and left message, sometimes they answer, but usually not. I put in urgent request online too with pics and got an message back that was automated with a work order numb. Rained again water flooded in and dining room started leaking, the next day collapsed too, about half the ceiling. Left another urgent message and no response except automated. Finally received message that acroofing company coming to repair but didn't say when or approx when and it took another week and supposedly they fixed roof but before they did my boyfriend had to go and find maintenance on the property and himself and try n find something out. My ceiling in both kitchen and dining rooms is still open and still wet insulation is hanging down and I have no idea when it will be fixed because they just seem to not care. Should I contact the company that owns my apartments or keep trying to deal with the office??

I have one maintenance person for 2 properties. One is 95 units and the other 76, both with garages that have to be maintained as well as a pool.
I speak with him every morning, about what is going on, update on open work orders, as well as future move in's or move out's. This man does it all. Washer, dryers, snow removal, heating and air.
If you have a great maintenance partner, this makes it so much easier. Communication is key, and you as a Manager have to be the leader. Prior to a resident moving out, we talk about the unit and what we know will need to be done. He creates what we call a grocery list of what we will need and what to be done. He know how long he will need to spend in that unit.
Work orders are always a priority, as high renewal rate is of utmost importance as our properties were built in the 70's and as they age, you have more things go wrong. Just remember that something that doesn't work is not a big deal to us, it is to the resident.
My guy has been working with me for 18 years. We have it down.