As building owners ourselves, Ciminelli Real Estate Corporation understands the value of maintaining a real estate asset and ensuring that it is delivering the highest possible return for the owner – and the best possible experience for the tenants. An important part of providing award winning property management services is the service infrastructure of your property management team. One of the most integral parts of Ciminelli’s service delivery model is our web-based work order management system. Our work order system not only has the ability to streamline communication, but also provides our team with detailed work order reporting. One of the many facets of this reporting allows us to monitor major trends in work orders, which proves to be extremely beneficial in preparing for the future.
Gathering data from a portfolio totaling over 26M square feet revealed several interesting data points. Here, we’ve ranked the top ten work orders from least to most requested:
10. Wall Repairs/Painting
These requests relate to the aesthetics of the interior office space. Scratches, damaged paint, scuffs, and minor drywall repairs all fall under this category.
9. Pest Control
Although not one of the most frequently requested work orders, this can be the most alarming maintenance request for tenants. Pest control consists of any interior or exterior infestation of insects, rodents, or wildlife. The tenant’s safety comes first, and our team will take careful and protected measures to be sure all infestations are handled in the appropriate manner.
8. Ceiling
These requests involve any issues with the ceiling and/or ceiling tiles. These work orders can involve the replacement of tiles, and will sometimes be related or connected to our other top maintenance requests, such as plumbing and electrical.
7. Janitorial
Janitorial work orders consist of issues with building cleanliness, requests for supplies such as restroom paper products, spill cleanup, and other common accidents requiring cleanup. For the most part, these requests tend to be a lower severity level and quickly resolved.
6. Furniture Requests
Furniture requests consist of moving items such as office furniture or computer related equipment, providing desk keys, etc. Many of these requests may rely on manual labor, such as heavy lifting.
5. Doors/Locksmith/Access Systems
These work orders consist of any door and/or hardware repairs, key requests and replacements, and access card issues. In addition to typical commercial and residential access systems, Ciminelli also specializes in bank equipment services. With over 3.5 million square feet of retail bank space, our bank equipment personnel can handle vault, safes, day gates, deal drawers, night depositories, furniture locks, and other bank equipment specific lockouts.
4. Plumbing
Plumbing maintenance requests consist of restroom fixture concerns, drain clogs, issues with water fountains or sump pumps and, most commonly, the infamous water leak. Leaks can range in size from massive ruptures to tiny pinhole leaks that could take days or even months to notice. In some instances, these smaller leaks can be the most damaging to surrounding areas since they are not always immediately noticeable.
3. Heating/Cooling
Heating and cooling requests are submitted when a tenant’s space is too hot or cold. These issues usually stem from a complication with the HVAC equipment. Since handling HVAC is an integral part of a maintenance technician’s job, Ciminelli requires their maintenance technicians to undergo multiple hands-on training sessions. We are able to accomplish these interactive sessions with our Mobile Training Lab, which travels throughout our areas of service to provide continuing education to Ciminelli maintenance technicians. With the understanding that these requests are among the top 10 most requested items, it made sense for our team to further develop our techs’ skill sets to ensure timely and cost effective service.
2. Electrical
Electrical maintenance requests include light bulb changes, electrical repairs, installing new or replacement outlets, and power outages. These work orders can range from something as simple as a burned out hallway lightbulb to a power outage caused by a storm.
1. Preventive Maintenance
Coming in as the top most requested work order is preventive maintenance. This category includes building checks, equipment inspections, escorting vendors onto the property, and other general repairs. Building owners want to protect their investment, and Ciminelli property managers want to deliver the highest possible return on the asset. Part of enhancing the value of an asset and ensuring happy tenants is performing regular check-ups on the building. Paying close attention to potential trouble areas prevents scrambling to remediate problems down the road. It also prolongs the useful life of mechanical equipment and systems, ensuring safety and creating a more enjoyable tenant experience.
If you are looking for property management services for your assets, call Ciminelli’s property management team today at (716) 631-8000 or visit our property management page.