Apartment Maintenance
Exploring the Full Spectrum of Improvisation for Success in Multifamily
Unleashing Creativity and Agility for Operational Excellence
Photo by RhondaK Native Florida Folk Artist on Unsplash
In multifamily management, leaders are confronted with numerous unforeseen challenges daily. Embracing the full spectrum of improvisation could be the game-changer needed to effectively navigate these challenges, optimize operations, and improve resident satisfaction. In this brief space, I want to unpack the potent benefits of improvisation and provide practical strategies for its application in multifamily management.
Despite structured management models and established protocols, multifamily leaders and property teams often encounter situations where no policy or procedure fits. Whether dealing with extraordinary maintenance events, handling delicate resident issues, or navigating team member concerns, these unanticipated situations require a swift, innovative response. Unfortunately, rigid adherence to antiquated procedures can stifle creativity, slow response times, and reduce satisfaction, leading to potential downsides or adversities.
Integrating the spectrum of improvisation into your management approach can offer many benefits. First, it promotes agile thinking, enabling your teams to adapt as new challenges arise and to quickly devise innovative solutions. This flexibility not only reduces downtime but also improves efficiency and productivity.
Secondly, improvisation fosters a problem-solving mindset, encouraging teams to find solutions rather than dwelling on problems. By empowering your team members with the freedom to improvise, you foster a proactive culture where challenges are seen as opportunities for innovation and growth.
Moreover, incorporating improvisation can enhance communication with residents, team members, and business partners. Emphasizing dialogue over rigid processes can lead to a better understanding of resident and team member needs, ultimately improving satisfaction and retention.
Finally, the act of improvising can stimulate continuous learning and improvement. By recognizing each unexpected event as a learning opportunity, you can refine your management strategy, creating a cycle of ongoing advancement.
Incentivizing Multifamily Maintenance Techs
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
As a property manager, you know that all team members are essential to building a positive resident experience. However, maintenance technicians often have the most impact on residents, as they are the ones who interact with them the most. If you want to encourage and recognize the successes of your maintenance technicians, here are nine ways to do it:
- Pay a premium for good technicians, and base raises on performance. Using maintenance management software, you can gather hundreds of data points about technician performance to measure their value to the company.
- Offer flexible hours to help technicians maintain a healthy work/life balance and reduce the chances of burnout. Centralization through technology can also improve the technician experience by allowing them to sync data and report to a central source, reducing the need to go back and forth to the leasing office constantly.
- Create a career path for technicians by offering training and grooming opportunities to help them advance or specialize. This can increase job satisfaction and make technicians more likely to stay with your company.
- Acknowledge and recognize the hard work and achievements of your technicians. This can include verbal recognition, small bonuses for going above and beyond, and proactively giving raises for consistently good performance.
- Offer professional development and training opportunities to help technicians improve their skills and advance their careers.
- Implement a rewards program that recognizes and rewards technicians for exceptional performance, such as meeting specific productivity goals or going above and beyond for residents.
- Provide technicians with the tools and equipment they need to do their jobs effectively, including access to technology and software to help them be more efficient.
- Encourage a positive and supportive work culture where technicians feel valued and appreciated for their contributions.
- Provide benefits such as gym memberships, team-building events, or employee wellness programs, and employee benefits that can make the job more enjoyable and rewarding.
Implementing some or all of these strategies can improve your maintenance technicians’ job satisfaction and performance, leading to a better resident experience and lower staff turnover rates.
Apartment Maintenance: Turnover Paint Line
No doubt the question will come; why is my turnover paint line so off? Why are we over budget so much?
The law that has been on again off again over the past two to three years is here and it’s real. According to a local STL rehabber blog that I read occasionaly, the EPA is coming out big in the way of fines.
What have you done to prep for this moment? Do you use in-house painters and or contracted third parties to paint your apartments? This will no doubt be a burden for all involved.
Your, I used to eat paint chips when I was a kid, blog partner
M
Apartment Maintenance On-Call Policy
I have taken a number of questions lately on the subject of calculating compensation for on-call maintenance men and women. As such I thought I would post the important points of our policy as a way to hopefully starting some discussion.
In brief of our policy is as follows:
1. Employees are paid for one-hour minimum – if they physically leave their home to complete a call
2. They are paid at time and a half
3. They are paid mileage from their legal residence
I am curious about other nuances our there; please drop us a comment as the community is interested.
And, I do hope that you have an amazing and over the top weekend.
Apartment pest control
I received some feedback on the Moth balls and bugs post yesterday and because I’m not sure of the answer I decided to throw it out to the group. Here is the feedback – courtesy of Nathan.
“Thanks for sharing…we will have to try that out at our property!
Any ideas how to get rid of a huge cloud of knats that are hanging out
just outside of my models front door! :)”
What I would say is that there has to be a source. I know when I see knats in my home I immediately go to the fruit bowl I keep, more times than not I have to throw something out. It usually solves the problem.
Are there any other thoughts out there relative to this problem?
