To maintain current tenants and attract new ones, property management companies with multifamily properties need to be responsive, efficient, and organized.
One crucial area is maintenance management, specifically handling requests and coordinating repairs in a timely fashion.
That’s where Notify, a proptech solution from HelloSpoke, can significantly transform how maintenance teams work.
Notify makes the entire process smoother, more efficient, and more reliable, improving the maintenance strategy.
What Is Notify?
Notify does just that—it notifies staff members on a list about missed calls. It creates a transcript of the missed call’s voicemail message and pushes the notification to the selected staff members.
These are sent by email, though text and calls are available for emergency requests.
Maintenance emergency notifications cycle through each person on the list until someone confirms receipt. If no one responds, the cycle continues for 24 hours.
All missed calls generate a transcript and audio file emailed to the list’s members. These can also be found directly in Notify. Notify sends additional notifications via call or text alongside the email for maintenance emergency calls.
How Notify Works for Maintenance Teams
Notify first determines whether a maintenance request is actually an emergency or not. This alone can help maintenance teams quickly know what work deserves priority.
Conveniently, these requests can be pushed straight from Notify into a property-management system. This makes the process much easier and more efficient for staff members.
This works because a staff member receives a link from Notify after responding to the emergency message. The link lets them open the work order directly in the property-management tool.
Notify readily integrates with the popular property management tools Yardi, Realpage, ResMan and Entrata.
Handling Non-emergency Requests with Lou, the Maintenance AI
When a maintenance request is indeed not an emergency, the tenant is told so by Lou, Notify’s A.I. that calls back residents who have left messages with emergency-maintenance requests.
Lou’s role is to make sure that only emergencies escalate to the maintenance staff. If the request is deemed not an emergency, Lou will still call the resident back to share this information.
After leaving that message, Lou updates the tenant on the status of the request. If necessary, Lou will provide mitigation steps for the tenant, such as locating and shutting off a water valve to stop an overflowing toilet.
This feature is especially helpful during the after hours, when maintenance staff should only be dealing with genuine emergencies.
Auto Responses
Day to day operations will benefit from streamlined maintenance communications.
Automating responses to maintenance requests can cut down on small interruptions to a maintenance worker’s schedule.
Notify can send auto responses like “This is not a maintenance emergency” or “We are on our way”, keeping maintenance staff focused on the work itself, rather than communicating about the work.
Custom Notifications for Escalation
Since each member on a Notify list can add text or call notifications in addition to emails for maintenance requests, this allows maintenance staff members to choose the escalation options that work just right for them.
For some workers, a text is too easy to overlook and so a call is necessary to get their attention.
Whereas for other workers, a non-emergency call may be too distracting, interrupting current work-order fulfillment, and so a text is perfectly adequate. And when it is an emergency call, the text message serves as a good back-up in case the call goes unnoticed or the worker is in an area with bad service.
Mass Calling and Texting
Of course, maintenance jobs concern more than just a single unit but the entire property. Some are routine maintenance standards in rental properties, and others involve specialized maintenance and repair.
In these instances, property managers benefit from resident-communication systems that allow the maintenance staff to contact all of the tenants directly.
Notify can use the contact information in the property-management system Notify has integrated with, and send out mass calls or texts.
Thanks to machine translation capabilities, the texts can also be translated into 32 languages. Calls, on the other hand, consist of a recorded message sent to residents selected by the staff.
For instance, residents need to be shut off from access to water for a specific period.
With Notify, property owners can easily communicate repair and maintenance needs to tenants via mass text or call.
24/7 Availability
Notify provides round-the-clock service, which is especially important for urgent repairs.
If it’s a late-night emergency, tenants can be assured that their maintenance requests will be broadcast to relevant on-call staff members.
For a weekend plumbing project, property managers can use Notify to communicate en masse to tenants about a temporary shutdown of services.
The Benefits of Notify for Property Managers and Maintenance Teams
- Improved Efficiency: Notify makes maintenance operations more efficient, saving time and energy for everyone involved.
- Better Tenant Relationships: Timely communication and quick resolutions are essential to maintaining good tenant relationships, helping with retention and reducing turnover rates. Also, maintenance technicians working more efficiently improve health and safety.
- Increased Accountability: Notify cycling through a list of staff members helps everyone remain accountable for their actions, leading to higher-quality work and fewer issues down the line.
- Peace of Mind: Property managers no longer need to worry about missed calls or forgotten repair requests. Notify provides a clear, organized, and reliable system to handle maintenance issues, giving property managers peace of mind knowing that everything is under control.
Notify for Better Property Management
For property managers, managing maintenance requests efficiently is vital to maintaining tenant satisfaction and operational success.
With Notify, property managers can confidently tackle maintenance issues, improve team collaboration, and create a better experience for tenants—all while saving time and resources.
If you’re looking to improve your property management, integrating Notify into your workflow is a game-changer that can enhance your overall efficiency and tenant satisfaction.