Maintenance Training

I know that this has been briefly discussed in previous months, but I would really like to know what maintenance training programs you have in place. Written manuals, job shadowing, thrown out to the wolves? I would also be curious to see if anyone has gone through a "change" where you started to do some new maintenance training and practices that had "never been done that way before"?

Many of the properties we are involved with are using an elearning interactive method of demonstrating and instructing techniques peculiar to each facet of maintenance.

Thank you Jonathan. Might be worth looking into for us as well.

On a site visit last week, I asked one of my really good clients that question and she said the first thing that they do with a new tech, after he's passed all the grace hill and sexual harassment course requirements, is that they put him/her in an apartment and step by step by step by step they take them through a turn checklist, doing each step, no matter how small, extremely thoroughly. This takes about two to three days some times if full paint is required, but it does expose the tech to about 70% of the problems and quick solutions that they might come up against.

Seemed pretty sound to me

I'm curious what annual or quartly training other companies put their maintenance techs through? obviously fair housing, but what else are people doing with their maintenance?

Some companies have begun offering courses on resident retention to their maintenance techs. Let's face it. As much as our leasing consultants are on the front line, these guys out do that by about 100 times. They're IN people's homes and they see more of our residents than we do. Resident retention training seems like a no brainer.

Conflict resolution with the resident is a good course for them to take as well since it proves to be very useful to EVERYONE on a property.

If you want some great training, then I'd suggest ponying up the cash for the NAA designations on CAMT and Certified Pool Operator. Well worth the cost, these classes can teach your team what they will need to know to function well. And most local NAA Affiliates have really great teachers for the CAMT. I know that ours out here in Washington does!

How do you train your pool maintenance people? We offer an online accredited pool certification program but I am interested in other programs we could develop that would be useful to property managers.

Our program was developed by me with a definite slant towards the apartment industry. I started (and eventually sold) a pool service company that maintained 80 apartment pools and spas in a college town.

It seemed that training of property management personnel in pool care was always difficult for the managers of properties I was in contact with. I think that I understand the problem-one pool and 250 apartments.

Any advice you could share with me would be appreciated.
And, any pool questions for me are welcome.

We are currently working on a pool maintenance course that will be rolled out by the end of this summer. Resident retention I agree is so important and the maintenance techs are at the front line for sure. Training continues to be a discussion.

Thank you, Jonathan,

What subjects in particular do you think that would be best for this type of training?

Many companies have someone certified and then do not think about it again until the person leaves or the certification expires. I commend you on having an ongoing program.

There is nothing like a sparkling pool to show off a property.
Likewise, if a pool is cloudy or not well maintained that says something to a prospective resident as well.

If we can assist in any way please let me know. You may want to look at our offerings at www.CertifiedPoolTechnician.com
The Continuing Education courses (look under Florida Contractors as they were originally developed for them) are often useful for ongoing training and we can customize them to meet an individual companies needs.

Hello, I'm a Maintenance Supervisor for a brand new property. I started a month ago and with no previous experience in apartment maintenance, I feel like I've been thrown to the wolves. The regional manager knew very clearly that I have had no real job experience with maintaining a pool or overall general maintenance for an apartment community. The management company that I work for said that they train. Well, I don't want to be overly prudent, but I feel like I should take matters into my own hands (seek out self-training, like paying for the unlimited training subscription through Grace Hill). Our property is only 128 units and I'll be the only maintenance person until about the end of the year, or until after we've reached 97% lease-up.

Would I be doing a good thing, or is it a bad move to take an educational initiative without management approval?

In my opinion, seeking further knowledge and training is NEVER a bad thing. I would check with your local NAA affiliate and see about getting your CAMT training and designation. There are a lot of great things that they teach you in CAMT and I'm sure it would be very helpful.

If you have other properties in your portfolio that are near to you, you might try checking with them to see if they could spare one or two days a month with you in a observing/training capacity on the property w/ their maint sup.

Lastly, have confidence. I know few people who started in property management that at some point in time didn't feel like they'd been thrown to the wolves. It's sink or swim and, though you're obviously a little overwhelmed, you sound like you're staying afloat. If you can do that, then you've got the makings of a great PM professional. Hang in there, and find yourself a great mentor.

Good luck!

thanks for the reply. but they don't want or need me to be a "technician". I'm the supervisor, I won't need a tech or a "porter" until about the end of this year. And the other maintenance supervisors in this area (employed by the same management company as I) are also just starting out. We all have different backgrounds in many different areas - not just in residential - and we are doing our best to figure things out by helping management work bugs out.

We have a pool that needs to open soon. I have no idea what I'm doing, besides the basic vacuuming and backwashing, emptying the skimmers, and making sure the automatic chlorine feeder stays full and unclogged. I can test the pool water, I know that the pH is too high. But I don't know what to do from there. I'm not comfortable with "just learning" it on my own. I want to learn to do it right. But management says they're done with CPO training for the season, I'd have to wait until next season. What?

Any way for me to get my Commercial Pool Operator certification on my own without having to fork out so much money at one time?

The property manager and "part-time" leasing manager are both also new and always have to ask the regional manager about everything I need to know, but she's so busy...

If you have specific questions about your pool I will be happy to answer them for you. I am sure you know that to lower ph you use acid. What you may not know is that ph “bounce” is caused by low levels of Total Alkalinity. You can raise TA by the addition of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate).
Usually when management says that “Pool Certification is over for the season” they really mean that no more certification classes are being held in the area and they are hesitant to pay for travel to another area.
I have a suggestion. You can get your certification totally online at cptc.coursehost.com/course/g44vz2/en
This will involve no travel and no classroom.
How about you approach your employer and suggest that you take the course? Ask them to pay for it ($299.00) and that you will take it on your own time. This is a win-win for both of you.
If they are hesitant is usually means that they are unaware that pool certification can be achieved online. Tell them that the provider of the program is fully accredited by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), is a BBB A+ rated company, and has membership in the National Apartment Association, the Association of Pool and Spa Professionals and other industry groups. They have been providing this training for over four years and have trained thousands of pool operators. The Certified Pool Technician (CPT) program is accepted in all but four states.
You can also tell them that Distance Learning has been shown in more than 300 independent studies to be as effective as or more effective than classroom training. Students that have taken the CPT course rate it (on a scale of 1 to 5) as 4.9.
Good luck!

Thanks for your suggestions Mr. Donaldson, but at this point I think I'd be better off talking them into saving 2 to 3K a year in chemical costs... per property! We're talking nearly half a million dollars a year of savings!

(they can send my bonus check to my p.o. box)