Hot take: work orders closed do not tell you the whole story about maintenance performance.

A technician can close 30 work orders in a day, but if they’re rushing through them, creating callbacks, or not actually fixing the underlying issue, is that really a successful day?

I’d rather look at the bigger picture:
• Was it fixed correctly the first time?
• Are callbacks increasing?
• Is preventative maintenance getting done?
• Are urgent issues being prioritized?
• Is the resident being communicated with?
• Are maintenance costs being managed effectively?

The number is important, but the number without context doesn’t tell you much.

I’d take quality work and a well-run maintenance operation over an impressive work-order count any day.

What metric do you think is most important when evaluating maintenance performance?

Isn’t this “common sense”?
I’m not sure anyone in their right mind, would see it any other way!
What happened to calling/texting the resident personally and legitimately asking how the service was?!
That will tell you how the performance “really” is. Or ummmm, as the manager, it doesn’t hurt to shadow every now and then…
Be proactive to know!

I think Google reviews quite frankly is telling. Which I used to disagree with that sentiment.
Properties I’ve worked at, I had good teams and I had teams that absolutely did half-a$$ things.
I took Google Reviews with a grain of salt. So when I was looking at renting a unit in an amazing location and just what I needed—I disregarded the bad Google Reviews. I was like “Well I know a lot of residents don’t understand the process. Residents can lie. I’ll give this property a chance.”
Big mistake. My unit wasn’t ready on move in day. Their maintenance supervisor told me the dirt and food debris on the cabinets was “staining”, and I looked him in the eye and said “Sir, I can wipe this off and vacuum this. It’s food.” And then the garbage disposal was broken on move in day, he replaced it as I finished the walk through with leasing. He installed it wrong and then it leaked for 3 days until another maintenance tech came and fixed it.
The dryer was broken. I kept telling them that it was broken. They came out 3 times. Had to order a replacement myself because they weren’t resolving the issue.
I had to replace broken cabinet hinges. Recessed lighting and many bulbs.
They didn’t replace the air filter. The air ducts had thick and gray dust on the vents and around the wall.
The blinds were broken. Window screens missing.
Some of the work orders never even got completed for the entire year we were there. We’d get so many excuses as to why they couldn’t do the work order. “Have to measure for the screens”. They’d measure and never come back. “Have to special order”, and then never order. “Give it a try and let us know if it still doesn’t work”. We’d let them know same day and they wouldn’t return for weeks.
We loved the location and again, the rental had everything we needed. Maintenance made it hell and we left.
I do believe that Property Managers need to micromanage a little more. Half the time residents ignore the surveys that go out. I think the PMs need to follow up with personal phone calls. “Hey we notice you submitted 10 orders in 2 months. What’s going on? How is our team?” Etc.
But numbers can be manipulated. I’ve seen it in other customer service fields. Had one coworker, we’ll call him KitKat because he was always on a break. He’d submit multiple tickets for one issue, so he could appear to be resolving a lot of issues. Meanwhile he was never at his desk and was outside taking care of his side hustle.
Listen to your Google reviews, your Kingsley surveys, and listen to the residents. It’s very easy to dismiss them as difficult but we really gotta stop doing that.

I’ve been with the same maintenance guy/ supervisor at this point now for over 8 years. BECAUSE he does both. If he can find a way to be preventative in any scenario, he does. Even during routine maintenance calls. He can’t and won’t ignore an issue he sees with his eyeballs and knowledge. That’s why we’ve worked together to long. He a keeper. That said, I’ve worked with people who “bandaid” the issue till it becomes a bigger issue. The most important thing is doing the right thing.