Maintenance

If there is one single area in which we are judged most critically, it’s maintenance. Our experience has taught us that owners want their properties maintained, but don’t want to pay for it! Naturally, we have to perform a balancing act. But, our affiliation with Market Ready, Inc. has given us a level of maintenance control that surpasses even our greatest expectations. Our maintenance staff is very stable and reliable. All employees are legal and are covered by all the required insurances… and then some.

MRI doesn’t do roofing, major plumbing or electrical, heating or air conditioning. Of course, there are a number of other specialty tasks that MRI doesn’t perform either, but MMI fills the gap by having long-standing relationships with a number of specialists. We maintain this list of contractors and vendors to serve our management clients. Our job as property managers is to obtain the best deal we can for a reasonable level of service. We’re not usually looking for custom quality work, but we don’t want shoddy work either. And, we expect the cost to be middle-of-the-road, too. But, most important, we expect our contractors and vendors to stand 100% behind their work.

Tenants are free to phone the office for repairs or to submit requests online. One staff person is assigned to coordinating the ordering and scheduling of all work. This person also maintains records of all open job orders and checks them against bills when completed. Major jobs are inspected by the property manager. At the time the work order is processed, a copy is emailed to the owner so the owner can intervene if in disagreement with our determination.

After hours, tenants are instructed to leave their message on a special voice mailbox. Our VoIP phone system will page and email our Maintenance Coordinators usually generating a response within 15-30 minutes. This system is available 24-hours-a-day, 365-days-a-year.

We try always to use some judgment and restraint. Not every tenant request needs immediate attention. Some don’t need attention at all. But, one of the most effective techniques we employ is a common sense approach to helping one’s self. Frequently, tenants can (and are willing to) resolve their problems with just a little guidance. For example, we can walk a tenant through the process of lighting a pilot light or checking circuit breakers. Tenants can also refer to a number of documents on this site that direct them in a variety of easy, self-help maintenance solutions. Often, we can have the problem resolved with a phone call, eliminating inconvenience or discomfort to tenants and at no cost to the owner.