Home maintenance is necessary to make your tenants feel comfortable while sustaining – and increasing – the value of your property. But home maintenance can be an arduous task that requires plenty of time if not correctly organized. That’s why we – at AntsLabor – have developed these five tips to help you make home maintenance easier.
Create A Maintenance Schedule & Stick To It
The first tip to making your home maintenance easier is to develop a schedule. Instead of doing maintenance whenever you think it’s necessary or when a tenant calls to complain, you should segment your maintenance into seasonal and annual categories and then schedule each task individually. You can also share this schedule with tenants, so they know when the property should be available for maintenance.
You can create and track your maintenance schedule by using AntsLabor.
Use Maintenance Techniques That Allow You to Multitask
Multitasking is the best way to reduce the cost and labour associated with home maintenance while ensuring you reap the best results. For example, a hole in the ceiling can be covered with a battery-powered smoke alarm. Doing it this way, not only are you covering the hole, but you’re also making the property safer for current and future tenants.
Focus on Preventative Maintenance
Preventative maintenance is cheaper than minor repairs. Therefore, besides having a schedule, you should consider inspecting rental properties frequently – potentially on a quarterly basis – depending on the relationship you have with your tenants. If you have built a good rapport with tenants and trust they will keep you abreast with what’s happening on the property, you can do the inspection biannually. However, if you don’t trust that your tenant will be upfront with the condition of the property, three times a year should do.
During these inspections, focus on creating a list of the most pressing items that need to be maintained to avoid breaking or requiring replacement.
Consider Using A Task Freelancer
Task Freelancers, like those available on TaskRabbit – which is available in Canada – are going to remove the burden of doing maintenance from your shoulders. Now, you can rely on someone else to do the mundane tasks that require you to work round the clock. Besides, relying on freelancers for maintenance is usually cheaper than relying on professionals.
However, before you hire a freelancer, be sure that what you want the freelancer to do doesn’t require specialized skill and will not invalidate any warranties.
Segment Your Home Maintenance Into Smaller Projects
Not all of your home maintenance needs to be an 8-hour project. By prioritizing important maintenance based on how manageable the task is, you’re more likely going to complete it. While having shorter tasks may mean you have to do more maintenance, you’re also less likely to find excuses to avoid doing the necessary work.
So, if you’re dreading your routine home maintenance, focusing on making the jobs easier will help ensure you are doing more maintenance than repairs, saving you money and resources.
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