Submitting Maintenance
One of the most common areas of complaints in Property Management is the handling and coordination of maintenance requests. We will be addressing a few key points of the maintenance process, as well as offering a few suggestions on how you can make sure that maintenance is completed at your property quickly and professionally. When submitting maintenance, please ensure that you do so in writing.
We know and understand that maintenance issues are frustrating and by the rules of the universe, they almost always happen at the most inconvenient times. The A/C will go out on the hottest day of the year, the leak will start the day you have guests coming into town, the stove stops working right before you get ready to cook Thanksgiving Dinner…we have all been there and believe me when I say that we want to address the issues as soon as possible. When you find out that you have a problem, take a minute and make sure you do everything you can to understand exactly what is going on. Make sure to detail the exact problem when you submit your maintenance request so that we can ensure that the right contractor is sent out to address it.
- Check to see if you can fix the problem first.
• Submit request in writing to our office, detailing exactly what the issue is and what areas of the home are affected.
• Let us know about any scheduling issues our contractor may face, or if there is a contact person other than yourself that should be called to schedule the work.
Once we have your maintenance request, contractors will be dispatched to your property as soon as possible. Understand that contractors work during the day, and most of them try to enjoy their weekends as much as you do. If you turn in a maintenance request on Friday afternoon, you may not hear from or see a contractor until Monday. Emergency repairs are an exception, but also understand that not all emergencies can be handled over the weekend either.
Its common for us to receive numerous phone calls asking when the contractor will arrive, and unfortunately, we normally do not know. Once we turn the work order over to the contractor, they are responsible for contacting you and scheduling. Keep in mind that they are busy people, and will get to you as soon as they possibly can. We request that more severe maintenance issues are handled as soon as possible, but unless an actual emergency exists, the contractor sets the schedule.
You are welcome to call and make sure that we have received your maintenance request and that a contractor has been dispatched. We do ask however that you do not repeatedly call for an update. Again, we most likely do not know. With that being said, if you have not heard from a contractor within 24-48 hours, please let us know. We can always resubmit the work order or try to get a reason for the delay. Its also perfectly acceptable and encouraged to send a follow-up e-mail to our office letting us know that the work was completed and that everything is back to 100%. Or, if the contractor has come and gone and the problem persists, please let us know. If you fail to tell us that the contractor did not finish, or that the problem still exists, we may not ever know about it.
Tips:
• Check to make sure you cannot repair the item yourself.
• Submit the repair in writing to our office.
• Notify office if there are any scheduling or contact information updates or preferences.
• Do not call office repeatedly for updates, however, a call after a day or two of no activity is fine.
• Let us know when the repairs are completed or if the repairs are not done correctly.
