Before
You Schedule Any Work
Scheduling
and planning are the cause of more headaches than any other single aspect of
rental management. The number one goal in having rentals is to keep them rented,
so you need to be able to get a recently vacated unit rent-ready again in short
order. You should expect vendors and contractors that work for you to understand
this, and complete their assignments quickly and on time.
It
takes a lot of patience to communicate properly with all the various vendors and
contractors involved in refurbishing a rental unit. Training your maintenance
people to work efficiently is another area that requires diligence. Its great to
be able to hire people who know a lot about apartment maintenance, but training
them to do things your way takes time. If you can get your people organized and
the whole operation running smoothly, you can get your apartment turnover time
down to about four days or less.
As
shown on the next page, you can see the ideal order of events that would allow
you do prepare your units in a timely manner. To be successful in scheduling
vendors and contractors, you or your management team must be aware of the
ongoing installation and repair work at all times. Your maintenance people need
to provide frequent updates as to the progress taking place in the rental unit
so that vendors are notified of any changes in the schedule, and the unit will
be ready when they arrive. Having a dry erase board to mark the status of
current operations is a good idea.
There
are many tasks that can be performed simultaneously, and some that must be
performed in a certain order. As one project is completed, another can begin.
The order of events that takes place must be carefully orchestrated to avoid
causing delays. Day-one is the first day where your maintenance people go in a
vacant unit and fix or repair everything that needs attention. It's up to you to
determine what repairs they are qualified to do and which tasks need to be
contracted out.
Many
have tried using maintenance personnel to install flooring
in an attempt to save money, but it never works out well, in fact, it
usually ends up costing a lot more in the long run. Installing carpet and vinyl should
always be done by professionals.
Here
are some other things that you should always do to save money...
Continued...
