Vendor Management System – Propertyware

How to Manage Relationships with Rental Property Maintenance Providers

Marc Eiting — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 10:00:00 +0000

With the possible exception of keeping properties leased, nothing occupies more space in your mind than rental property maintenance. And how you manage it often makes the difference between contented tenants and constant complainers, between praising your team and yelling at them. The good news is that you can avoid most of the hassles and headaches by simply taking full advantage of your property management software. If you’re still handling maintenance with sticky notes, business cards taped to walls and numbers stored in your cell phone, there’s a lot you can do quickly and easily to improve not only your team’s enjoyment of their jobs but also the loyalty and satisfaction of your tenants and maintenance providers. Here are some suggestions.

Organize Your Contractor Database

Pull together all those business cards and scribbled notes, and get ready to collect names and numbers from your cell phones, laptops, and the Internet. Your first job is to consolidate and organize every vendor your people use in your property management system so all are instantly accessible. It won’t take long and will deliver huge benefits. In the typical property management business, the same vendors are usually called on: the same plumbing company for plumbing jobs, the same painters for paint jobs. But this isn’t always the case. Some dropout and new ones arrive on the scene who can provide quotes and perhaps get costs down. Often there are vendors you or your co-workers have contacted for quotes who simply haven’t been used yet, and you don’t want to overlook them for future jobs. At any rate, it’s important that everyone get all vendors into this central database. This is your chance to create an “approved vendor” list and eliminate the rogue hiring of vendors who don’t meet your standards, have performed poorly in the past, are uninsured, or are too expensive or unreliable. They don’t make the approved list, so your people won’t be calling them for quotes. You can add references, skill sets, history with your company and background checks along with insurance information to their records. Remember that it’s important to vet all vendors who do work at your properties! Once all approved vendors are in the system, they’re instantly accessible to everyone.

Initiate, Schedule and Track Jobs Using Software

Phone calls and emails are a poor way to schedule and track property management inspections, maintenance projects, and repair jobs. There are too many opportunities for confusion and misunderstandings. The right property maintenance software, on the other hand, is a beautiful thing to see in action. Jobs are systematically logged, quoted on where necessary, dispatched, and tracked to their conclusion. You can integrate your schedules for regular maintenance at each property (such as lawn care and HVAC checkups) into your software as well, so you won’t have to stay on top of the schedules yourself. Finally, a mobile property management inspection app can cut your people’s time spent on this frequent task in half while allowing them to easily initiate any necessary maintenance. If you tie this automated maintenance system into an owner portal and tenant portal, you’ll eliminate all those time-wasting phone calls, emails and walk-ins to check on the status. Owners and residents will know how each project is coming along without having to bother you or your vendors.

Vendor Payment and Oversight Made Easy

Keeping up with paper invoices is a hassle and can lead to lost or late payments, which can compromise your relationships with your all-important maintenance people. A great way to streamline your vendor relationships is to automate your work order and payment system. In addition to achieving increased consistency in paying vendors, you’ll have a superb way to track maintenance expenses at every property and compare vendor costs.

A Complete Maintenance History, At Your Fingertips

In integrating maintenance with your property management software, you’re automatically creating an online record of all maintenance and inspection expenses at every property. This will save you untold hours and headaches when owners come to you looking for information about what was done at their properties, and the costs involved. No more digging through file cabinets or folders on your computer searching for the information you need. Once it’s in a central database you’ll be able to locate what you’re looking for instantly. While good software can make your life easier in almost every area of your business, it would be hard to find an example more dramatic than maintenance. This core part of your job can be either routine and even rewarding or truly painful, depending on how you manage your vendor relationships. Experts at Propertyware are standing by to help you accomplish the improvements listed here with ease – and make your life a lot easier while you’re at it. Learn how property maintenance software cuts your work in half.

The post How to Manage Relationships with Rental Property Maintenance Providers appeared first on Propertyware.

Problem Contractor? 4 Ways Your Property Management System Can Help

Marc Eiting — Thu, 29 Oct 2015 17:49:09 +0000

It’s the end of the week and you’re getting ready to go home when you get a call. The contractor hasn’t shown up to a job, and your tenants are annoyed. Did you forget to call the contractor, or is there a problem with the person you’ve hired to do the job? If you’re having trouble juggling the needs of your tenants and what your contractors can do, a property management system can help.

Know Who’s Working Where and When

Who’s working on your plumbing emergency? Who’s cleaning the drains for several of your properties today? When you have multiple properties, you likely have many different projects occurring at the same time. Property management maintenance software can help you keep tabs on all of your projects. If a tenant calls with concerns about a contractor’s work or whereabouts, you’ll be able to call up the information about that job and work to resolve the problem.

Keep a Detailed Record of Contractor Interactions

When your company is growing and changing, you need to be able to keep a detailed record of past interactions with different companies to ensure that you call those who can work well with you. If you have a challenging interaction with a contractor, a property management system allows you to keep an ongoing file on that particular interaction and on that contractor. US News encourages people to document their attempts to reach the contractor so they have an accurate record of communications. Next time you need to call a plumber, electrician, or other professional, you’ll be able to easily determine who’s best for the job. You’ll also want to document what the problem is so that you can pursue it with the individual’s company or take it to court if necessary. For example, if your contractor has used insufficient materials for the job, House Logic suggests you document each time the contractor doesn’t live up to the specifics of the contract, such as substituting inferior materials or failing to stick to the schedule. Property management software will ensure that you have an accurate record of problems and their resolution.

Manage Your Invoices

Do you have problems with sending, receiving, or tracking invoices? When you have many different properties, it can be hard to manage multiple invoices that are moving in and out. If you fail to pay a contractor promptly, work could stop, causing problems with your tenants. Property management software helps you track invoices, ensuring that you’re able to pay your contractors accurately and on time. A property management maintenance system can also help you keep estimates on file so that you know what expenses to expect.

Reduce Maintenance Costs

When you’re working with contractors on emergency projects, your maintenance costs can be enormous. Emergency callouts may occur on evenings or weekends, making costs even worse. With a great property management system, it’s easier to be proactive so that you don’t run into last-minute troubles with contractors. Stay on top of ongoing repairs with reminders and notes about what you need to do and when.

Manage Your Maintenance in Half the Time

From inspections to work orders to capital improvements, Propertyware Maintenance Plus allows you to manage it all in real-time in the office and out in the field with your mobile device. Manage more maintenance without adding expense, lower operating costs and increase productivity 50%, with the added benefit of improved customer satisfaction! Get pricing now.

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How to Attach a Work Order to a Bill in Propertyware

Michael Cunningham — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 14:27:40 +0000

Propertyware can track assets associated with your property, like appliances, down to the individual units. Each asset can be customized to further track warranty information, primary vendor and other attachments, like work orders. The next time you have an appliance that needs service, attach the asset to your work order and dispatch it to vendors. When you receive the vendor bill for the service performed, you can also attach that work order to the bill with a few clicks. Here’s how you can attach a work order to a bill: 1. If you need to attach a work order to a bill in Propertyware, begin at the Money Out Module. 2. Select the vendor in question, and click the Vendor Ledger page view to view their Vendor Ledger. You can create a bill for this vendor by clicking the New Bill button or using the New Bill link from lower left in Related Activities. 3. Complete all the bill information, then Click the Attach Work Order button. 4. Type the name of the property or work order number to search 5. Click the radio button of the correct Work Order, then click Done. The work order is now tied to the bill. For additional information or related topics, visit the Propertyware Knowledge Base.

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