What are the top 5 things the office and maintenance can improve on when it comes to communication?

Could use some help from the group. We are working on a rountable discussion regarding communication and somewhat respect between the Maintenance and Office.
What are the top 5 things the office can improve on and what are 5 things maintenance can improve on when it comes to communication?
Or what does each group constantly do that hinders your work day?

For office ask more questions when taking work order requests from residents. Example which bathroom, which bedroom, is it dripping, flowing, running constantly, etc. This way maintenance can go knowing exactly where to go and bring all necessary tools. For maintenance be descriptive on work order of what was completed. Example; changed out capacitator and cleaned coils; replaced solenoid in dishwasher, ran a cycle and it's draining properly.
The biggest thing is to make sure your team is calling ONLY the maintenance Supervisor with urgent matters so He or She can delegate who to send. Also, only call the Supervisor if it's an emergency. The more you call about new work orders the more you take them away from what they are currently working on.
My staff is pretty big and these are a few things that we have discussed. I have 6 in office and 8 in maintenance department.

Celena Montantes - Mayo completely agree that office staff must make more of an effort to get details of the problem rather than "fridge stopped working". And same detail from maintenance how fixed. Makes everyone's life easier.

Celena Montantes - Mayo amen to this. Years ago we created a question follow up for the office team. The issue now is most work orders are done online by the resident so totally bypass this opportunity

Office staff shouldn't make promises on what time maintenance will be there. A request can be made but not promised. Always ask permission to enter if not home and again encourage residents to allow us in if they are not home as it will speed up the process and get work done more efficiently.

Also, have a weekly team meeting and manager and maintenance super have a morning huddle.

That’s a giant question. I had very specific rules for PMs and how they communicated with Techs, a few things I did.
1) Designated Meeting Times - Every day at the same time PM and Lead had a 15 min meeting. Each providing an update on what’s going on.
2) Leasing Board - Simple and effective.
3) Communication - Limit distractions, don’t call them every time something occurs.
4) Finish Tasks - Do not pull techs off of a job to do another job (unless and absolute emergency). You wonder why it takes a week to prep a unit - cause your constantly pulling techs off the job to do something else.
4) Dates - It was a rule to absolutely avoid Monday or Friday move-ins. Mondays are just too unpredictable and chances are there’s details in the unit missed on Friday. Friday, because it just put everyone in a bad mood. The resident could move in on Monday/Friday but the unit had to be lease ready. I always took steps to flatten the turnover, evenly distributed throughout the year. That takes time and work.

I think a 5 minute powwow/ huddle every morning helps. Not a bitch session go over move ins, move outs. Maintenance and office goals for the dsy

Stop writing DONE or COMPLETED on work orders? WHAT did you do?? That is how you can follow up to make sure we have tried everything before replacing it.

I always like to send new office team members to a maintenance 101 class. It was great for the to learn about different elements so they can ask those important questions over the phone… like “can you tell me if the button is set to on or auto” Saves a ton of service requests.

1. If you see something say something! No animals listed on the work order but you see animals? Terrible housekeeping issues? Landscapers skipping areas behind buildings? Etc….Let your supervisor know.
2. Property Managers - let your maintenance supervisor know what you have done or doing to remedy items reported from #1. If the team doesn’t know that this reporting is appreciated and acted upon - guess what. They won’t tell you anymore because they don’t think you care.
3. If an applicant changes their move in date OR decided they want to change to a different unit Notify the maintenance supervisor immediately. They aren’t in front of a computer checking all day.
4. Maintenance Super - if an unforeseen issues arises that effect the turn time notify the PM immediately
5. If the office is handing out keys to turn vendor mark it in software as in progress or if still using traditional board designate a color to indicate that vendor took keys and out that color dot in that line item on the board so everyone knows the vendor came to do the work.
6. Make it to clear to ALL the the maintenance super directs the maintenance team. No one including the PM should ever be calling a tech or porter to take care of something. Tell the super as they know who is doing what and will also know that if this call is a priority it will take them away from assigned work
7. Someone from office walk ready unit’s IMMEDIATELY after or if possible preferably WITH super. Office and maintenance see different things for ready units. And nothing drives them crazier then having a unit ready for weeks and you wait until the day before the move in to walk it and decide you don’t like the way something was done.
I could go on and on
These are more the team already in place. When hiring PM and MM we ask open ended questions about prior working relationships. We know that his is the most critical relationship for a properties success.

One of the biggest things I have found it the office calls maintenance for everything throughout the day. I have coached my teams to not allow anyone except the community manager to call maintenance (obviously exceptions are made when the community manager is not there) and coached the community manager if the building is not on fire or flooding, to simply take a note (literal note pad on their desk) until the maintenance supervisor checks in. I have also coached the maintenance supervisor to check in at opening, when leaving for lunch, when returning from lunch and one hour before leaving for the day.
Maintenance is often interrupted SO much throughout the day and the frustration is real. A maintenance supervisor has the team working on what is important but the office staff often deviates from that plan and the supervisor is then held accountable for things not getting done.

We had our office staff teach maintenance about the complaints they get on move in and our maintenance staff teach our office staff what questions they need answered to deal with work orders.
The important part was less about the info and more about coming up with these things together , being a team and letting our front line staff be the experts

Ok this is going to be a long text - so apologies in advance. It's great that you're addressing communication and respect between the Maintenance and Office teams. Open and effective communication is crucial .
For the Office Team:
1. Transparency:Share maintenance schedules and updates promptly with Maintenance, ensuring they have the information needed to plan their work efficiently.
2. Active Listening:Take the time to actively listen to maintenance concerns and requests, showing empathy and understanding of their challenges.
3. Documentation:Keep thorough records of maintenance requests, timelines, and work orders, making it easier for Maintenance to prioritize tasks.
4. Timely Responses:Respond promptly to maintenance requests and questions, acknowledging their importance and demonstrating a commitment to problem-solving.
**For the Maintenance Team:**
1. Clear Reporting:Ensuring consistency and clarity in communication with the Office.
2. Prioritization:Clearly communicate the urgency and impact of maintenance tasks, allowing the Office to prioritize and allocate resources effectively.
3. Feedback Loop:Establish a feedback mechanism for the office to evaluate the quality and timeliness of maintenance work.
4. Professionalism:Maintain professionalism when communicating issues or challenges, focusing on facts and solutions rather than complaints.
5. Collaboration:Foster a collaborative approach by involving the Office in discussions about long-term maintenance plans and goals, promoting a sense of shared responsibility.
**Common Hindrances:**
1. Lack of Information:Both teams should strive to eliminate any information gaps by sharing essential details related to residents, units, and maintenance requirements.
2. Assumptions:Avoid making assumptions about each other's roles and responsibilities; instead, seek clarification when necessary.
3. Miscommunication: Address any misunderstandings promptly and constructively, focusing on improving communication processes.
4. Respect: Cultivate a culture of mutual respect, recognizing that each team plays a vital role in the community.

Have a morning huddle and limit the office calling maintenance on the radio for every work order.

Great topic! I think the best way would be to ask for feedback via anonymous feedback requests. And then drilling down to the biggest issues and handling them. Just like residents, employees appreciate being asked and being heard!

Set up shadow days. The different sides of the house don't understand the pain points the other has. Even 4 hours would help improve understanding.

One of the most valuable training tools I have ever implemented were Swap Days. Have a person from the office spend a day shadowing maintenance, and vice versa until the entire team has done a Swap Day. Then, let everyone share during a team huddle what they learned from spending their day in someone else’s shoes… that’s a good start to a round table discussion, I think!

This is something that we have been working on… but our office team is quick to pick up the phone and call our maintenance team about things throughout the day. Emergencies yes always, but these days as the residents have become more demanding, we are quick to pick up the phone and call them for something we could easily tell a resident that we will find out and get back to them after lunch time or as soon as maintenance steps back into the office. It does disrupt maintenance when they get get interrupted in the midst of fixing an a/c or are in the middle of pulling apart a dishwasher or a multitude of other things. Sometimes the office does not realize just how much time it takes away each time we simply pick up the phone and call. Just one small thing that has been communicated back to the office staff that has helped them get more work done throughout the day. And when we flip it around, maintenance will check to discuss with the office any questions.

For maintenance emergencies maybe these could be Text messages in a WhatsApp group or something like that to Lead MX so lead can dispatch accordingly. Calls slow everyone down. A lot can be site specific though so ask your staff together what can help them, like a family meeting. The same as I think MX should jump on a few leasing tours. You could always tell the prospect you want your MX to tag along just in case any MX questions come up. The MX can then hear what customers are asking and wanting.

1. CM only allowed to call the SM or service team.
2. Train office on the right questions to ask and make sure the portal is doing the same.
3. Whoever turns the unit has to go back and do all service requests the next 30 days after MI.
4. Require everyone to partner up and have job switch day.
5. Required all team meeting once per week. Everyone brings a peice of information. Leasing=leasing numbers ACM= delinquency, renewals and so on

We are owner/operator of multi-family with on-site maintenance team members so our situation may differ from yours, but we find showing appreciation for our maintenance team regularly and giving them validation by asking them for their insights and feedback fosters a positive communication channel for the team as a whole. We show our appreciation with shout-outs when they tackle an especially difficult task or get a great survey response after completing a survey request.
Also helps to ask them what they need to help them in their roles, and ask for their input when planning large projects, they may have some critical insights or feedback for you, plus they are the person on the ground and may have intimate knowledge that could impact project timelines and costs. Foster an inclusive team culture that includes your maintenance persons fully, and little gift cards now and then are a great way to say "Thank you for everything you do".