Do your maintenance techs get extra compensation when they are on call? Even if there is no emergency call, being expected to remain within an hour of work at all times is anintrusion into their personal lives.

Bill and Pedro...great comments, input! I agree that rapid
maintenance response time is VERY CRITICAL to the success of EVERY
apt. community.

In the last apt. community I rented at, it was over 9 weeks for
maintenance to get to 10 items. They did get to my front door issues...a lose door that was ajar even when both locks were locked and the peep-hole was BLACK. After I had given notice and moved out early on my lease...the Corporate VP e-mailed me attachments of "work orders" that were "back-dated" to a day 2 weeks BEFORE I moved out. I took digital photos of all of the problems the day before I moved out. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. I would consider that "fraud" or at least very dishonest business practice.

Every Manager and Corporate Office should understand that "maintenance" has to be the most important issue to almost every tenant.

Bob Wainner
Plano, Texas

bill casey wrote:

Thanks for the replies,

For the people who have these policies in place, I'm wondering how specific the list is. For example do you consider all electrical problems and emergency? If a breaker flips at 3:00 AM and there are no applicances being run on it and other circuits within the apartment, is this considered an emergency? With a water leak, if somebody discovers a leaky shutoff at 3:00 AM and could easily catch the water in a bowl until the morning is this considered an emergency?
.

Thanks,
Bill

Let's address the electric outage at 3am first.... It is an emergency if you are in an area where there is a severe weather situation, either extreme heat or cold, and need the HVAC to work..... Water leak is another issue: is it a SLOW leak (drip...drip....drip) from either a faucet or the roof? If this is the case, it MIGHT be able to wait until first thing in the AM (the resident may not even call for this until then); or is it a faucet that cannot shut off, or is it a major series of leaks through the roof in the rain? This must be addressed immediately to minimize damage and water waste.

Thanks for the replies,

I have a small number of places. 7 multi-family homes with a total of 21 units. All within 1.5 miles of one another.

For the people who have these policies in place, I'm wondering how specific the list is. For example do you consider all electrical problems and emergency? If a breaker flips at 3:00 AM and there are no applicances being run on it and other circuits within the apartment, is this considered an emergency? With a water leak, if somebody discovers a leaky shutoff at 3:00 AM and could easily catch the water in a bowl until the morning is this considered an emergency?

MY CONCERN: I will not have a maintenance person on-site 24 hours a day. Only a couple of electricians and plumbing/heating guys who will be on call 24 hours. I do not want to be paying them their after-hours rates for frivolous tenant concerns.

Thanks,
Bill

Also add to that list windows and doors (anything that prohibits the apartment from being "secured") and of course fires. Can't forget that one! :P

Bill - We take our occupied maintenance seriously and as such require that all on-call techs be within 1 hour from the propety when on call. Regardless of the emergency.
We use an answering service that does a great job of "screening" the calls, weeding out non-emergencies and notifying the on-call when a real emergency does come up.
Our emergencies are as follows: Electrical (as in none or breaker trips, etc.), No Heat or A/C (regardless of temp or season), water issues (leaks, backups, or lack of), anything related to either the smoke detector or CO detector.
However, that said, our maintenance team takes pride in the fact that customer service is the name of their game. We carry a 24 hour completion policy on occupied maintenance orders and also keep a strong list of subcontractors at the ready.
Since your portfolio is sizeably smaller, it would make sense to keep a 24 hour policy on regular work orders and stick to the basic categories for emergencies, keepingin mind fair housing issues as well as liability concerns.