Questions to ask a residential property management company regarding property maintenance and repairs: Part 1

rnOne of the most important roles of a property management company is to preserve and increase the value of the owner’s properties. This requires them to look after the maintenance and repair of the properties in the most appropriate way.
A proficient residential property management company would accomplish all the tasks related to maintenance, repair, addressing tenant’s problems and many others with the assistance of both internal staff and their network of qualified, licensed vendors whom they have scrutinized for excellent cost effective services. They also provide the owners with a transparent system for seeing how their money is being spent.
rnHerein below, we would learn about the questions that you may ask the property managers regarding the maintenance and repair concerns:
Ask that how do they handle the after-hours maintenance requests and emergencies. You have to be sure about this aspect, and see if the company has a proper qualified person or team to handle it. In case they aren’t available in the wee hours, at least an answering machine or someone who could attend the request call should be there to give the message about when the resolution to their problems would be available.
Inquire about the ways in which they track the incoming resident maintenance requests and the following work orders. This is a very important feature that the management company should have. It would require them to have a system that does not allow maintenance requests to fall through the cracks and require repeated tenant requests before the work is done. This system generally involves the use of a latest software solution, which also enables tenants to submit maintenance requests online. So ensure that your selected company has it.
Ask if they have their own maintenance squad or crew. Look for the availability of a dedicated team or crew of maintenance people in the company. Also check that whether they are licensed, bonded, insured and are covered by worker's compensation.
Inquire if they have any sort of conflicts of interest with their vendors. This aspect needs strict vigilance, because a crooked relationship between the two can be harmful for you. So be careful of the associations that are based on something other than decent work and the best price. Sometimes you could be benefited by the vendor rewards that they give to the management companies in the form of discounted rates, so inquiring about the rapport between the two parties is very important.
Also find out that with which contractors the management company works. It is important to find out that whether the contractors with whom you selected residential property management company works, carries a workers compensation or not and if they are properly licensed, bonded and insured. The management company also should oversee the contractors’ work for quality assurance, code compliance and cost effectiveness.