Automating Property Maintenance Requests

Between phone calls, work order management, and all the other things that come with being a property manager, it can be hard to find time to process maintenance requests. Unfortunately, this can lead to major issues, as managing maintenance tasks is one of the most important obligations placed upon property managers.

Even if you only manage a single property, keeping up with everything you do daily can be difficult if your property has multiple tenants. The good news is that you can save time and work more efficiently by automating property maintenance requests. If you haven’t considered using automation solutions for managing tasks surrounding maintenance requests, below are some reasons why now is a good time to make the switch:

Software Makes Things Easy

Property management software often includes tools that make it easy to automate property maintenance requests. Modern software for property management professionals usually includes automation controls to handle things like routing incoming maintenance requests, prioritizing requests, notifying tenants of the status of requests, and more.

In fact, some property management software can schedule a preventative maintenance inspection for apartment homes, condos, or single-family units based on vacancy. When someone moves out, an inspection is important to provide peace of mind to future renters. When you automate scheduling these inspections based on availability, this is one less important thing you need to consider during your busy day.

Automation Saves Time

When you automate property maintenance requests, you also save time. The traditional way of fielding and responding to tenant requests for maintenance is to wait for phone calls and emails, respond to the tenant, find a maintenance professional, schedule the work, ensure that it’s completed, and issue a report.

When you automate property maintenance requests, many of these tasks can be completed for you. This saves you time and can help property maintenance workers complete tasks more efficiently. Automation software can sometimes work in tandem with the software used by maintenance workers and contractors. This means requests can be automatically sent to available professionals to get work done faster.

Automation Benefits Tenants

Although automated maintenance management is a huge benefit to property owners and managers, it can also benefit tenants. As we mentioned above, work gets done faster when you automate property maintenance requests. This leads to increased tenant satisfaction, and satisfied tenants tend to be the best tenants.

Instead of chasing down rent payments, your organization can become a case study on how to treat tenants right. You’re more likely to retain quality tenants when you respond quickly to maintenance requests, and word-of-mouth can spread to other qualified tenants who are more likely to make your life easier.

Improved Accountability

One often-ignored benefit of automating maintenance requests and associated workflows is improved accountability. When you have to handle maintenance requests on your own or through manual processes, it can be easy for invoices to go unpaid and for work orders to be left incomplete. The issue often comes down to simply not having enough time to pay attention to every little maintenance detail when managing a large property and multiple units.

By switching to an automation solution, everything is handled for you. This means you receive notifications when work orders are sent out and when work is completed. You also receive updates about invoices so that everything gets paid on time.

In fact, you might consider linking a vendor account to your automation software that will deduct payments automatically for work completed by trusted contractors. This makes the process of getting work done seamless for both you and your contracting partners.

Tenants are also held accountable when they turn to automation for maintenance management. If a tenant claims that maintenance was never performed, you can simply verify your records in your automation solution, ensuring everyone remains honest about what work was performed and when. This can save trouble by reducing the potential for conflicts.

Making the Transition to Automation

Property managers interested in transitioning to automated systems for maintenance management are encouraged to do their research. Many exciting options are available, but not every solution is right for your needs. If you aren’t sure where to start, you might consider partnering with an IT consulting firm specializing in digital transformations.

No matter how you make the leap to automated solutions, look for options that are scalable. You likely want to grow your organization with time, and having an automation solution that can scale your property management business will be essential for keeping up with growth.

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