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DEAR MAINTENANCE MEN
Continued from page 19
It might take a master carpenter to fit the door perfectly; the door frame might not be square, which means you will need to trim the door to fit the opening. You will find, getting the hinges to line up with the existing hinges on the jamb is not an easy feat. You also need a special tool to drill the door knob hole and latch. It might take you a few doors to get it right, but that might negate the savings of buying a slab door.
Dear Sally:
Now, Maurine, your plan is to buy a pre-hung door. As you might guess, we recommend buying a pre- hung door. For those who don’t know what a pre- hung door is; let us explain. The pre-hung door comes as a complete door, including jambs, trim, hinges, doorknob & latch holes etc. The pre-hung door comes as a package with the jambs already square to the door. A pre-hung door can be installed by a novice easily the first time and is much faster than trying to wrestle with a slab door. After removing the old door jamb and trim and exposing the rough opening, insert the pre-hung door into the rough opening. Using a level, plumb and level the hinge side of the jamb using shims and gently nail the hinge side of the jamb in place. Level the top of the jamb using shims and nail into place. Using shims on the doorknob side of the jamb; be sure the door opens freely and closes without binding and nail the jamb in place. Most pre-hung doors come with the trim in place. The trim can now be nailed and use caulking around the trim to hide any gaps that might be present. Paint, install the knob and you are done. Installation tip: Do not disassemble the pre-hung door package. Install it as it came from the hardware store. The ridged packaging will help in keeping everything square while you install the door.
Dear Maintenance Men:
I am a property supervisor for a local property management company and I am looking for solutions to my maintenance issues. How do I keep the cost of maintenance down while still maintaining good living conditions for my residents?
- Sally
Prioritize and bundle is the short answer. To elaborate, you will want to prioritize all of your non emergency maintenance work by unit, building and area and then bundle enough work for each unit, building or area to use your maintenance tech or vendor efficiently. The less your tech or vendor needs to travel between jobs the lower the cost of each job will be.
Essentially, you would accumulate all non-emergency routine maintenance work placed on a P.O. or work order and forward it to your vendor or tech as authorized. This dramatically reduces the costs related to gas, trip charges, mobilization, purchase hours, etc. (It works even better if your parts are already onsite)
Establishing a “time and material” (not to exceed) approach to billing vs. a per unit price method would also give you more bang for your buck. Talk to your venders or techs about bundled service to help cut costs. Most will appreciate a more organized approach to servicing your properties.
WE NEED YOUR QUESTIONS!!!
DearMaintenanceMen@gmail.com
tel 626 564 4800
dir 626 204 1525
CA DRE#: 00965553
fax 626 564 4801 cdunn@naicapital.com
225 S. Lake Ave., Suite 1170 Charles F. Dunn
Pasadena, CA 91101
Senior Vice President Apartment Sales Specialist
20 AUGUST 2021 - APARTMENT MANAGEMENT MAGAZINE AMM1/6