One of the main reasons property maintenance can get costly is its unpredictability, but it doesn’t have to be! With preventative maintenance, you can schedule regular upkeep to prevent unexpected failures in the future. Simply put, preventative maintenance is fixing things before they break. But how can this affect your bottom line? After you understand why preventative maintenance programs are essential, you’ll discover how putting them in place will save you money and productivity in the long run.
How Does Preventative Maintenance Lower Repair Costs?
With preventative maintenance programs, you’re budgeting a small amount over time to make routine checks and repairs. As a result, you are extending the lifespan of your equipment while reducing the risk of having to pay a third-party vendor for an emergency repair.
Think of your water heater. Hot water is a year-round necessity; replacing it can be a timely and costly repair. By regularly testing your TPR value, draining your tank, flushing out sediment, and replacing the air intake filter, you can add years to your water heater. Most of these regular maintenance tasks are cost effective and take minutes to complete. On the contrary, if you neglect these routine checkups , you can expect to completely replace a water heater— averaging, $1,217!
Preventative Maintenance Impacts Resident Satisfaction
We know that property maintenance is a massive factor in resident satisfaction. Our data shows that 31% of residents say maintenance is why they left a property. In fact, residents choosing not to renew their lease can cost you thousands!
For example, if you charge a monthly rent of $1,200 and it sits vacant for 30 days, you will lose $1,252.80 in rental income. Not to mention the average cost of turning a residence over. The national average of turnover costs is equal to three months’ rent. So if you have a $1,200 apartment sitting vacant for one month, you are looking at almost $5,000 in lost income!
To calculate your vacancy rates, you can use the formula below:
Vacancy Rate = number of days vacant / number of rentable days (365)
Gross Potential Rental Income = number of unit * monthly rent *12 months
Vacancy Expense = vacancy rate * gross potential rental income
Efficient maintenance processes also have a significant impact on your online reviews. The primary reason property management companies receive negative reviews is due to maintenance issues. For example, if you take longer than 5.5 days to fix a maintenance problem, you have less than a 1% chance of receiving a positive review. In short, the quicker your maintenance request gets completed, the happier your residents are, and the more lease renewals you’ll have.
Preventative Maintenance and Owner Retention is a Match Made in Heaven
Most property owners want to know their property managers are taking care of their assets while keeping costs down. Preventative maintenance can accomplish both things! By making routine maintenance checks, you can fix minor issues with the equipment before it becomes a bigger, more expensive problem. With PropertyCare+ from Property Meld, you, as a property manager, can schedule routine maintenance checkups, taking care of your owner’s assets better than ever!
Preventative maintenance is the future of property management and is a great way to take control of your maintenance process. To learn more about PropertyCare+ and how Property Meld can save you money, book a demo today!
