Why is Property Maintenance so Important?
We talk about the importance of good property maintenance a lot, but in this article, we wanted to elaborate on what makes it such a critical aspect of property maintenance for any residential property owner.
As an investor, it is important to ensure that your property is well-maintained and up-to-date with the latest safety standards. Maintenance involves everything from regular inspections to preventative repairs, as well as any necessary upkeep of various components in a rental home.
Preventative maintenance
This type of maintenance involves regularly inspecting the property for potential safety hazards and ensuring that all of the critical infrastructure is in good working condition (e.g. HVAC, plumbing, and electrical).
Consistent preventative maintenance can help you avoid costly disasters like flooding or structural failure. Think of it like an investment: the returns are a good reputation with your tenants and long-term savings. Although these returns may not be as tangible or quantifiable as resolving an existing problem, they are hugely important for maintaining a long-term leasing operation.
Reactive maintenance
Usually, reactive maintenance will be a more expensive option for dealing with a problem than preventing it in the first place. However, preventing every possible maintenance problem or failure simply isn’t a possibility.
A comprehensive maintenance plan and thorough maintenance practices can prevent most problems, but you’ll never be able to predict and or prevent everything. Unexpected weather conditions, destructive customer or client behaviour, or even honest but serious mistakes can result in urgent problems.
Ultimately, reactive maintenance is an inevitable part of owning residential property and is equally as important to maintain the reliability and safety of your rental home. Reactive maintenance refers to the repairs that need to be done immediately when a problem arises, such as troubleshooting, repairing leaks, and fixing broken appliances.
Some problems which require reactive maintenance are critical failures that need to be addressed as soon as possible to prevent further damage. In these situations, every second that goes by before the problem is handled, the solution may even get more and more expensive (e.g. flooding through a multi-storey building).
Most problems will not be massive crises, but they can still cause serious business disruptions, annoy clients or customers, and/or worsen the longer they’re left unresolved. No matter how critical or menial a problem is, the faster your maintenance solution can respond, the better.
What are your options?
Property owners have several options when it comes to managing their maintenance needs, from hiring contractors or employees directly to outsourcing to a dedicated service provider.
Contractors offer a low-commitment solution, where you only need to pay for services when they’re needed. The downside, however, is that arranging for services can be a headache, and depending on the availability of contractors, or your preferred contractor’s availability, you may be stuck getting services when it fits their schedule, not yours.
Instead, you could hire in-house maintenance personnel as direct employees. This option gives you the most control over when and how your maintenance is handled but locks you into a permanent employment situation, adding to your HR costs and potentially costing you money even when there’s no work left to do.
One way to get the best of both of these options is to establish a dedicated property maintenance service solution with Bilt. With reliably quick response times and regular service, our maintenance specialists will get to know your building’s maintenance needs just as well as in-house staff without the commitment to full employment.