Maintenance emergencies are a nightmare for property managers and tenants so this week the maintenance checkup from Keepe will discuss how to handle 7 common maintenance emergencies.

Most of the scenarios we will discuss present the possibility of causing serious damage to the property, and in some case even harm tenants.

7 common maintenance emergencies and how to resolve them

The goal is to solve the emergency as quickly and safely as possible. And with a result that both property managers and tenants will feel satisfied with the way their discomfort was addressed and resolved.

No. 1 – Flooded basement or ground floor

Generally caused by piping failures or harsh weather, indoor floods are just as dangerous as they are inconvenient.

Flood water cause major health complications. These range from being exposed to sewage, inviting mosquitoes and parasites, and kickstarting toxic mold growth. Also, once flood water reaches outlets and hot wires, it becomes immensely dangerous. It can conduct electricity and turn the space into a shock-zone.

The “golden rule” to keep in mind is that letting water sit around is the worst mistake that can be made.

Get started with clean-up and repair efforts as quickly as possible, especially to salvage materials and avoid thousands of dollars worth of damage.

If the cause of the flood can be easily identified as a burst pipe, the water supply must be immediately turned off. If the flood has reached exposed outlets, plugs, and wires, it’s then important to turn off power and contact a professional for the assessment of whether the area presents a serious electrical hazard.

Once the area has been cleared, all furniture should be removed and put in a dry space to optimize the likelihood they can be salvaged.

Pumps, wet-dry vacuums and eventually fans and dehumidifiers can be helpful with drying out the space once the majority of the water has been drained.

A professional handyman should be contacted to help with removing and repairing damaged walls – especially drywall, paneling and wallpapers – insulation, and ventilating wall cavities to minimize the risk of toxic mold growth.

If the flooding is unrelated to burst piping, it’s adequate to contact a professional for the assessment of whether the flood water is dangerous/toxic, and proceed with water removal and repair. Consult a second expert contractor regarding how floods can be prevented in your particular case (adding insulation, creating barriers, reconfiguring basements, etc.)

No. 2 – Bursting pipes

A frozen pipe that bursts means water can find its way inside a property.

In case of a burst pipe, immediately turn off the water supply. If the space is flooded, it’s appropriate to proceed as described above, with initial safety checks followed by water and furniture removal.

It’s then fundamental to contact a professional plumber for the repair of the burst section, but also for a consultation regarding how it would be best for your case to prevent burst pipes in the future.

No. 3 – Water heater bursts

A burst water heater will try to continue re-filling, causing water to continue on spilling and flooding the space.

First, if the heater is electric shut off the breaker to power it down. Gas heaters need to be shut off by utilizing the proper valve.

Water supply should be turned off next. Then proceed with steps for damage control outlined in scenario No. 1 above.

It’s best to then call the manufacturer of the appliance and your insurance company to best resolve how to repair or replace the heater, and whether any items are protected under your insurance package.

No. 4 – Pilot light shutting off

A tenant waking up in a house or apartment without hot water is a particularly uncomfortable experience.

A water heater or furnace without an active pilot light is likely what is causing the problem.

Fortunately, some appliances feature ignition buttons for easily relighting the pilot light. But, this must be done safely. The gas supply needs to be cut off and the area around the appliance needs to be allowed to be properly ventilated.

If you smell the characteristic “rotten egg” scent of natural gas lingering in the space and the smell persists for longer than an hour, leave the property and call the utility company.

You need a professional to check whether there is a gas leak or any gas-related hazard, investigate the issue, and determine whether other parts of the system should be addressed and replaced.

Once the space has been cleared, it is safe to proceed with attempting to light the pilot light by following the appliance instruction. We always recommend the help of a professional if you are at all unsure how to proceed.

No. 5 – Junction box and electrical fires

Old or incorrectly set-up wiring can be responsible for sparking dangerous electrical fires.

While junction boxes are supposed to help with containing sparks, they are no help if a fire actually catches on.

If smoke or visible flames are spotted, the electricity must be immediately shut off, and the fire department should be alerted.

If flames are burning, it would be adequate to have a Class C or multipurpose fire extinguisher at hand to try and put out the fire as long as it is safe to do so. Following the incident, contact an electrician to check on your property’s wiring to determine what caused the issue.

No. 6 – Backed-up septic tank

House image created by Katemangostar – Freepik.com

A backed-up septic tank will overflow and allow spilled toxic waste to flow near or even into a property.

This is not just disgusting and smelly, but also dangerous and damaging.

Septic waste carries bacteria and disease, and can impregnate and linger into most surfaces it touches upon contact.

The best way to address this issue is to be proactive with clean-up, removing waste as it surfaces and removing – ideally disposing of – any contaminated furniture and objects. Spaces should be disinfected with a bleach solution, and a septic tank specialist should be called immediately to investigate the source of the problem.

No. 7 – Roots growing in sewer line

Tree roots are naturally attracted to the nutrients and moisture that are found within sewer lines.

Roots can easily sense and access pipes that are cracked or damaged by wear and time.

As roots infiltrate the system and grow longer and larger, the line can be completely burst or become backed-up, which becomes visible by above-ground or in-home resurfacing of sewage.

If waste floods a space, proceed as outlined in the “backed-up septic tank” scenario.

To address the issue of roots, some products that are available for purchase claim to burn off and kill roots upon contact after being easily and directly poured into drains. Our experts find these to be a “bad-aid” type of solution. These products do not resolve this issue long term and make it is likely to resurface.

In these situation, it is best to contact a professional to arrange the removal of the tree completely, and it is fundamental to try and avoid planting trees within 10 feet of a sewage line, or implement an underground barrier system to protect pipes.

7 common maintenance emergencies summary:

Investing in and prioritizing preventative maintenance strategies can lower risk of plumbing and utility emergencies.

However it is important to invest just as much time and energy into being prepared to handle them safely and promptly in case they were to actually happen

Other recent rental property maintenance Keepe posts you may have missed:

4 Outdoor Flooring Options For Your Rentals

20 Easy, Affordable Maintenance Projects To Update Your Rentals

5 Maintenance Tips For Long-Lasting Rental Carpet Flooring

About Keepe:

Keepe is an on-demand maintenance solution for property managers and independent landlords. The company makes hundreds of independent contractors and handymen available for maintenance projects at rental properties. Keepe is available in the Greater Seattle area, Phoenix, San Francisco Bay and San Diego areas.

Apartment jobs in maintenance continue to be in high demand as leasing and property management jobs have leveled off, according to quarterly jobs report from The National Apartment Association Education Institute.

The new jobs report focuses on jobs that are being advertised in the apartment industry as being available, according to Paula Munger, Director, Industry Research and Analysis, for the National Apartment Association’s Education Institute.

While the total number of apartment jobs were down compared to first quarter last year, “I don’t see it as an alarming sign that jobs are down. Even though we are comparing the same quarter of the year, I think there is still seasonality factors in here,” Munger said.

Many new apartments came online last year plus, “We all heard about the ‘Trump bump.’ I hesitate to say euphoria but one of the things that companies do when they are feeling super optimistic is ramp up their hiring plan,” Munger said. She added that deliveries of new apartments are slower now and “the market is decelerating a bit.”

Background on the apartment jobs report

“Our education institute is a credentialing body for the apartment industry. They hear often that one of the biggest problems keeping our industry leaders up at night is the difficulty in finding talent, attracting talent and retaining talent,” Munger said.  “Labor-market issues are happening in a lot of industries, certainly with the tight labor market we have.”

So NAA decided to partner with Burning Glass Technologies. “They have a labor-job posting database that is proprietary,” she said, and they can “layer on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). We looked at that and thought we could do something that is really going to help the industry and help benchmark job titles and trends as we go forward.”

Total Rental Housing Industry Job Postings

“The number of available apartment jobs during the first quarter 2018 decreased from the same period last year, but came in above the 5-year average. Unsurprisingly, job postings are strongly tied to new apartment deliveries, which were at their lowest quarterly level in Q4 2017 in nearly four years according to CoStar Group. Also, the effects of the “Trump Bump” at the end of 2016, when business optimism increased dramatically as reported by the National Federation of Independent Business, could certainly be reflected in employers’ robust hiring plans for Q1 2017,” the report states.

Apartment jobs postings by major category

Apartment  jobs for maintenance and writing skills in demand

Maintenance jobs continue to be one of the hardest areas to fill.

“That really fits in with everything our members tell us,” Munger said. “It is just one of the hardest positions to fill. There tends to be a lot of turnover. I think there is a lot of churn. There’s maintenance workers going from one company to another.”

Apartment maintenance jobs are not entry level “but it’s a position that doesn’t require an advanced degree either,” she said. “Just the simple fact that there are a lot more apartment residents out there, with a lot more maintenance needs. I did find that interesting too, that some postings were down but maintenance was up. It’s clearly in high demand,” she said.

The report also looks at the top baseline skills most important in 2018 and the impact of technology shows up in the requirements now for the baseline skills.

• • Preventative maintenance

• • Troubleshooting

• • Communication skills

• • Detail oriented

• • Writing

“There are multiple ways you could put in a maintenance request, obviously,” Munger said. “But now you are seeing a lot of companies use apps. The other interesting thing that’s happening is the maintenance tech is interacting more and more with the residents without having the property manager as a go between or middle person. There are different types communications required across all these generations.  I think you are seeing that playing out in these job postings,” she said.

“Even though there are communications skills in all these top five, it’s not good enough to just broadly talk about communication skills. I think that these job postings are getting more specific now.  I think that’s where you are seeing that writing comes into the top five. Because you better be able to communicate back with your resident who is looking for a fix,” she said.

Writing key to responding to resident text messages and email

Writing is important “because the property manager isn’t necessarily involved in those interactions. In a lot of places that’s where the industry is trending,” she said.

Also the use of apps means writing is needed and “I’ve seen some of these apps, or at least demos of them. It’s pretty click, click, click. To provide the customer service, and make the resident feel like you did everything you could, and ‘here’s the update on your maintenance request.’ I think that requires a little more detail and some of that will be written in detail,” Munger said.

Role of the property manager is evolving

Just as the maintenance role is changing, so is the property manager job. While that issue was not part of the jobs report, there is a trend there.

“I don’t want to call them concierges, because that’s a different job. But I also think there are some property managers that are needing to be more mindful of events,” Munger said.

“Getting residents together, planning events, maybe dealing with outside vendors more than they have,” she said. And not in terms of vendors like a landscaper “they’ve been doing that forever,” she said. But more like a celebrity chef or “someone who comes into the building to do a quickie demo. That kind of stuff. I think in general they are having to think a little bit more about, I won’t say event planning, but something along those lines,” Munger said.

The role is becoming more than just a property manager. Munger said then “the hiring manager gets to a point where they say, ‘I need more than one whole person to do this job.’ So we are seeing more and more event coordinators in apartment communities,” she said.

Northern California challenge in filling apartment jobs

“I think it’s particularly interesting that you see Northern California show up here twice as one of those with the longest time to fill. You are so used to hearing about tech positions. I think they are having to deal with a limited labor pool because it’s such a tech oriented place.

“That’s just a theory, but I think that is kind of interesting that they are having a problem filling both those positions. And you can see that clearly the maintenance position is the lowest, lowest paid. Although, they do have a problem hiring leasing consultants too. “

The turnover rate challenge

Ellis Management Solutions has statistics showing the national turnover rate for jobs is 19 percent but in the multifamily industry it is 39 percent.

“I think, I’ll state the obvious, with the high turnover, you are going to have to go out to the market more often to keep your positions filled,” Munger said. “I actually have another report from CEL and Associates a company out of LA, and theirs is more like 32 percent turnover rate for the multifamily industry. But the maintenance job, the on-site maintenance job, is almost consistently the highest turnover year after year.

“Like any other industry, with a lot of turnover, there is that time that has to be taken out to bring the person on board, to do other hiring activities like background checks. So it’s costly and that certainly does not help the bottom line.

Apartment jobs summary:

Munger talked about the seasonality factors and seeing “a little bit of deceleration.”

“One thing I didn’t mention that I’m going to be curious about going forward is, we are hearing that because of the moderating rent growth – it’s still growing but not as fast as it was – that a lot of owners and operators are looking towards, either additional revenue sources or increasing their operational efficiencies.

“And I am wondering if this isn’t seasonal? If this is playing out here like, ‘Okay let’s take a step back and do we really need this position here?  Can we get by with maybe not filling that other position?’

“So that’s something I hesitate to say after one quarter. I’ll be looking out for that going forward,” Munger said.

Resources:

National Apartment Association Education Institute

Burning Glass technologies

National Apartment Association

Ellis Partners in management solutions

CEL & Associates – Enterprise strategies and solutions for the real estate industry

About the National Apartment Association Education Institute:

NAAEI’s mission is to provide broad-based education, training and recruitment programs that attract, nurture and retain high-quality professionals and develop tomorrow’s apartment industry leaders.

Small bathrooms in your rental properties can be made to look bigger and keep tenants happier with small, affordable changes in this maintenance checkup from Keepe

Being able to enjoy a spacious bathroom is on the wish list of many tenants,.

However many properties – especially rental unit clusters – are designed to optimize space. That means that the sheer size of a property’s rooms might have to be reduced to squeeze in extra storage space or living areas.

While an extra small bathroom or powder room is certainly better than having one less bathroom in the property, it can be a hard point to sell, especially when a small bathroom is a property’s only bathroom.

A room expansion or remodel is expensive, labor intensive and time-consuming. It is also unlikely to be feasible for units that have been purposely designed to host certain numbers and types of rooms of specific dimensions.

10 ways to make small bathrooms in your rentals look bigger and better

No. 1 – Opt for white on white

Avoiding dark, overly bright or coordinated color schemes is a must. Avoid contrasts and colors from emphasizing how small a space is by highlighting where the walls and/or ceiling end. White creates a spacious and airy feel. White also allows natural and/or artificial light to illuminate the space as opposed to being absorbed by dark colored paints or wallpapers.

No. 2 – Match tiles, walls and ceiling

Matching the color of painted walls, tiling and ceiling erases the visible contrast that would result if they were of different colors. Uniformity and continuity of color makes the space look significantly larger, thus making more elaborate tiling patterns or color schemes an element to avoid.

No 3 – Extend tiling

If showers and other areas are surrounded by tiled walls, it’s ideal to extend tiling all the way up to the ceiling to avoid trims to “mark” a clear point on the walls and “shorten” them as a result.

No. 4 – Lengthen the space with vertical tiling

Instead of opting for regular or square-like tiles and laying them horizontally, choosing longer tiles and laying them vertically tricks the onlooker to perceive the space as being taller or wider than it really is.

No. 5 – Save space with a new door

Regular doors demand a certain radius of space available at all times to adequately swing open. This forces the layout of all elements within the space to accommodate the clearance. Sliding doors give back this space as they slide open without taking up space from the room.

No 6 – Use bright lighting in small bathrooms

Poor illumination can make a small bathroom look dark and claustrophobic. The combination of bright lighting with the white color scheme of its surroundings creates an airy, fresh look.

No 7 – Use mirrors to your advantage

Large mirrors can create an optical illusion that makes the room look larger. You can almost double the perceived space with them. Larger mirrors can be pricey, but generally still cost less than a tiled wall. This makes them an advantageous substitute.

No. 8 –  Invest in sleek fixtures and furnishings

Elaborate design elements are distracting and overwhelming is a small space.  Modern bathroom fixtures and furnishings showcase sleek and harmonious lines, which work well with the minimalist look of uniform white paints and tiling to create an elegant space.

No. 9 – Go with glass

Instead of boring and cheap-looking shower curtains, opt for a glass panel for your shower. It modernizes and opens up the space by allowing for greater visibility past the “visual wall” that a shower curtain would create. For added privacy – if preferred – glass paneling can be tinted or frosted.

No 10 – Be smart about storage

In small bathrooms, any extra room made available by eliminating “bulky” furnishings goes a long way. Adding floating vanities, shelving and wall cabinets maxmizes storage space while still maintaining a neat and polished look.
About Keepe:

Keepe is an on-demand maintenance solution for property managers and independent landlords. The company makes a network of hundreds of independent contractors and handymen available for maintenance projects at rental properties.

Keepe is available in the Greater Seattle area, Greater Phoenix area, San Francisco Bay area, Portland, San Diego and is coming soon to an area near you. Learn more about Keepe at https://www.keepe.com.

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