A great maintenance strategy has the power to cut a property’s operating costs, improve resident satisfaction, and reduce both staff and renter turnover.
But with aging building stock, learning curves due to new technology, and tariffs sending many repair and labor costs upward, delivering that high-quality service is getting more and more challenging.
“Operators are balancing legacy repair with high-tech troubleshooting, all under the squeeze of rising operating costs,” says Jay Pedde, senior vice president of operations at Veritas Investments, which manages over 5,000 apartments along the West Coast. “That paradox defines today’s maintenance challenge.”
Just how do you deal with these headwinds and deliver what residents need? Here’s what some operators are doing.
Smarter Staff Management and Dispatch
For operators with several properties in a single region, pooling staff is a great way to achieve more efficiency. This, combined with a centralized dispatch system, allows operators to assign work orders based on staff experience and capability—rather than just which property a worker is housed at.
“Speed isn’t always about hiring more people,” Pedde says. “It’s about orchestrating the people you have. When we match skills and proximity instead of property boundaries, we cut drive time, lift first-time fix rates, and deliver service that feels instant to the resident. It’s the difference between chaos and choreography.”
The exact way this strategy looks can vary based on property and portfolio size. For many operators, it may mean keeping a small crew on-site to deal with urgent repairs and to provide 24/7 help, while using a larger pool of staffers nearby to fill in gaps or complete more specialized requests (like technology fixes or large plumbing repairs, for instance).
“This ensures that urgent and emergency issues can be addressed immediately, without waiting for someone to travel to the property,” says Laura Khouri, president and chief operating officer at Western National Property Management (WNPM), which manages over 160 properties across California and Nevada. “It also gives residents confidence that support is always close by, especially in larger communities where scale can otherwise make service feel less personal.”
One thing that’s necessary in all iterations is a digital ticket or tracking system for work orders—one that ensures continuity no matter where personnel are coming from or what property they’re assigned to.
“There are more handoffs involved in maintenance than in any other part of a multifamily operation, and each handoff is a chance for a task to fall through the cracks and cause delays,” says William Gottfried, co-founder and CEO of work management system PropUp. “Centralization with good maintenance software helps solve this problem. No more sticky notes, texts, Slack messages, emails, phone calls, Google Sheet trackers, make-ready whiteboards, and on and on and on.”
Being Proactive Versus Reactive
While being quick to address service requests is critical, setting aside time for preventive tasks—or potentially even dedicating entire staff members to it—is just as important.
“Having a good proactive team beats the best reactive team,” says Kristina Chervenka, a certified property manager and co-founder of Five Buffalo Capital.
Dave Andrews, vice president of maintenance operations at Bell Partners, calls this “moving away from a costly ‘break-fix’ model” to a more “preventive maintenance culture that focuses on preserving assets and preventing failures.”
“Preventive care isn’t glamorous, but it’s the backbone of maintenance, and you can’t patch your way out of neglect,” Pedde says. “A proactive seasonal program—winterizing pipes, tuning cooling systems, inspecting roofs—reduces emergencies before they ever hit the call center. Over time, the proof is in the numbers. Repair calls don’t just plateau, they decline, because prevention shifts you from reacting to controlling.”
Being proactive includes not just regular inspections during move-ins and move-outs, but walking and inspecting vacant units, too. Operators should also carefully log repairs and incidents, as coaching staff on common issues and extrapolating trends from that data can improve results in the long term.
“Taking anonymous data from service requests and using artificial intelligence to find patterns that can be shared with teams can help inform on potential proactive ways to resolve issues, as well as highlight customer service opportunities,” Chervenka says.
Take WNPM’s “leak log,” for example. This digital database systematically tracks water-related incidents across its properties, noting leaks, frequencies, and costs.
“This allows our teams to proactively address high-risk units or systems and schedule inspections or replacements before small issues escalate,” Khouri says. “We can allocate resources more strategically and even predict where future maintenance needs might arise.”
Leveraging the Right Technology
A number of new technologies can help with prevention and early detection of common repairs. At some of WNPM’s older properties, for instance, pinhole and slab leaks have become a pesky problem, costing anywhere from $2,200 to $6,000 to fix every time.
Installing leak detection and monitoring technology has changed that, though. These systems use sensors on pipes, in mechanical rooms, and in moisture-prone units to identify leaks as the first stage—sometimes even before they’re visible to the naked eye.
“These systems can automatically alert maintenance staff through mobile notifications, reducing both response time and the risk of secondary damage requiring flooring replacement or mold remediation,” Khouri says.
There are also leak detection systems that can close pipe valves if a leak is found, and systems that can notify operators if temperatures are out of a normal range, pressure changes in pipes, or other issues arise.
“Being able to see a potential issue and knowing what supplies are needed can save precious time when addressing maintenance issues,” Chervenka says. “It can also alert service teams to call professional plumbers or other vendors to address items without having to respond to the service issue first.”
Involving the Residents
Empowering residents to play a role in the maintenance process can improve results, too. This can be as simple as sending out reminders to change HVAC filters occasionally, hosting move-in “orientation” events, or adding pest prevention tips to monthly newsletters, according to Chervenka.
Tech-enabled service requests are another tool that encourages more resident involvement.
“Encouraging residents to submit service requests and providing easy ways for them to do so is key in prevention as well,” Chervenka says. “If a resident can conveniently submit a service request from a mobile device with a photo, video, or voice message to highlight the concern, they are more likely to report the issue when it starts versus when it has been going on for a long period of time.”
In-unit smart-home technology can also help, allowing residents to monitor and report temperature issues, leaks, and more from their phone—even when off-site. Property chatbots can be a low-lift way to involve residents, too.
“Many operators have also added a chatbot feature to their service ticket portals to help guide a resident to take preventive measures while working through their service request,” Chervenka says. “Reminding residents how to turn off the water to their home or to turn a frozen HVAC unit off until service arrives can prevent further damage and save service team members time in repairing the issue.”
Retaining Existing Maintenance Staff
Outsourcing tasks and finding, hiring, and training new staff can be expensive and drag down efficiency. So retaining and investing in the team members you already have? Experts say that’s the key to long-term maintenance success.
“Building internal expertise in the trades, such as plumbing, electrical, and carpentry, beats outsourcing mark-ups and keeps us from bleeding margin to third parties,” Andrews says. “And when you pair that with training, career ladders, and tools that make techs’ lives easier, you don’t just fill jobs, you keep them filled.”