Question about the process of building a maintenance department

I need feedback! I work for a real estate company and we have a property management side. They are in the process of building a maintenance department which has its own set of challenges as we manage properties throughout the denver metro area. I say this because they are in the process of creating a team that should essentially support property managers and their assistant managers. I manage 225 doors and answer to about 50 different owners. I have an assistant that is more boots on the ground then anything. They believe we should manage 250-400 doors per “pod” as they call it. typically in property management we had 1 person in office per 100 units, what is your thoughts on how many individuals it would take to have quality customer service.

I would say that's accurate. I manage 427 units and my office runs best with 4 full-time staff. It can be done with 2-3, but we're constantly running and not doing our best work when someone is missing.

We do 1 per 100 also. At times it's fine, at times it's crazy, but overall it works

You can try 1 per 100 but keep a list of good reliable contract help for days you need them. Temp companies can be an affordable solution.

1 per 100 both office and maintenance

We do 1 but I feel like that needs to change.
Owners want more money which mean residents are more demanding.
1 per 100 is shorting yourselves to run a smooth operation. You could do 1 per but the employees would need to be top notch and that’s very hard to attain.

What is the advantage of bringing maintenance in house? With outside owners that just seems like way more work than it is worth. That is a completely different business and management of the two is likely going to split focus. Let someone else run the maintenance company and contract them.

I've got 100 studio apartments so I need one maintenance guy.
I've got 100 3 bedroom, 2 bath townhouses so I need one maintenance guy. Maybe if I word it like that enough times people realize how flawed the current system is.

1 per 100 works when all 100 are on the same plot of land. If we’re going to 50 different places you’d need much more than that to accomplish the same work load

Heather, I agree - it depends so much on travel time between locations, as well as inconsistency in types of equipment, layouts, etc.

Heather Everett King agree. I would say a minimum of 3 office and 5 maintenance. The distance between assets and diversity of floor plans will be the issue.