What is the most significant challenge your company is facing in managing...

What is the most significant challenge your company is facing in managing maintenance at property level? If your primary challenge isn't listed here, please feel free to share it in the comments below.

Finding Skilled & Reliable Staff

2 people vote this.
Limited Financial Resources

1 people vote this.
Deferred Maintenance

0 people vote this.
Technology Implementation

0 people vote this.

Felicia Norman

Guest Insider I would agree with a few of the reasonings posted. I have 28 years in Multi Family. We have been building a training facility for our maintenance staff as well as anyone who wants to learn a trade. One thing that everyone has left out of this post is the crucial important relationship that the PM’s and maintenance staff once had is now gone. For a long time it has always been “maintenance, maintenance maintenance” fault for everything. Has anyone ever dug into each situation when a maintenance team member leaves and found the common denominator? Yes, some maintenance members are an issue, however if they do not have a advocate they will get the blame every time. Most management companies will only hear from the PM’s and side with them. We extremely over pay the office staff and leave very little for the guys and gals that are responsible for everything outside of the office. Last year we gave two very nice pay increases across the board to our maintenance staff. We just implememted a... Show more

I would agree with a few of the reasonings posted. I have 28 years in Multi Family. We have been building a training facility for our maintenance staff as well as anyone who wants to learn a trade. One thing that everyone has left out of this post is the crucial important relationship that the PM’s and maintenance staff once had is now gone. For a long time it has always been “maintenance, maintenance maintenance” fault for everything. Has anyone ever dug into each situation when a maintenance team member leaves and found the common denominator? Yes, some maintenance members are an issue, however if they do not have a advocate they will get the blame every time. Most management companies will only hear from the PM’s and side with them. We extremely over pay the office staff and leave very little for the guys and gals that are responsible for everything outside of the office. Last year we gave two very nice pay increases across the board to our maintenance staff. We just implememted a bi- weekly meeting with them as well to make sure that they feel included and free to express their questions and concerns. We need to bring back the days where every on site staff member is treated equally and fairly. 
 Change is needed throughout.

Guest Insider I love the idea of building a training facility and expanding it out to others who may want to learn a trade. One of the most impactful changes that can be made is in how we train and develop those teammates and provide them a clear career path for growth - love it

I do have to disagree with the idea the office staff is overpaid and is the reason we don't have the money to pay the maintenance staff. I don't know what market you're in, but in my markets, all maintenance personnel have seen significant pay increases over the last 4 years (most are up 25% or more) as demand for skilled labor is at what is likely an all time high. At many properties, the lead tech makes more than the property manager

Bringing attention to a pay gap - that may or may not exist depending on the company and the market - can actually add to the schism you are rightly advocating for us to find a way to close

Not saying it doesn't exist, but it's a symptom of the real issues - the lack of training we provide and... Show more

I love the idea of building a training facility and expanding it out to others who may want to learn a trade. One of the most impactful changes that can be made is in how we train and develop those teammates and provide them a clear career path for growth - love it

I do have to disagree with the idea the office staff is overpaid and is the reason we don't have the money to pay the maintenance staff. I don't know what market you're in, but in my markets, all maintenance personnel have seen significant pay increases over the last 4 years (most are up 25% or more) as demand for skilled labor is at what is likely an all time high. At many properties, the lead tech makes more than the property manager

Bringing attention to a pay gap - that may or may not exist depending on the company and the market - can actually add to the schism you are rightly advocating for us to find a way to close

Not saying it doesn't exist, but it's a symptom of the real issues - the lack of training we provide and our inability to truly understand when, where, and on what help may be needed for those teams. A failure to communicate and to appropriately value their contribution - or potential contributions - to a property's NOI by leadership

Guest Insider there is definitely an overall lack of skilled labor that all of the trades are struggling with; however, why our industry struggles to hire and retain maintenance professionals starts with resources and budgets.

Unfortunately, the actions of both property owners and management companies show they do not assign much, if any, value to those teams or their impact on property performance. So no extra money inbound soon.

Proof:
- we remain transfixed on this 1/100 staffing ratio that for older assets has not worked for a most of my career
- little to no effort or investment is been made to allow the effective monitoring of the quality of work, (resident surveys upon completion don’t count) - what % of your WOs are callbacks? Do a 2 year look back and I bet you’ll be disappointed in what you find.
- quality of management, typically due to WO issues, consistently is one of the top 3 reasons a resident moves. Have we tried to fix it? No.

Does this mean we need to increase payroll? Not... Show more

there is definitely an overall lack of skilled labor that all of the trades are struggling with; however, why our industry struggles to hire and retain maintenance professionals starts with resources and budgets.

Unfortunately, the actions of both property owners and management companies show they do not assign much, if any, value to those teams or their impact on property performance. So no extra money inbound soon.

Proof:
- we remain transfixed on this 1/100 staffing ratio that for older assets has not worked for a most of my career
- little to no effort or investment is been made to allow the effective monitoring of the quality of work, (resident surveys upon completion don’t count) - what % of your WOs are callbacks? Do a 2 year look back and I bet you’ll be disappointed in what you find.
- quality of management, typically due to WO issues, consistently is one of the top 3 reasons a resident moves. Have we tried to fix it? No.

Does this mean we need to increase payroll? Not necessarily. I actually think we can lower payroll overall, pay individuals more and increase response times and quality of work by using technology to better allocate the resources and people we have. More on that from me in a full post coming soon.

Guest Insider No need to look, we all already know staff reliability and retention is the biggest issue

Rodney Cobb In my experience it's was each of these equally.

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