3 Ways to Make Maintenance for Your Complex More Affordable

Managing or owning an apartment or condo complex is costly. While you try to keep rent and maintenance fees down, the simple fact is, it’s difficult to make a profit each month, and a lot of the time, any profit you make will simply be an investment back into your complex. If you attempt to give yourself a little more budget to work with, raising rent and fees can backfire, as fewer people will move in just as more people move out. Instead, you have to find a way to work with the budget you have without skimping on the quality.

Easily one of the largest costs that can be reduced is your maintenance budget. Instead of hiring a full-time maintenance staff, outsource the maintenance to experienced professionals who won’t require full-time wages to get the work done. If the professionals are experienced in both commercial and residential plumbing and heating work, for example, they’re equally qualified to tackle a leaky pipe under one tenant’s kitchen sink and a broken furnace that’s supplying heat to a dozen or more units. Maintenance is one of the biggest but also one of the most important expenditures of the typical apartment complex. Find a way to spend less, and you’ll have more budget to invest back into your complex.

Contract with a Reliable Service

Not every complex owner can afford a full-time maintenance staff, and even those who are considering it are unlikely to find the staff they hire as devoted and professional as a company that’s used to dealing with commercial customers. For the kinds of big issues that extend beyond the individual apartment in particular – like the sewage system for the whole complex or the heating for individual units – you need to hire a team of professionals with experience in tackling large-scale projects. Using a plumbing and heating company, for example, whenever you need them is likely to cost you less than hiring full-time staff, and you’ll know that every penny spent is an investment in your complex.

Schedule Regular Maintenance

A complex manager’s biggest mistake is to only call in the experts when something goes wrong. It’s a lot more affordable to have a professional perform routine maintenance than it is to have them deal with a crisis. Plus, even if the professionals work quickly to fix an emergency plumbing or heating issue, your tenants could go without service for a few hours or even a few days, which could lessen their goodwill toward the complex as a whole. Routine maintenance like furnace cleaning and pipe checks – even when a little issue seems like it’s just a clog – could prevent the emergencies from happening in the first place.

Inquire About Specials

Once you’ve established a working relationship with a maintenance team, you may qualify for discounts as a commercial customer, particularly if you sign up for regular maintenance. Also, be on the lookout for seasonal specials or military and senior citizen discounts if you qualify. Heating installation and repair, for example, is often cheaper during the off season, so if possible, consider major installation or repair work on the heating system in the summer. Manufacturers are more likely to offer rebates during this time, too. Not only will summer furnace work prove more affordable, but you also won’t inconvenience your tenants as much since they won’t require heat during that time. It never hurts to ask about a discount, even if you don’t know if there are any specials currently running.

The best way to save money on maintenance is to not spend money unnecessarily. Routine maintenance is necessary, as is expertise. A full-time staff on site may not be.

About The Author: Ilene Bradford is the manager of several apartment complexes in Colorado. She recommends contracting www.bandlplumbing.com for your complex’s maintenance needs.

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