Maintenance teams can significantly impact your resident’s decision to renew their lease and recommend the apartment community to friends and family. Weeks can go by before the office staff even sees a resident, however, maintenance teams are in the resident's home and are seen on the grounds at all times. This can leave the maintenance team to be seen as the face of the community. The perception of the community and the resident's living experience can most often be left to the maintenance team's performance.
When residents are looking to renew their lease or recommending their community to friends or family, there are 4 drivers in which maintenance can maximize the resident's perception of value on their living experience.
1. Promptness
Residents want to know they are receiving the VIP treatment and feel they are the maintenance’s number one priority.
2. Speed
Residents want to be reassured their service request will be handled quickly; as to them, their requests are something they cannot live without. If the policy is a 24-hour guarantee for all service requests, residents are looking to make sure maintenance is able to complete their request within that 24-hour period.
3. Quality
Residents want the repairs to be completed the first time the request is given to management. They never want to see a maintenance team member in their home not able to fix a problem. By leaving a work-order request open the resident feels a sense of mistrust and might feel that management is incompetent when fixing their service requests.
4. Courteous and Professional
Residents expect maintenance to be professional in communication as well as their attire. Residents feel professionalism builds their trust and meets their needs.
Below are practical ways to implement the 4 areas in which maintenance can maximize the value of the resident's living experience.
Promptness:
- Input the resident’s service request into the property management system clearly.
- Respond to the request by acknowledging the request has been received.
Speed:
- If the maintenance staff is not using tablets while out on the property, make sure maintenance checks back for service requests multiple times a day.
- Never leave for the day unless all maintenance orders are completed or residents are made aware of the delay.
Quality:
- Divide up the service requests based on the team member skill set.
- Educate residents on how to submit a detailed request.
- Quality check all service requests prior to work.
Courteous & Professionalism:
- When maintenance team members are in the resident’s home, whether the resident is home or not, being courteous and professional is key.
- Be polite, respectful and considerate of their home and personal items.