There are few rites of spring more satisfying than the annual clean. Even though we all cringe thinking about the work involved, the actual process of purging old and unwanted items creates a sense of accomplishment- helping prepare for the warmer summer months. The same concepts apply to real estate operations. So, here are some items that you may want to give a good cleaning in the next few months:
Inspect Costs and Capital Planning Everything from data security to finances should be reviewed periodically, and the second quarter is a good time for many organizations to examine their budget for the year and ensure that cost estimates are on track. By monitoring repairs and other expenses through the first three months, property managers have a good sense of what their overall costs may be for the rest of the year. Doing a financial review during the spring months could help your organization avoid potential problems by giving you enough time to adjust your management approach. If large renovation projects are in danger of going over budget, there may still be time to search for alternative materials or take other steps to alleviate costs. If project managers wait until the end to assess their progress, it will be too late to control expenses. The Utah Pulse states that reviewing budgets is just part of the financial spring cleaning process for companies. The flow of information should be carefully explored as well.
Power Wash Your Procedures Explore your procedures for collecting and analyzing information. By identifying bad habits, your team can create plans to eliminate inefficiencies. Building managers may find ways to boost productivity or customer service by reviewing how repairs are handled, the average response time for different issue types, which buildings are under-performing, tenants that have high number of service requests, or specific pieces of equipment that have been regularly malfunctioning. But none of this is possible if you don’t have a defined process in place for responding to service requests, tracking response times and storing equipment histories in a central location (no, dusty paper trails in your office don’t count. Think a centralized online operations database). Tenant management should also be a large part of any review. Failing to take care of problems or communicate important information in a timely manner will deter occupants from renewing their leases. Why not set up a spring survey to proactively gauge tenant satisfaction? Or, better yet, why not set up a way to let tenants rate their satisfaction in real-time with every work order they submit? The Salt Lake Tribune notes that exploring the customer relationships can help business owners understand what services need to be improved upon to maintain a steady revenue stream.
