Owners who are looking for ways to save money on maintenance have a secret weapon that is often overlooked: preventative maintenance. There’s a lot you can fix preventatively instead of waiting for the damage to deepen.
When we talk to rental property owners in Dayton, we always stress the importance of preventative maintenance and how it’s so much more affordable and effective than deferred maintenance. You have to be willing to invest in protecting the condition and value of your rental properties. Otherwise, they’ll deteriorate faster, their rental values will slip, and by the time they get around to making the needed repairs and replacements – the costs will be exceedingly high.
Let’s have a conversation about the importance of preventative maintenance and how it helps you have a better and more profitable rental experience.
Understanding Preventative Maintenance for Dayton Rental Properties
Preventive maintenance refers to the maintenance inspections and repairs that are completed before any obvious maintenance is needed. You’re getting out ahead of appliances, systems, and functions breaking down.
For your Dayton rental property, this will most often require regular inspections, thorough cleaning during turnover periods, and routine servicing of appliances, HVAC systems, and plumbing fixtures. You want to always be looking for potential problems, and you want to train your residents to identify any potential preventative maintenance needs as well.
The main difference between preventative maintenance and routine maintenance is that it focuses on avoiding potential problems before they occur rather than fixing or replacing whatever is already broken.
Preventative maintenance includes simple attentions such as changing air filters, testing smoke detectors, and replacing window screens.
Yes, it requires an investment of money, time, and other resources. You’ll have to pay $100 to have your plumbing checked or your HVAC system inspected. But, that’s better than allowing a sink to leak for five years and then having thousands of dollars in plumbing repairs and/or mold to face.
Paying a little bit now can ultimately save you a lot of money.
Leveraging the Value of Preventative Maintenance
Preventive maintenance is valuable to rental property owners and investors for a number of important reasons. For most owners, the most important reason is that it saves you money in the long term. When you are willing to prioritize preventative maintenance, you can prevent major system failures that would require expensive repairs or replacements.
When you can prevent these problems, you save money by minimizing emergency repairs and limiting the downtime your rental property needs.
Preventative maintenance is also better for tenant satisfaction. When your residents live in well-maintained rental properties, they are more comfortable, less likely to complain, and more likely to renew their leases. That cuts down on your vacancy and turnover costs, which is a huge value.
You’re protecting your investment when you commit to a schedule of preventative maintenance. You’ll find that you’re able to prolong the lifespan of your rental property’s systems, functions, and components. This ultimately increases the value of your asset and protects your investment.
Implementing Preventative Maintenance
Understanding the importance of preventative maintenance is one thing. How do you make sure it’s happening on a regular basis with your investment?
- Create a checklist of preventive maintenance tasks. Compile a list of all the appliances and systems in your rental property that will need inspections and regular service calls. This might be your HVAC system, your roof, your plumbing, and your kitchen appliances. Categorize these needs by how frequently they need to be checked, and then schedule inspections and servicing accordingly.
- Don’t forget seasonal maintenance. In Dayton, our winters can be cold and involve a lot of snow. You’ll want to do different things at the beginning of each season.
- Conduct regular inspections to check for wear and tear, leaks, and other potential issues. During these inspections, document any necessary repairs or replacements. This is especially important during turnover periods when you’re preparing your property for new tenants.
- Put together a great list of vendors and contractors who can help you maintain your property proactively.
- Educate your tenants and encourage their participation. Talk about the importance of reporting all maintenance needs right away. Sometimes, tenants will hesitate to call you about what they believe to be a minor issue. Reinforce the need to hear about those minor issues right away.
Always keep accurate records of the preventive maintenance tasks and repairs done in your rental property. This will help you track your maintenance expenses and ensure that all tasks are done on schedule.
Dayton Property Management and Preventative Maintenance
Working with a Dayton property manager is often the best way to ensure that your plans are thorough, effective, and affordable. When you partner with a property manager, you know that someone is watching out for these things. You’re not living at your property, so you cannot be the eyes and the ears that are there. Your property manager will understand how to keep up with your property’s condition while not intruding on the space and privacy that your tenants are entitled to.
This is why you hire a property management expert: to take care of maintenance and to make sure your property remains in good condition and growing in value.
When you already own a property, you need to work with your property manager to establish a schedule of preventative maintenance. When you’re preparing to invest in a property, hire a management company early in the process. Then, you can get an idea about whether there’s any deferred maintenance that will need to be taken care of before it’s ready for the rental market. You’ll also get some good advice about what to expect in terms of ongoing maintenance and what you might need to budget for that.
When you buy a property that needs a lot of work, you can sometimes find yourself in over your head. It will take some time to get it habitable, and that means you delay your rental income.
We can tell you more about preventative maintenance and help you put together a schedule that will serve you, your property, and your residents. Contact us at ManCo Property Services for all your Dayton property management needs.
