Apartment Life Hacks

Cut back work orders by providing residents a few tips

As apartment operators, we spend considerable time and energy discussing ways to empower our teams. By providing our teams with the tools, training, and authority they need to excel in their positions, employees are naturally more motivated and invested in their position. This results in an increased employee retention rate and a stronger bottom line.

What if we took the same approach with our residents, specifically regarding service requests Many management companies have well established, streamlined processes to empower residents to pay their rent themselves and submit service requests electronically. But what if this is taken a step further; to empower residents to complete the service requests themselves. We may just have residents who are invested in their home and motivated to take care of it as if it were their own. They also may just stay a year or two longer.

Empowering our residents would also result in the empowerment of our service teams. Service teams would have more time available to invest in areas such as improved turn times to capital projects that may traditionally be contracted out. Being able to allocate service teams' time to areas that can improve revenue growth and employee empowerment is paramount to an organization’s success.

So, what services should residents be empowered to handle themselves? We felt this was an excellent question for our service team and here are a few answers

• How to unclog a toilet (by far the number one answer from our maintenance team).

• How to turn off the main water line and water lines to a toilet and sink

• How to unclog and reset a garbage disposal

• How to reset a breaker and GFCI outlet

• How to test and replace batteries within a smoke alarm and CO2 detector

• How to program and replace batteries in a thermostat

• How to replace a water filter and an air filter

• How to light a pilet light for a water heater and fireplace

• How to unclog a sink and bathtub with a zip tie

• How to determine if an outlet is connected to a light switch

What to share with your residents will vary by the community and the service team, but you can begin by looking at your service orders and figuring what the most logical "apartment life hacks" you can teach your residents would be.

Teaching your residents doesn't have to be a long process. Hosting quick virtual classes is a great opportunity you can take advantage of now that your residents have gotten used to working and learning virtually.
Additionally, you can simply film short videos to post on your resident portal or website so your residents can access the videos on demand.

We are confident that with a little support and training, most residents will feel confident and empowered to handle many of these services themselves.

However, there is one service, that despite years of support and empowerment, we know many residents simply will not handle themselves, and that is picking up after their pet.

Mara Freese is the Marketing Director at Echelon Property Group and Chair of the AAMD Communication Committee.