Everyone remembers their first car. The name of mine was Chuck, and it was a 1998 Saturn passed down from my older brother. It was a new sense of freedom to be able to drive myself to school and go out with friends on the weekend.

What I wasn’t prepared for was the responsibility of keeping up with the maintenance of a car. Things like missed oil changes because I didn’t want to spend the $30, ignoring bubbles in my tires, and turning up the radio so I couldn’t hear the strange sounds coming from the engine lead to bigger (more expensive) problems to deal with.

More often than not, I ended up paying a high price for these choices. (Including the freedom that comes from having a working car!)

The time I’ve now spent learning about the commercial real estate industry has made me think back to good ole Chuck. Property management teams have to keep up with preventive maintenance (PM) tasks the same way we have to stay on top of car maintenance for similar reasons; to avoid bigger problems.

Let’s explore some ways to make those pesky PM tasks easier for property management teams to deal with.

Creating the best workflow for your team

Property management teams are busy! Wouldn’t it be great to have a system that helps prioritize daily tasks? How about saving time on data entry to get more of those tasks complete?

We all know that our days rarely go as planned but it is important to have a system in place to make sure those PM tasks are being completed in a timely manner.

I run into a lot of property management teams that are using pen and paper to work through their day-to-day tasks, but there is a lot to be said for a unified platform that automates task prioritization based on team service delivery goals, captures actionable performance data, and takes away the risk of misplacing important documents (we are all human; I’m famous for putting papers “someplace safe”!).

The goal of such technology is to help your team develop an effective service delivery program, so you can lower costs, deliver better service, and improve tenant satisfaction.

Time Management

We all have a habit of stretching ourselves too thin. Ever notice yourself scheduling too many tasks all for one day, a day that there aren’t enough hours in?
Making sure that you aren’t unrealistically scheduling too many tasks to be completed in a day can help save you and your property operations team time and frustration.

It just so happens that a modern property management platform can help automate task scheduling based on your own parameters, including preventive maintenance tasks, so you don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Doesn’t that sound great?

Access Maintenance Info, Anywhere

Preparation is a key factor to success and that doesn’t exclude completing PM tasks. Having the information you need at your fingertips can be a huge help (especially when it’s a unified platform right at your fingertips).

With access to the PM tasks that need to be completed (don’t have it broken out? Building Engines is happy to provide suggestions from the GSA library) work through your tasks for the day right on your phone or iPad. Pull up manuals & videos for a specific piece of equipment with a simple click, or scan a QR code to get just what you need.

Save yourself time and energy with a unified property management software platform that gives you the info you need for your PM tasks anywhere, anytime.

Challenge the Status Quo

I’ll be the first to admit I am hesitant when it comes to change. If it’s not broke why fix it?

I run into a lot of property management teams that have had engineers working on their buildings for 20+ years. These engineers are valuable members of their teams and know the building better than anyone- and can often times be nervous that technology will replace their position.

The commercial real estate industry is growing and property management teams shouldn’t be afraid to grow with it. Modern, all-inclusive property management software platforms can help property operations teams complete tasks more efficiently so their focus can be put on more important things, like managing their tenant relationships. (And that is definitely worth exploring!)

PM tasks are an important part of property management teams’ responsibilities, so I encourage you to make sure you are giving your teams the right tools to get them done efficiently and effectively.

And take it from me, bubbles in car tires (or at-risk building systems) are not something to be ignored!