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Case Study Seven: Properties Address Maintenance Issues
- Situation: Occupancy rates lower than the sub-market standards.
- Occupancy challenges at two fee-managed communities.
- The initial resident satisfaction surveys were conducted to determine the controllable issues negatively impacting performance at each community.
- As shown below, initial results showed there significant service and service request management issues.
- All maintenance related question scores were either “red flag” or “warning” (below 3.00 and 3.50, respectively, on a five point scale). Given the significant correlation between maintenance issues and satisfaction, these issues required immediate attention.
- Using the findings, decisions were made during the post-survey review and planning sessions:
- Add a floating Maintenance Technician to support both communities.
- Contract for maintenance call center support.
- Re-survey six months later to complete the “evaluate – plan – do – review” cycle.
- Correspond with all residents to advise of the changes made due to their feedback.
- The re-survey results showed the changes had a very favorable impact (see table):
- All core service scores increased.
- Office and maintenance staff responsiveness scores increased 12% and 22% respectively.
- Residents appeared to value the support/service enhancements.
- Overall, the average score grew 8%.
- The percent of residents with outstanding service requests were surprising, yet enlightening:
- The percent increased from the mid 40% range to the 50% range. In comparison, the SatisFacts Index is 29.5%.
- The cause was due to an influx of service requests resulting from the client providing a positive, responsive and easier solution to past service request management issues.
- While the percent of outstanding requests grew, all of the service-related scores grew as well; positive attitudes about the added conveniences and support appear to have outweighed any negatives.
Five Point (1-5) Scaled Satisfaction and Yes/No Questions |
| |
Year 1: Score or % Yes |
Rating |
Year 2: Score or % Yes |
SatisFacts Rating |
% Improvement |
| Apartment - Appearance, condition |
3.59 |
Average |
3.79 |
Average |
6% |
| Office - Courteous, professional |
3.85 |
Average |
4.14 |
Superior |
8% |
| Office - Responsive, dependable |
3.36 |
Warning |
3.76 |
Average |
12% |
| Maintenance - Courteous, professional |
3.92 |
Average |
4.07 |
Superior |
4% |
| Maintenance- Response time |
2.60 |
Red Flag |
3.17 |
Warning |
22% |
| Maintenance – Work quality |
3.43 |
Warning |
3.79 |
Average |
10% |
| Overall |
3.51 |
Average |
3.78 |
Average |
8% |
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