Getting your property ready for the winter months can be a daunting task for any maintenance team, but asking your office staff to send out a maintenance survey at this time of year can help your team prioritize the upcoming tasks and deliver outstanding customer service at the same time. Here's how it works:
Develop a survey with your team about the most commonly placed work action items over the winter. Examples of what you can include are: Fireplace pilot light relighting (which everyone forgets about until that first super cold day), Replacing damaged weather stripping or caulking on doors and windows, loose railings on stairwells, any low hanging branches or branches that may be responsible for the disconnection of power in an ice storm, or any outstanding leaks that could turn in to even bigger problems if the pipes froze. Sending this to your residents as a Winter Home Wellness checklist gives them time to evaluate possible problems in their own homes. When the surveys/checklists have been returned (set a specific date on this one for efficiency's sake), the office staff can enter the repairs needed in to a database and your team can then begin systematically working through the process of getting your property winterized, building by building. No doubt you'll have a few late returns on the checklist, but the majority of residents who get it in on time will make your team's life a lot easier. This is also a great chance for you to remind your residents that they can put in maintenance orders via your online portal, email, or any other avenues of communication you've recently opened with them.