I want to share something that happened to me last year that completely changed how I handle maintenance.

I had a tenant report a slow drain in the upstairs bathroom. I sent my handyman, he snaked it, done. $150. Didn't think about it again.

Four months later, same unit, same drain. Sent the handyman again. Another $150. He mentioned the pipes "looked rough" but couldn't tell me more without a camera inspection.

Two months after that, the tenant calls on a Saturday night — water is coming through the first-floor ceiling. Emergency plumber comes out, scopes the line, finds a root intrusion that's been building for at least a year. The fix: $3,500 for a spot repair plus $300 in drywall work downstairs.

Here's the thing — if I had connected the dots between visit 1 and visit 2 on the same fixture, I would have ordered the camera scope after the second call. That would have been a $350 fix instead of $3,800.

Since then, I track every maintenance request by unit AND by fixture/system. When I see the same system show up twice in 6 months, it automatically gets flagged for deeper inspection. The pattern is almost always there if you're looking for it.

Curious — how many of you actually track maintenance at the fixture level vs. just "unit had a plumbing issue"? And has anyone else caught a pattern early enough to save real money?