The Responsibilities of a Maintenance Team
Multi-housing communities can only manage appropriately with a well-run maintenance department. Maintenance is and always will be the backbone of a happy apartment community. Don’t get me wrong here Management and Leasing have their hands full also. Without a well-organized maintenance team, your property will have work order log a mile long, low curb appeal, unhappy residents a low occupancy, and probably an unnecessary rise in concessions. The maintenance team is responsible just about for everything on your property from the curb appeal, the work orders, preventive maintenance, the swimming pool cleanliness and common area upkeep. In most cases, the maintenance team is responsible for everything on the property except for leasing, rent and taking prospects on tour (some of us have done that too when the office is shorthanded). I don’t want to sell the office staff short they do have their hands full too, some days it is a madhouse between prospects, follow-ups, weekly and month end reports along with all the other traffic through the office they stay busy.
The curb-Appeal
Most properties do have a landscaping team contracted to come out weekly or as needed during the prime growing season or you may have a dedicated grounds crew. If your community is large and you have a grounds crew you know that they stay busy keeping the property looking good and you stay busy inspecting and planning your seasonal plantings. When you don’t have a grounds crew, and your property needs to be attended to regularly it is best to set areas for your team to walk inside and out. Rotate your list weekly so fresh eyes are on everything often. Remember curb appeal is the first thing that is seen by everyone who drives near your property so make it a top priority of the day.
Preventive Maintenance “PM’s”
You should have PM schedule planned for the whole year; your program should consist of an interior and exterior list. I am not going to get too far into PM’s at this time; this will be an entirely separate subject soon.
Everyday Maintenance
Daily maintenance on most properties is a mix of work orders, building maintenance, and preventive maintenance. Let’s not forget about the incessant emergency’s, and the “I need this done right now” by the office. There are a million things that can be called everyday maintenance, and I have never worked at a property that something did not need to be done.
And when you think you are finished you get the call
Just when you are starting to relax the phone rings, and the answering service tells you that there is a leak from upstairs to an apartment below. Yes! You are on call, after all that work earlier in the day. On-Call is part of the regular maintenance job description for everyone from Tech I to Supervisor has to take calls. Some maintenance techs have to cover multiple properties, but most have only one. When you are covering more than one property, you share the responsibility with more techs, and you don’t have an on-call duty as often.
Wrapping it up
The last part of the day is finished off with a few different of maintenance task that should not be overlooked. Close out your completed work orders, finish any daily reports and make sure the shop is straightened up and organized, so you’re not using part of your morning getting reorganized. Regardless how you look at a day in maintenance it is busy, it is hard to get a break much less relaxing at lunch to get ready for the second half, but this is what comes with being a maintenance person. Remember Mainteance911.com is always available with advice, documents, videos and much more that will help you
Work Smarter, Not Harder
