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Professional Property Maintenance: A Few Things to Consider First
For any landlords striving to keep their grounds clean and their tenants satisfied, hiring professional property maintenance personnel can be absolutely essential--because the fact is, on a rental property, there seems to be something constantly in need of repair, and trying to fix everything yourself will sap time from other responsibilities.
Constantly having to call in outside help from electricians, plumbers, and so on, can dramatically ratchet up maintenance costs, which will slim your profit margin. So, here are a few things to think about before bringing professionals on board with you.
One of the first things to consider is whether or not you can work out a deal with a qualified tenant. There is always a good chance that a skilled man or woman renting part of your property would exchange a total or even partial waiver of rent for their services.
However, in doing this, you should try to find someone who is well-rounded in their talents. If they are great with landscaping and keeping the grounds clean but couldn't fix a washing machine to save their life, then you may be better off outsourcing to an actual company that handles your property maintenance for you and have all the right people with the correct skills whenever you need them.
One crucial thing to think about is the distance from your property that potential maintenance workers live. This may tie directly into their response time. If they do not live on site, and their residence is far from your property, it may be very difficult to handle urgent situations which need immediate attention. In that case, lack of a prompt response can ruin relationships with tenants which may go on to win you a bad reputation. Poor response time with maintenance issues is a leading complaint among unsatisfied tenants.
Depending on the size and number of properties you manage, it may be very wise to invest in several workers, full- and part-time who will live on-site and be on call. This also can be influenced by the volume of issues your tenants usually experience and how serious those problems tend to be.
For instance, if you run a large apartment complex in northern Idaho, and you know that certain furnaces and water heaters tend to go out every January, it would be wise to have two or three on-call personnel who are particularly gifted with such repairs.
Finally, and most importantly, you must be sure to hire trustworthy and qualified maintenance staff. Always check both employer and character references to be sure that they can not only do the job, but that they can do it honestly. This harks back to the question of your reputation: if a maintenance worker leaves a tenant upset, the tenant will hold you responsible. Finding workers to take care of your property maintenance may seem uncomplicated, but still be sure you are hiring people of integrity.
About the Author For truly uncomplicated but efficient (and trustworthy) property maintenance, visit Symbiot, Inc. (http://www.symbiot.biz), a total-service company to manage all of your property's needs. Art Gib is a freelance writer. |
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