Helping Property Managers Address Maintenance Requests

Digital transformation isn’t just a passing trend but a fundamental change in how businesses operate and deliver value to their customers. Many factors drive digital transformation, including the rapid pace of innovation, increasing customer demands and expectations, and the need for businesses to become more agile and efficient.

The digital transformation process positively influences all sectors, including the rental industry, empowering property managers to elevate tenants’ experiences by adopting technology that enables tenants and managers to customize maintenance requests to their needs.

Why (some) property managers struggle.

A lack of digital tools creates issues for property managers, especially when their time is eaten up by manual processes that technology could automate. Imagine spending hours manually collecting rent from tenants — a time-consuming and error-prone task, leading to late payments and cash flow problems.

Property managers may struggle to track lease expiration and renewal dates without digital tools, leading to late lease renewals and tenant turnover. A higher level — and frequency — of available units also drains resources and finances, as property managers must spend significant time and money marketing the properties or units.

Finally, without a digital system, property managers may deal with a large volume of tenant calls and emails about maintenance requests. Property managers and field workers may also have trouble communicating with each other. A lack of adequate mobility tools, including those facilitating communication, can lead to installation, maintenance, and repair scheduling challenges and extended turnover times. In short, poor communication can lead to misunderstandings and frustration for everyone.

By adopting the right tools in today’s digital world, property managers can deliver what their tenants expect: convenient, efficient services. Building owners benefit from improved operations and reduced costs.

Adopting and implementing the right field service management tool.

One central area of concern for tenants and property managers? Maintenance. Repair and maintenance expenses can create quite a financial headache. They include:

• Routine maintenance: Grass cutting, basic landscaping, pruning, and emptying the garbage.
• Seasonal maintenance: Gutter cleaning, snow removal, leaf raking, pruning.
• Appliance maintenance: HVAC systems, ovens, stoves, dryers, and washers — often less expensive to repair than replace.
• Emergency maintenance: Pipes burst, ACs and heaters die, roofs leak — and they need quick repair (that’s rarely cheap).
• Capital expenditures: Appliance replacements, new roofs, driveways, flooring, or paint — expenses that add up fast.

Property managers can elevate tenants’ experiences by adopting field service management (FSM) technology that allows everyone to customize maintenance requests to their needs. The right technology, like a property maintenance software platform, offers tools to help both parties.

A web portal or mobile app allows tenants to submit maintenance requests with specific details, like the type of issue when it started, and any steps they’ve taken to resolve it. The system can automatically route the information to the appropriate property manager or maintenance technician for prompt attention.

Technology also allows tenants to attach photos or videos to their maintenance requests. Doing so helps property managers to understand the problem better, determine what parts might be needed, and send the right person to fix it correctly.

Property managers can also use an automated work order management system to track the status of maintenance requests in real time. This technology allows tenants to see when their request was received, when someone was assigned to work on it, and when they can expect their issue to be resolved.

These systems also allow property managers to send tenants automated notifications about their maintenance request’s status, eliminating a barrage of emails and phone calls. Once a request is completed, the system can automatically send a tenant satisfaction survey to follow up and gather feedback property managers can use to identify opportunities for improvement.

Other benefits of FSM platforms.

FSM platforms are excellent for helping property managers deliver better service to their tenants, but that’s not all. The innovative software helps increase revenue, lower costs, and boost operational efficiencies. It includes KPI analysis for better visibility into the workforce and business and data-driven insight via reports and dashboards.

The best FSM software includes real-time, automated schedule optimization to reduce turnover times, increase first-time fix rates, and improve client satisfaction. This tool empowers maintenance personnel to do their jobs better, with real-time access for enhanced communications and decision-making, allowing them to conduct in-field triage or make adjustments on the fly. Property managers also gain increased visibility into their personnel.

But perhaps the most significant benefit to “going digital” and implementing FSM software? Improving property managers’ abilities to deliver an enhanced tenant experience with streamlined maintenance requests, more transparent communications, and faster issue resolution.

Ready to discover the power of AI-powered field service management software? Contact us today to get started.