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to also continue to help your team understand what’s budgeted versus what’s not, or what constitutes an emergency, so that you’re not going over budget and they’re not being overworked.
Additionally, having utility management software is a great way to control and understand costs of your property. It can automate your bill processing, resident billing, and collect real-time data. Your team will be able to save time and become more efficient, while the learnings you collect allows you to make data-driven decisions. Utility analytics can detect spikes early on, with weekly updates versus waiting until the end of the month to compare spreadsheets. Having the ability to receive weekly reports allows you to benchmark your buildings against one another or against your peers and can help you quickly determine any room for improvement.
KEY MAINTENANCE AREAS TO CONSIDER
1. HOW CAN A PROCUREMENT STRATEGY CONTROL HARD COSTS?
Having a procurement strategy is very important because you need some type of accountability. This strategy can include buying items in bulk, keeping inventory on hand, streamlining your processes, and allowing your team to plan orders ahead of time to help you save on payroll costs. It also helps to manage your spend, ensure compliance, and consolidate your total spend by having a list of approved suppliers and items. Just think of the time your team will save by not having to be away from the property to make one-off purchases — and instead, have these items on-hand to make things like unit turns go by faster.
Here are some of the best tips our webinar participants shared when it comes to creating a procurement strategy:
• Only order what you need — especially major appliances or higher priced items. Only order
back stock for items that are on backorder or items you use daily, weekly, etc. (Kali)
• The best way to estimate a budget is to look at historical costs, and add in or take out anticipated changes. (Karen)
• Try comparing the budget with the actual expenses at the end of each month with the team so everyone can see where we went over budget and where we saved money. We then go over the budget for the following month so everyone knows how much is budgeted. (Brittany Clark)
• When doing your annual budgets, look at the monthly actuals of the year prior and consider things like, “Where did we spend less and where can we save?” and “Where did we overspend and may need to ask for more?” (Kali)
2. WHAT ARE THE HIDDEN COSTS OF NOT CONDUCTING INSPECTIONS AT KEY TIMEFRAMES?
Sometimes we think of inspections only as pre-move ins and move-outs for residents, but there’s one inspection that gets overlooked ⏤ inspections of your overall property. Routine and annual inspections are very important and allow you the opportunity to catch and prevent serious issues. A good example is erosion on your property due to poor landscaping and weather changes. These two factors combined can lead to significant damage to your property, such as rotted wood, structural integrity issues, and pest problems.
Here are some of the best tips our webinar participants shared for conducting inspections:
• Having inspections can also help with the budgeting process. It allows you to budget ahead for lighting replacements, etc. (Melissa)
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