One part of running a great self-storage business is regular facility maintenance. If you’re new to self-storage ownership or you’re considering self-storage as an investment, read on.
In addition to tenant acquisition, collecting rent, and marketing your self-storage, regular maintenance is necessary to keep your business in excellent condition.
Maintenance can be a full-time job by itself. Additionally, if the workload has become too much to handle or you don’t feel qualified to do the work, outsourcing to a facility maintenance company is a valuable investment. Time is money, and if you’re not using your time wisely, you’re probably wasting both.
Regular maintenance on any commercial property is absolutely necessary. Consider all the properties you may have seen in disrepair or simply looking old and tired when you were searching for the right investment. Old and tired properties can be a quick turn off to customers.
According to Inside Self Storage, “Good upkeep leads to better customer satisfaction, which leads to higher occupancy and rental rates, meaning more money in your pocket.” With these thoughts in mind, it’s good to know when it’s time to outsource your facility maintenance.
- Current staff is not equipped or lacking expertise for specific maintenance issues.
- Improve maintenance efficiency.
- Ownership of multiple properties.
As a business owner, it is essential to know the operation details and needs of your property. Being an onsite manager/owner/operator provides invaluable experience and knowledge that outsourcing will replace. As a business grows, it may become necessary to outsource after you have been handling the work yourself.
Current staff is not equipped or lacking expertise for specific maintenance issues.
Within self-storage, the maintenance required includes trash pickup, landscape maintenance, perimeter and gate maintenance, office cleaning, garage door maintenance and repair, and ultimately trash removal upon tenant move out. If the person hired for the job is lacking expertise in a particular area, it’s time to consider outsourcing the job.
Improve maintenance efficiency.
Outsourcing your facilities maintenance can improve efficiency in operations at a property. Facilities maintenance companies regularly fill this role and are knowledgeable about best practices and implementing maintenance schedules. Creating a maintenance calendar is essential to staying ahead of costly repairs.
Ownership of multiple properties.
If a business operates more than one location with an owner/operator running all locations, the task load can become too great. Outsourcing facilities maintenance is a great way to use your time and money wisely to avoid spreading yourself too thin.
Especially if multiple locations are too far apart, facilities maintenance can become the task you dread and as a result, the task you neglect.
There are always important points to address when considering outsourcing. Here are two issues that should be considered:
- Less control over operations and outcome
- Lack of knowledge about specific needs
In choosing to outsource, trust is placed with a facilities maintenance company to assess your property and implement strategies to increase efficiency and save money. As the business owner, you still have control overall, but less knowledge of operations unless an issue comes up. It’s important to implement a system of checks and balances to be sure that work is done properly, efficiently and in a timely manner.
Additionally, the company hired may not understand your specific needs at first, but this will change over time as maintenance is addressed on a daily or weekly basis. There is a learning curve for the company you select and this takes time. There are options to consider when outsourcing maintenance. The totality of maintenance can be outsourced or specific tasks can be outsourced. Your unique situation will determine what is best.
At Weaver Realty, we provide excellent facilities maintenance services to a variety of properties. Our team is skilled, knowledgeable and operates with excellent efficiency. It can be difficult to select a company to trust with your properties; our facilities maintenance teams are reliable, knowledgeable and the best in the business. Call us today at 904-733-0039 to work with our team of experts. You can learn more about our services here. We can ease the burden of facilities maintenance for all of your self-storage properties.
