The Top 4 Ways Technology Can Help Reduce the Load on Your Multifamily Maintenance Team

Are you maximizing your maintenance team?

In the multifamily business, your team has to do a lot, from solving resident issues to checking on the heating and cooling systems to keeping everything clean and responding to emergencies -- and that’s just the beginning. The tasks can be routine and monotonous, but they’re absolutely critical to the health of the building and are the keys to resident satisfaction.

The good news is that implementing affordable, cutting-edge technology just might be the answer. Giving your maintenance team the power to diagnose problems and act proactively through Internet of Things (IoT) devices and sensors, along with the data insights they provide, can make your staff more productive, your building more efficient, and your residents happier. But the real magic happens when that data is combined with a platform that integrates along with historical building data to provide smart alerts that warn staff about problems before they become costly disasters, and help staff prioritize when multiple issues arise at once. Data from one or multiple buildings can be viewed and analyzed on web-based dashboards through mobile devices carried by maintenance staff or accessed on desktops

Here are four ways adding intelligence into your building with IoT can help you empower your staff to manage your site more effectively, be more productive and deliver superior customer service.

1. Use IoT to “see” into systems automatically.

   IoT provides the power to see into systems without having staff manually check on them. Today, it’s easy and inexpensive to place sensors on a wide range of building equipment such as heating and cooling systems that deliver real-time information and predictive insights to building maintenance staff. In complexes with multiple buildings, maintenance can save hours (and miles of walking) each day to check on various systems.

   
   

2. Recognize problems before they arise.

   A combination of installing smart thermostats with setpoint limits along with sensors in living and common areas and on critical building equipment combine to deliver a solution that both prevents and detects problems before they occur. 

   In individual units and common areas, smart thermostats automatically prevent temperatures from getting too high or too low and sensors that can detect and provide alerts for things like humidity, mold and water leaks that enables your staff to keep an eye on things non-intrusively. IoT devices can also provide insight into things that only used to be detected by physical presence, like a window left open during the winter months or during peak cooling season. Access to more data and alerts not only let maintenance staff know when a problem arises but, when combined with the right platform, can also deliver the ability to monitor trends and provide alerts based on trends and outliers that might indicate or predict a potential issue.

   
   

3. Reduce resident calls, deliver a better experience for both residents and maintenance staff

   Every building owner knows that being proactive with maintenance issues saves on costly repairs in the long run and smooths out the peaks and valleys of maintenance so staff are both better utilized and less stressed. It also reduces frustration from maintenance staff and residents who have to deal with major disruptions. Sensors make it much easier to identify small errors in the inner workings of critical building systems, and lets your staff make those timely adjustments before things become serious.

4. Staff morale and empowerment 

   Maintenance employees are the backbone to any multifamily building staff. They’re the “go-to” staff members when things go wrong and they’re the face of the building to the residents. They’re also incredibly hard to hire and retain. Installing IoT devices and sensors makes it easier for your valued maintenance staff to do their jobs more effectively and enables them to focus on critical building issues and being more productive. According to a recent report, multifamily maintenance technicians have an annual turnover rate of 50%. Providing technicians with the latest technology enables them to make a difference in the lives of residents and overall building health -- and makes them happier and more productive. Building managers also benefit by pooling maintenance staff and deploying workers across multiple buildings. 

Interested in learning more about how you can empower your multifamily maintenance staff through technology? Email info@embue.com today.