CallSource^® Aim Higher

What’s the Secret to Resident Retention? A Finely-Tuned Maintenance Program

by Jeff Smedley, December 20 2010

The three most important aspects of real estate will always be location, location, location. And the three most important reasons to renew leases are service, service, and service. In other words, a finely-tuned maintenance program is the secret to maximum Resident retention.  Are you:

1. Taking care of your Residents the way they want to be taken care of?
2. Twisting and squishing and otherwise reshaping their requests so that it fits your policies and procedures?

If you chose “A,” you’re on the right track. If you chose “B,” read on.

Happy Residents Stay Put
Does your Maintenance Team work on Saturday? How about weekday evenings? Automobile dealers discovered this a long time ago.  Some of the dealers near me have Service Departments that are open Saturday and Sunday, as well as being open until 9:00 PM or 10:00 PM during weeknights. Why? Because that’s the only time many of their customers can come in to get their cars serviced!

Most Residents want to be around when someone is in their apartment, even if we think that’s silly or inconvenient. We may have the right to enter without their presence, but when our Residents aren’t happy, they also have the right to move. Here is an instance where it’s a good idea to follow the Platinum Rule: Do unto others as they want to be done unto. Schedule a Maintenance Technician to work Tuesday through Saturday and another to work from noon until 8:00 PM two or three days a week. Accommodate the wants and needs of your Residents and they will stay put!

Pay Now or Pay Later, the Importance of a Preventive Maintenance Program
There’s no time like the present to review your Preventive Maintenance Program and make certain that you are doing everything possible to prolong the useful life of all the equipment, appliances, amenities, and physical plant items that seem to cost more money every year.

So, if Preventive Maintenance is such a great idea, why doesn’t every community have a program in place? Do any of these sound familiar? "We just don't have the time. We just don't have the money. We just don't have enough people on staff. We don’t have any time, money or staff!” These may all be true, but regardless of the reason why you don’t currently have a Preventive Maintenance Program, you will inevitably have to make the time, find the money, and hire the people to repair the results of NOT having a program. Does the phrase “Pay me now, or pay me later” ring a bell? And unlike your car, which just leaves you stranded when it quits, a breakdown in an apartment will anger the Resident, strain your staff and budget, and ultimately result in higher turnover.

Preparing a Schedule of Inspections and Maintenance
Now that we know what needs to be maintained and how often it should be checked, we can create a schedule. The most commonly used Preventive Maintenance Schedules list the items vertically on the left side of a 12-column pad, and then use each horizontal column to represent a month, giving you a form that can be used for annual, semi-annual, and quarterly inspections. Make another form with a 13-column pad to get your weekly schedule. Make-up one for each property and building listing all exterior and common area items. Create a second set of schedule forms for each apartment in each building listing only the interior items. Put your "master copy" of each schedule in a safe place so you can make additional copies as needed.

Once the basic schedules are complete, take them to a print shop and have them enlarged and printed on heavy card stock. Cover them with acetate film so they can be written on and erased (make sure you use ONLY an erasable marker pen for writing on the film). The schedules can be mounted on plywood and hung in the maintenance shop. Update the preventive maintenance “boards” by taking information from completed service requests.

Resident Retention and Maintenance Suite
People who have the choice of staying or moving will stay put when they are getting their money’s worth, when they feel special, when living at your property saves them time, money and aggravation, and when they enjoy interacting with your staff. You must meticulously and consistently measure your actions and refine your policies, procedures and techniques to produce the results needed to keep your Residents happy.

For example, a timely response to a maintenance request can be as important as the work itself.  Often, if a request doesn’t get a timely response, what could have been a simple repair can become a catastrophe.  That’s why CallSource developed Maintenance Suite.  Maintenance Suite tracks internal maintenance calls from the initial Resident request to the follow-up response from your Maintenance Team. The playback feature allows you to listen to each request and how it was handled, so you can be sure your staff is following your protocols for call-handling, response time, and manner of repair.

In Summary…
Your Maintenance Team has a profound effect on how your community is perceived and whether residents renew their leases and refer their friends to your community.  Employing a Preventive Maintenance Program, providing prompt attention to service requests, supplying top-quality follow-up responses, and apartment ready move-ins are critical touch points in the Resident life cycle. Handle these well and you’re on your way to learning the secret of Resident retention – a finely-tuned Maintenance Program.

Jeff Smedley is Vice President of Multifamily Services for CallSource.