Smart PM Strategies: Running Your Business More Efficiently

When you're small property management firm competes with the mega-residential rental developments, it’s often difficult to know how to best utilize your time and resources.

Which is why it pays to find a more efficient way to do things. Experts weigh in on how they maximize time in their day-to-day tasks:

Bundle outsourced jobs
Most properties have the same kinds of maintenance needs—painting, unclogging gutters, mulching the flowerbeds. So you’ll save time and money by taking the “bundled” approach in getting bids for this kind of work.

“Offer subcontractors the opportunity to bid on the total projects needed for a year, not just for one property,” says Keely Killpack, a property manager and business consultant in Portland, Ore. “Often, they’ll offer deeper discounts and you don’t have to spend time constantly seeking bids.”

Similarly, if you’re aren’t doing so already, you can bundle outsourced needs impacting taxes, HR, legal and other administrative-based tasks by getting one professional to do the work for all properties.

Buy in bulk
Killpack encourages property owners to buy replacement equipment in bulk, which also saves time and money. “You can get volume discounts on both product and installation if you buy multiples of, say, the new low-flow toilets for apartment complexes, instead of just replacing one at time,” says Killpack, who also has a doctorate in organizational psychology.

Keep tenant turnover in check
One of the biggest time drains is attempting to find a new renter for a unit, given that an empty place requires advertising and marketing to new tenants, and getting the unit cleaned up and repaired.

Most turnover is controllable with some proactive steps, says Deb Bronson-McGrath, CEO of Discover True North, a San Francisco-based property management consulting company.

“Make sure that either a service technician or someone from the leasing center visits with a tenant within the first three to five days of move-in,” she says. “You can get a sense of any issues or perceived deficiencies right there, and possibly fix them right on the spot. Most customers decide whether they will or won’t renew a lease based upon their first experiences at move-in.”

Consider paying more for longer-lasting products
Buying high-quality, longer-lasting materials and appliances translates to less time spent maintaining and fixing things. Besides, the premium in initial price points here can easily be offset in your marketing efforts, attracting tenants who are willing to pay a bit more for a higher-end unit—and stay longer as a result.

“It’s always worth paying more for Energy Star rated appliances and strong, solid materials,” Killpack says. “You won’t be called to the property as often and tenants will treat the unit with more respect because they know it’s not bargain shelf. They'll also find value in lower utility payments, which typically reduces turnover.”

Train your staff to prevent time-consuming repairs
Preventative maintenance is always more efficient than taking a “fix it when it breaks” approach. To do this the right way, your maintenance staff needs to be trained on staying on top of scheduled equipment checks.

“Identify for them the expected outcomes, such as increased resident satisfaction and a better occupancy ratio,” says Bronson-McGrath. “Then create assignments for them.”

Tech tools can help
There are all kinds of tools available online that can increase marketing and administrative efficiencies. If you spend too much time inputting data into your computer expense program, for example, there is software on the market that promises to reduce the hassle. Instead of sticking with a rigid inputting format, these programs allow the latest expense information to be phoned, texted or even Tweeted. All the data is then interpreted and properly formatted and input into an expense report.