California apartment communities are feeling the time crunch of a new regulation that requires them to document move-ins and move-outs to greater detail, including time-stamped images and notes about the unit’s condition.
The scrutiny from recently implemented AB 2801 has led some to rely on manually uploading inspection photos, organizing them into folders and creating itemized statements from scratch – all in the name of security deposit management and accountability.
Nonetheless, it has added a toll on property staff, who are spending more hours on compliance.
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“This put a lot of burden on the maintenance technicians because they had to increase their use of tech,” Windell Mollenido, vice president of marketing & technology for California-based The REMM Group, said.
“Our teams had to upload photos, but our mobile digital platform has cut what used to take an hour to 15 or 20 minutes because you have eliminated much of the manual process. If you’ve got three or four moveouts per day, that’s a lot of time saved.”
The app adds a competitive, gamification effect that Mollenido said inspires his technicians.
“The maintenance associates can see, after completing their work orders, their performance scores increase,” he said. “They can also see how they benchmark against their coworkers in the company. The leaderboard creates a healthy competitive nature.
“Based on performance, our associates can develop expertise on areas like HVAC or plumbing.”
The REMM Group employs about 70 to 75 technicians in its third-party management portfolio and is using the mobile maintenance platform AppWork at 52 properties across Southern California.
“The technicians know they must do a good job, not just finish quickly. Their scores are penalized if they must be called back by the apartment unit, which increases the accuracy in their jobs overall.”
Mollenido said the technicians can win prizes for their work, but more importantly, they receive recognition and accolades, and their performance scores can be used during evaluations for promotions.
He said indirect benefits from these features reduce repair and labor costs, while promoting a staff of self-motivated workers.
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