28 Feb Preventative Maintenance

Preventative Maintenance

Preventative maintenance is the key to keeping your San Diego rental property profitable. As a landlord, you must acknowledge the importance of it. Especially if you want to enjoy long-term tenant retention. Not only does it reduce your overall expenses on repairs, it also creates a safe environment for your tenant. 

 Fixing Problems Before They Happen

Preventative maintenance can be thought of as a way to fix problems before they happen. That’s because by having a preventative maintenance plan in place, problems are found before they become a major complication. To fully understand this concept, there are two ways to maintain a property: one is proactive maintenance and one is reactive (more on this below):

Preventative Maintenance (On-going & Proactive):

• Preventive Maintenance Includes (not a complete list):
  • Cleaning common areas
  • Landscape maintenance
  • Checking the HVAC systems (heating and air)
  • Regularly checking plumbing and electrical systems
  • Proper upkeep

Reactive Maintenance (Higher Maintenance Requests & Higher Labor):

• Reactive Maintenance Includes (not a complete list):
  • Fixing problems
  • Repairing broken things
  • Repairing, fixing, or replacing things that no longer work or function properly
  • Emergency maintenance issues like a water leak

Proactive vs Reactive Maintenance

Proactive maintenance focuses on preventing problems before they happen. While reactive maintenance, deals with problems as they occur. One saves you money (proactive) while the other (reactive) will cost more. Not only that, but keep in mind you may have to pay for something you have no budget for. Below we offer insight on how both can have either a negative or positive on your bottom-line

Proactive Maintenance:

• Helps prevent repairs
• Keeps equipment and systems performing better and longer
• Reduces the labor needs to perform repairs and fixes
• Time spent on maintenance sessions is less then reactive ones
• Higher initial costs, lower long-term costs

Reactive Maintenance:

• Lower initial costs, higher long-term costs
• Lack of preventative maintenance leads to an increased number of reactive repairs and fixes (emergency calls, and so on)
• Equipment and systems are less reliable and more often then not, may require multiple maintenance calls just to get it back to working order
• Labor intensive
• Takes days versus minutes or hours, to repair, fix, or rehab
• Requires more labor in man-hours and overall efforts
• Requires more time to perform maintenance