I’ve been on both sides of this issue. I’ve dealt with shops that had the bare minimum to work with and shops that had more than enough to work with. Needless to say, working in a skeleton shop annoys the piss out of me. Early in my maintenance career I made a promise to myself that when I rise out of my (gopher/grunt) position and into running a property myself, I would never work in a skeleton shop again. And to this day I haven’t!

I just don’t understand the mentality! How can guys order parts only when they’re needed? How can they leave something broken for days or even weeks until a simple part gets delivered? How can they look a resident in their eyes and tell them that they won’t be able to wash their clothes for a week? And then wonder why they have so many bad online reviews!

Look, I know sometimes things can’t get fixed right away. But it should rarely happen. If you keep your shop stocked, the bad online reviews will slowly start going away. Trust me!

Robbing from vacant apartments

 Robbing from a vacant means you’re basically doing the work twice. You go to the vacant and take an appliance apart. Then, take off what you need to make the repair and then go to where it’s needed. Then, you take the broken appliance apart so that the repair can be made. The “rob from a vacant” mentality will have you chasing your tail and can make you get behind. Also, if you don’t write down all the places that you’ve robbed parts from, you’ll forget. I’ve witnessed new residents moving in and finding that they don’t have an ice maker and a cabinet door is missing. They’ve been robbed! 

 My pal Larry’s shop in Jacksonville, Florida. Check out the refrigerant jugs. He uses a 5 gallon water jug rack to store them. I’ve never seen that before and will be using a water jug rack for my own shop. Brilliant Larry! Thank you!

The Under Budget Bonus Is A Double Edged Sword

Coming in under budget is how you run a successful business. I get that. Maintenance techs that do the ordering should strive to stay under budget and order what’s needed responsibly. However, the bonus received for staying under budget can be a double edged sword. The bonus can turn into the main focus instead of the property’s needs. For lack of a better term, I’ll call these people, “bonus whores”.

Bonus whores only care about fattening their wallet. They constantly think about ways to make their bonus pay bigger. So, instead of ordering what’s actually needed to make a repair, they start using glue, bubble gum and West Virginia chrome (a.k.a. duct tape) to fix things. Sure they’re coming in under budget and the property manager to the owners are happy with them. But, guess who’s not happy. The residents! The people we need to be happy the most! Then, after months of cutting corners, the bad reviews start to pour in online due to repairs not being done properly and residents begin to move out. I’ve seen this happen with my own 2 eyes. 

Are Bonus Whores Really Saving Money?                                               

Lets say you come in under budget and saved $1,000. But, 2 residents moved out because they got frustrated with slack maintenance repairs. And, the 2 residents that moved out were paying $1,000 a month each in rent. Now their apartments sit vacant for a month. Not only is the property not receiving $2,000 in rent payments but is also having to come out of pocket for those 2 apartments to get the carpets cleaned, walls painted, maintenance turns, and a cleaning. Looks like you’re losing money to me! All in the name of coming under budget.

So, why not give a bonus for something else? Like a bonus for having mostly 4 and 5 star online reviews. Or, going 3 months without having 1 complaint. Spice it up! Do something different! In my opinion, the under budget bonus is old school in our online society. In the old days, if someone had a bad experience they could only tell 5 to 10 people. Now that people can tell the whole world and ruin your property’s reputation with the push of a button, this should be where the focus is. Sure, try to stay under budget because that’s how a business stays open. But, the business won’t be open for long if no one wants to live there due to shoddy maintenance.

The focus should be on providing the maintenance staff with whatever they need so that they can give same day repair service and keep the residents happy. Which in turn creates 4 and 5 star online reviews. Which then provides a waiting list of prospects wanting to live on your 5 star property.

The Benefits Of Keeping Your Shop Stocked

The first thing that I noticed after I stocked my shop with 3 to 5 of every part on the property was that the work order box stayed empty. It never got backed up to where it got out of control. Finally! 

I was use to working with guys who would write “part on order” and stick the work order back into the box. Four days later, there’d be 20 to 25 work orders that had ” part on order” written on it. It was a never ending grind trying to play catch-up that drove me bat shit crazy.

The second thing I noticed was that the residents were a lot more friendly. They were getting same day service by me keeping my shop stocked. They never had to wait more than a few hours for a repair to get done. If it was a broken washing machine motor, BOOM! I had one in stock. Dishwasher timer quit working? No problem, I got 3 in stock.

Where I was getting scowls from residents a year earlier, now they were all smiles and hellos when I passed them. It sure does make the job a lot easier and pleasing to go to. All from keeping the shop stocked.

I’ve heard some say, ” Well if they were homeowners, they’d have to wait 2 or 3 days for a repairman to order the broken part they need.” That’s right! But these aren’t homeowners. These are renters that are paying for our service of making fast and proficient repairs. 

That’s my 2 cents on the benefits of keeping your shop stocked. And it doesn’t happen over night. It takes me a month or so to figure out everything that’s on a new property. Once I figure out all of what’s there, it’s very simple. I keep 3 to 5 of every part that’s on the property. If I need more due to lots of break downs, I’ll bump it up to 8 or 10 for that certain part. And when I notice that the supply is down to 1 or 2 left, I’ll replenish. It’s not rocket science! Right? After you have everything in stock, you’re only ordering 3 to 4 parts at a time. Staying well under budget. The peace of mind that a well stocked shop brings makes all the difference in the world. 

 

 

Related Topics:

Good Tools For The Apartment Maintenance Trade – Link

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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