Showing appreciation towards your maintenance staff is an important practice that often gets ignored by a lot of companies. I’ve been a maintenance technician for 15 years and have seen the differences between a company that shows appreciation toward their maintenance team and a company that treats their maintenance technicians like dispensable drones that, “Should feel lucky that we gave them a job.” (Eye roll)
It’s amusing to me that the company who never showed any appreciation toward their maintenance staff always complained about not being able to keep or find good techs. That’s because rockstar maintenance techs don’t put up with not being appreciated. They just leave and go be rockstars down the road for your competitor who appreciates their hard work.
Remember, a good rockstar maintenance tech cares about the job and is saving you, the property owner, thousands of dollars. If you had to call a plumber or HVAC company every time something broke, you’d be paying $100 just to have the problem looked at. Then $400 to $1,000 for them to make a very simple repair. And there’s plumbing and HVAC problems every single day! And those problems are being repaired by a tech making $17.00 to $22.00 an hour!
$17.00 x 8 hours = $136
So, a thank you every now and then with a small token of appreciation goes a long way.
The company I work with dedicates the whole month of April to the maintenance team. It’s called, “maintenance month”. They gives us goodies every Monday. From Hershey bars to sunflower seeds. They even take us deep sea fishing on a Friday during work hours! Below are a few pictures that I took of our maintenance month schedule and swag.
Restaurant gift cards and Home Depot gift cards for myself and 2 other team members.
Some goodies to snack on throughout the week.
This is our schedule. Every week during April we get to do something special. And we end maintenance month with a deep sea fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico!
WHAT DO MAINTENANCE TECHS WANT?
Showing your maintenance team that you appreciate them doesn’t have to be expensive or as elaborate as an entire month of activities. Most of us maintenance guys like to drink beer and we like getting a new tool. So, a six pack of our favorite beer with a Lowes or Home Depot gift card on top of it is a great (thank you for all you do) gift!
The company that I work with gives us a sheet to fill out with 7 questions on it.
1) What’s your favorite non-alcoholic drink?
2) What’s your favorite alcoholic drink?
3) What’s your favorite snack?
4) What’s your favorite restaurant?
5) If you could buy any tool under $100, what would it be?
6) What size shirt do you wear?
7) What’s your favorite candy?
This sheet takes all the guess work out for the office staff.
SOME GIFT IDEAS THAT YOUR MAINTENANCE TECHS WILL LIKE
A new tool! Us maintenance techs love tools. They put food on our table and we’re always on the lookout for the newest gadget that will make our job easier. Find out what kind of tool your techs would like to own that’s under $100 or under $50 and get it for them! AMAZON has any tool you can imagine.
A funny t-shirt about what we do is a great gift to have folded up on top of a 12 pack of beer. Click here for the man in the toilet shirt. 
You can’t go wrong with a gift card to a place that sells tools.
This gift card sitting on top of a 6 pack and a funny t-shirt would make a fabulous gift package for the maintenance tech that likes to hunt or fish.
The Darden gift card is great because it can be used at any Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, Bahama Breeze, Seasons 52, Yard House, Red Lobster or any other Darden-connected restaurant in the U.S.
So there you have it! I hope you see a pattern here. We like to eat, drink some beer, get a new tool, and wear a funny t-shirt about what we do all day.
Before I wrap this up, let me throw this out there too. A paid day off is a great gift. Extra bonus cash in an envelope is a great gift as well. It doesn’t have to be expensive. It just has to say, “Thank you for all you do.”
Related Topics:
Should The Property Management Company Buy Your Tools – Link
The Maintenance Man Myth – Link
Good HVAC Tools For Apartment Maintenance Technicians – link
How To Get Into The Apartment Industry – link
Going On Call As An Apartment Maintenance Technician – link
How To Deal With A Goodbye Talker – link
How To Have A Successful Student Housing Turn Season – link
How To Handle Working With A Hider – link
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