Safer Maintenance Service Calls

April 14, 2020

Safe Maintenance Calls for Property Managers and Landlords

First responders, doctors, nurses and police officers aren’t they only people who must attend to those needing help during this Corona Virus pandemic.

Landlords and service technicians from property management companies must also handle in suite maintenance requests from tenants. Cable installers, appliance repair HVAC technicians, phone company technicians, plumbers, and property management service people are also called to do a repair.

All of these tasks are considered essential services during this epidemic. And you may have staff who are very customer oriented and eager to respond to tenants needs.

It’s so common when service people begin speaking with tenants, that they get too close. They forget to keep distance and not touch anywhere near their facial area.

If you haven’t spoken with all of your staff and contractors, take some time to send them these 10 tips for safely managing tenant maintenance and repair visits. It might save their lives.

There are 555,313 cases, and 22,020 deaths so far within the US. This graph shows infections are still happening at a high rate.

Confirmed new cases of Corona Virus in the US. Screenshot courtesy of https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/new-cases

Covid 19 is a Lethal Illness

The Corona Virus is nothing to fool with. With the latest infection numbers rocketing across the US, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK, it seems no community or building is safe.

We’ve got 11 important reminders about protecting your health below. Discover more on apartment management tips for landlords and how to avoid catching Corona Virus. This may be the right time to switch to online property management software.

Essential Services During the Pandemic

It’s great if the maintenance call can be put on hold until the virus threat abates. But it’s very likely you or someone in your property management company will have to attend the tenant’s home.

While paramedics, nurses and doctors are often prepared for the dangers of closer personal contact, the average landlord or technician is likely not trained to enter a biologically risky situation. A lot of your protection comes down to cleaning fluids, using masks and maintaining social distancing.

However, you can enlist the aid of professional cleaners or Covid 19 Disinfection tools.

Landlords and service techs will face the need to touch services near sinks, or light switches which could be thoroughly contaminated by the residents of the unit. Just because the tenants haven’t experience symptoms does not mean the Corona Virus isn’t present on their door handles, dishwashers, bathroom fixtures, or in the air as you walk into the unit.

Before you get too confident that all you need is some hand cleaner and a face mask, let tenants and technicians consider all the ways they can avoid contracting covid 19.

11 Tips For Safe Maintenance Calls

attend only to emergency repairs and delay calls that aren’t a priority for a safe date when the virus has abated in your community
ask tenants to phone the maintenance request to you or use your property management software so they can take pictures of the issue/broken item and send them to you
call head and ask questions. Ask the tenants if anyone has felt sick or had a fever in the unit. Ask about the people who will be there in the unit. You need to be sure they haven’t contracted the illness or if they have any doubts about that. If you don’t feel good about what they tell you, reschedule for another time
spray Lysol on your clothes, wash your hands and face while leaving soap on your skin, and clean your shoes and your service van if you use one. Take a bottle of cleaner or soap with you, with paper tools, and even paper sheets for the floor. Avoid at all costs contaminating your tenants living space and ensure you don’t pick the disease up yourself
ask the tenant politely to clean the path to the item that requires maintenance to respect your health and ask the tenants, their children and pets to move to another room for the time being. Ask the tenant to keep a 6 foot distance at all times. Minimize conversations where droplets will be spread
always wear a surgical style mask to avoid splashes of water, spreading your own potential germs via conversation, or breathing in droplets in the air
clean all packages/parts that are delivered to you before placing in your truck, and put broken/replaced parts in a plastic bag for safe transport out of the rental house or apartment building
wash or spray down your drivers seat, door handles, and steering wheel area after the maintenance visit
use a video app to advise the tenant to make the repair themselves
clean all areas in the home where you worked
accept any payments to be made digitally online. Don’t transfer paper and touch pens or paper in the units

Staying Healthy Takes Some Preparation

It’s perfectly intelligent to be paranoid to avoid contracting Covid 19, since the price for mistakes could be your life.

The disease is transmitted very easily and you should not accept reassurances that it can’t be contracted via packages, floors, or the air. It may be the most easily transmitted viruses in history and there is no treatment or vaccine.

This pandemic is generating more interest in property management software solutions and apps. Besides keeping you and your team safe from health threats and wasted time, the software acts as a buffer agent. In many cases, tenants enjoy doing things themselves so you’ll enjoy the advantages ManageCasa brings to all users.

The time you save allows you to optimize your maintenance management. You can schedule those few essential maintenance tasks that are absolutely your teams or contractor’s responsibility.

ManageCasa welcomes customers in New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Tampa, Orlando, St Louis, Indianapolis, Denver, and cities across the US, Canada, Australia, UK and Germany.