Week 25: The Maintenance Dream Team
In addition to the cadre of independent contractors who do initial rehabs and between-tenant turns for our owners, we have a team of skilled people on our payroll. Being employees, they are covered by our general liability and worker’s compensation insurance policies. We will only allow our employees to work in tenant-occupied units as a liability mitigation measure. We cannot send people we do not know into tenant’s homes.
A talented team of both w2 employees and independent contractors is the key to flexibility, safety, and profitability.
Our senior maintenance team members can do most HVAC, plumbing and minor electrical work. They have decades of experience between them and have been with us for several years. The hourly cost of our employees is not insignificant. However, our owners have found over the years that having our people handle an HVAC emergency or a broken pipe situation in the dead of winter is far cheaper than hiring a third-party contractor to do the same work – even at after hours.
Our tenant service standard is to complete routine requests within 72 hours and to stay in touch with the tenant throughout the process. There is nothing more frustrating for a tenant than having something broken in their home and not be able to get it fixed. Our property management software vendor Appfolio provides us with a 24 hour answering service for maintenance requests from our tenants. If a tenant has an emergency situation or a routine request, they contact the service through an app on their phone or call an 800 number and speak to a live person.
The system allows us to designate what is considered an emergency and who is to be contacted to do the work for each unit under management. If an owner is doing his or her own maintenance, the service will contact the owner directly. All maintenance requests are documented on our management portal and on the Appfolio mobile tablet application. Our maintenance team members each carry an Android based tablet with the Appfolio application installed.
Our goal is always to meet the expectations of the tenant while keeping costs and liability to the owner as low as possible.
Yours in profitability,
ROOST Real Estate Co.
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We have a team of professionals that will treat your properties like our own.
PLUS: Whenever you’re ready, here are three ways I can help make your real estate work for you so you can get on with you do best.
- Tap into our qualified tenant database. We may have an active applicant to share. (Use subject line: TENANT)
- Get a detailed punch list and repair estimate. We’ll do a room by room inspection of your property and report back. (Use subject line: PUNCHLIST)
- Check the rent rate competition in your neighborhood. Our property managers are happy to share their market-rate rent knowledge. (Use subject line: RENT)
Just email me at: Chris@ROOSTRealEstateCo.com
