Maintenance is an essential yet often time-consuming aspect of lettings. Properties naturally need upkeep and maintenance over time, so property managers must have the right software to make their lives easier.
Property management maintenance software holds many benefits and solves many common challenges with the maintenance process. Let’s take a look at what these are.
Common property management challenges
Maintenance is a big piece of the property management puzzle. It ensures property upkeep is at an optimum, leading to satisfied tenants, higher property value and less degradation.
However, there are many challenges maintenance presents for property management professionals.
Tenant communication
It’s common for tenants to contact property managers when an issue arises with a property. If you manage many properties with hundreds of tenants, this can get out of hand if not handled properly.
Tenants may submit requests via email, telephone or by dropping into a physical office, which makes it challenging to keep track of all the maintenance requests and ensure they’re dealt with.
Keeping track of tickets
Similarly, if there’s more than one person managing maintenance requests and remedies, knowing which issues have and haven’t been dealt with may not be easy.
When you factor in various vendors for different issues, the challenge gets even greater. A singular property may need more than one maintenance issue resolving, which can require a lot of admin and chasing for property managers.
Vendor management
Managing multiple vendors can be complex, particularly when you rely on contractor companies for maintenance work.
Maintenance can include anything from decorating to plumbing and groundwork, so it can often mean managing multiple vendors at any time. Scheduling the order and ensuring the work is completed to the appropriate standard and payment takes time, organisation and clear communication.
Documentation
The maintenance process also includes a lot of documentation, whether work orders, compliance documents or invoices. Ensuring these are all stored in one central place for accurate accounting and compliance is essential.
Budget constraints
Maintenance issues cost money and it can be difficult to accurately budget for problems you may not even be aware of. However, there can’t be an endless amount of money for maintenance requests.
Finding a vendor that charges an accurate price can take time and research out of your day. It can also be difficult to determine how much you spend on maintenance without the proper reporting software.
How property management software can help
Luckily, property management maintenance software offers a complete solution for many of these challenges. Maintenance handling is often a feature of property management software which uses automation, AI and reporting to make your life easier.
Here are some benefits you can experience from investing in property management software to help with your maintenance efforts.
Automating maintenance requests
Many property management software options feature a maintenance portal or logging system. They typically allow tenants to submit maintenance requests and log all correspondence and information in one place.
This saves admin time, as your employees won’t need to look in multiple places for the relevant information. Maintenance requests can be submitted, assessed and booked with the appropriate vendor, all from one location.
As well as saving time, it also reduces timeframes for dealing with requests, meaning enhanced efficiency and increased tenant satisfaction.
Vendor management
In the same way property management maintenance software makes it easier for tenants to log requests, it also makes it much easier to schedule, book and manage the vendors that execute the work.
Managing vendors from one central source leads to increased efficiency and communication, reducing the costs associated with maintenance requests.
Depending on the complexity of the property management software, at the minimum, it'll offer one central communications hub. In contrast, more complex options provide the opportunity to book and schedule vendors directly within the software.
Real-time updates
By keeping track of maintenance progress using property management software, any of your employees can check the status of a request or take any action needed.
Traditionally, requests may be submitted directly to one person, who then schedules the repair, making it difficult for any other employees to gather information surrounding a specific maintenance request.
With property management software, maintenance orders are traceable, meaning they’re often solved much faster.
Manage costs
Having a single source of information allows you to accurately gather financial information, track costs and product reports, allowing for further maintenance budgeting.
Some property management software allows you to see how much has been spent on maintenance and even drill down to one specific property, allowing you to manage expenditures much more efficiently.
Preventative maintenance
Automation is one of the biggest powers of property management maintenance software, as it automatically updates your employees on key actions, leading to less human error and admin.
Preventative maintenance is an area that can particularly benefit from automation. You can set up time logs of previous maintenance requests and set up timely reminders for check-ups or actions for preventative maintenance that ensure the quality of your properties.
Investing in the right property management software
Beyond saving time, money and errors in the maintenance process, property management software offers many other benefits. If you’re ready to take the next step in investing in your tech stack, download our guide to help you find the property management software that’s right for you.
