How do you handle maintenance and scheduled repairs

Question

We just spent 10 days doing our typical "Spring upkeep"

We sanded down solid wood kitchen cabinets, primed and painted them.

Had a bulb burned out under the microwave.

Fixed some screens on the screened back porch.

Touched up some paint on the dock.

Cleaned out flower beds.

Steam Cleaned Carpets

Fixed a bedroom door that wasn't latching properly

Etc.

For those of you using a PM:

Does you PM regular inspect to catch small things like a microwave light burned out? How do they handle when painting needs to be done or pressure washing the outside of the house etc?

For those that remotely self manage, same questions?

I feel that if I didn't personally check on the property every so often many small things would get overlooked.

@Lucas Carl how are you staying on top of 5 remotely managed properties?

Luke Carl · Answer

Good question I can’t remember the last time I was at any of the original 5. I’ve been spending time at the 6th getting it ready in Florida and then there’s the 20 LTRs which are also in different cities.

Guests are VERY good at telling me when something isn’t perfect and I always get it fixed right away. Also have my cleaner do a deep clean every February. But you’re right I’m due for a maintenance trip and bust some heads.

Ken Boone · Answer

@John Underwood - I have some LTRs in the Greenville area, but my STRs are in the Pigeon Forge and Wears Valley area.

Is that meeting a once a month deal?

Mark Futalan · Answer

Our cleaning company and/or guests let us know if there are maintenance issues that come up. I have a list of handyman, plumbers, a/c guys etc that I have saved numbers for and give them a call when needed. Also use the NextDoor app to find trustworthy people that neighbors around my property use and have had good experiences with. I find that useful. Currently using a referral from ND to fix a small roof leak on one of my STR’s. Handyman who’s a roofer by trade for 30+ years.

John Underwood · Answer

Upstate Real Estate Club meeting on Monday 16 March at the Embassy Suites on Verdae blvd, 6PM (meeting starts at 7PM). You should attend!

John Underwood · Answer

Are your properties in Greenville?

Pat L. · Answer

My maintenance guys do most of it. One is building an addition while we were @ our attorneys office closing on 2 more deals. BUT I was at Lowes 7am this morning picking up 15 sheets of plywood for the addition. Then they begged me to take this pile of slight edge damaged culled fireproof drywall. Got it all for $50. I can use it to cover a large old exposed 3/4 ply ceiling at the 6-unit.

Paul Sandhu · Answer

Sorry, I can not contribute to this thread. I don't use a PM, and I don't remotely self manage. But I did go to Argentina last month on a hunting trip. I left my rental house keys, receipt book and Square reader with my cleaning lady.

Ken Boone · Answer

Major stuff my guests let me know and like Lucas I get them fixed ASAP. I visit my cabins often and every time I am at one of them there is always stuff that needs to be done. Now having said that I am pretty picky and want my cabins in tip top shape all the time, but it seems like there is always some type of maintenance, touch up, or repair that can be done when I go up. I never go up there without tools and a ladder.

My cleaner will take care of small stuff when she sees it and she takes care of bulbs and batteries and all that kind of stuff so I don't really run into that any more.

One other thing I did recently along those lines was to swap out all the fire alarms to ones with 10 year lithium batteries. Even though I had a battery swap plan, I would get the inevitable call about a chirping alarm. And we all know they only chirp late at night on a weekend. I won't have to deal with that again or the service call to get the battery swapped for quite some time now!

But now that we are in peak the only time I can do anything is if a cabin happens to not be booked on maybe a mon or tues somewhere randomly.

How do you handle maintenance and scheduled repairs

How do you handle maintenance and scheduled repairs

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