When you own an apartment building, it’s important to keep everything maintained. Your tenants have the right to a certain number of amenities, including heat. When the boiler stops working, it can affect everyone in the building. If it’s a frequent issue, you can expect to lose some tenants as they find better buildings that are properly maintained.
To keep the heat on and other services, as well, you’ll either need the skills to fix the boiler, air conditioning and anything else yourself or hire someone.
What to Look for in a Maintenance Company
Ideally, you’ll hire a company that can provide these services, as they will always have someone available, even if your usual technician is on holiday or ill. If you hire an individual, there’s always the possibility they won’t be available when you need them. In some cases, such as when the boiler dies on a very cold day, not resolving the problem isn’t an option.
Great Reviews
Find out what other people think of the company by reading their reviews. This will quickly let you know if you want to work with them or not. Keep in mind that there are always a few bad reviews, but there should be overwhelming amounts of good reviews if you’re to work with the company. The reviews will also let you know what the company is good at and not-so-great at.
Prompt Responses
When you contact the company, do they respond rapidly, or is their style to deal with it later? If you have an emergency, you want someone who will respond quickly. It’s important that even questions are answered sooner rather than later. If a company doesn’t respond to you now when you’re testing their services, why would they bother later, once hired?
Emergency Services
Does the company provide emergency call-outs? If not, they’re probably not the best choice. If your boiler needs repairs at 3 am, you really don’t want to wait for three days for a space in the company’s schedule. Not all maintenance companies provide emergency hours, which means you’ll end up waiting until business hours and then waiting for someone to attend your emergency.
Efficient Service
Even if you can get an emergency technician to your block of flats in a rush, that’s not helpful if they don’t know what to do. You need someone who has the necessary training and skills to fix the situation and to make repairs. It’s worth interviewing a few different companies and finding out which ones offer the best training and most efficient service.
If you’re currently looking for an efficient repair service for your apartment building, Mitchells has what you need. Contact us now to learn more.