A Message From David Benoit
In my 12+ years of working with property managers and building owners I have found the most effective property managers have their properties on some form of plan or program. As you know there can be quite a turnover of property managers in the industry; they can get overwhelmed by having to respond to buildings’ needs.
Looking back from this point the managers that are still in the industry are generally proactive in their approach. This is a “Win-Win” for all parties involved. The buildings get attention, the property manager can spend their time leading the buildings and the contractor will provide more competitive pricing.
Over the years the 1 most common objection I hear from property managers is, “the strata doesn’t believe in programs.” My response to this is, “really?” They don’t believe in cleaning their carpets, gutters, windows etc? That tells me that the strata members would prefer to own in a building where they can’t see out their windows, where their gutters overflow and their carpets are disgusting and wearing out.
I think the truth is the strata’s haven’t thought it through and the property manager didn’t spend the time needed communicating to them the benefits of an overall plan. You can have 3 to 4 different contractors, but the key here is one calendar of when items will occur and by whom.
On a side note, the most successful property managers I know have only 2 trades they work with in each category. This helps them stay on top of things and these contractors will do their absolute best to ensure that their customer’s buildings are taken care of with the fear of losing all of the work at that property manager’s buildings. Well run strata’s don’t use the council president’s nephew to clean the carpets.
I have never understood why buildings need to gather quotes every year for services that are generally done every year. Does the strata think the pricing is going to come down? If they did their due diligence in the initial process then why would that change? Of course, if a contractor did not perform according to expectations or agreement, that’s a different story. The truth is that most contractors will not raise prices on a yearly basis if the work is committed to and ongoing. At Servus Group, we have carpet maintenance programs that are 10 years old and the pricing is still the same. However when asked to quote on a yearly basis pricing generally trends upward. If we have a relationship with a building and our crews are familiar with the project we are grateful for the work and don’t see the need to raise pricing.
So in summary if you want to have a less stressful longer career make a plan for your buildings maintenance, my recommendation based on over a decade of experience and relationships with hundreds of property managers: only deal with a few trades and take the time to educate your stratas and building owners on the benefits for everyone of being proactive, having a plan, and maintaining your strata buildings.
Thanks for your time and consideration,
David Benoit
