Building Maintenance Systems

[William S.]

I'm am trying to build my systems for managing the rentals I have. The biggest thing I have run into is being contact constantly over items that are not issues. I am creating a Tenant Orientation document that goes over the basics. I'm looking to get some feedback on the below:

1. Tenant notices toilet keeps running
2. Tenant quickly notifies manager via email about issue
3. Manager makes note for tracking and record keeping purposes
4. Tenant refers to this document to call appropriate vendor and quickly arranges a time when tenant is present for vendor to fix issue
5. After issue has been fixed by vendor, tenant pays vendor and keeps receipt
6. Tenant follows up with manager via email that issue has been fixed and attaches receipt

In the document I go over what are emergencies and what are not. I also explain common issues and who is responsible financially and what vendor to contact. Below this I have also supplied a list of vendors and contact information for them to refer to. These are for properties in B+/A-Class neighborhoods and the tenant pool should be more than capable of following the process.

[Christopher B.]

I would consider your long term plans as well as the immediate future. If you're adding more properties then build out a system that can scale up with you. Look into the project mgmt software, maybe it's a bit expensive now ($30/month or even free) but it will reduce headaches and will give you the capacity to focus on your business as you add more properties. It's only natural as you grow things will have to be adjusted but you may be able to reduce some of those headaches by looking forward a bit. 

Craig's system is interesting but I'm not sure if I want to give that much power to my tenants. I have a tenant now that seems to ask for things constantly. If they had access to my vendors I'm confident I'd be getting bills for random stuff constantly even though I keep very nice properties.