8 Mistakes Portland Property Managers Need to Avoid

July 1, 2020
cbsadmin

As a property manager or building owner, are you doing what it takes to get the most out of your investment? Many property managers in the Portland area are falling prey to some surprisingly easily avoidable errors. Find out what they are!

Not emphasizing sanitation and sterilization

Your tenants’ and residents’ health and safety should always be your top priorities. However, during this challenging time, you must pay particular attention to how you are providing peace of mind and protection against COVID-19.

If you’re like most property managers, you aren’t trained or experienced in disinfecting procedures and you don’t have access to the equipment available to specialists like the team at Cascade Building Services.

As office buildings and other facilities reopen, it is time to put a plan in place. Our approach is simple. We use a safe and effective hospital-quality and food-safe disinfectant to sanitize key touchpoints and high-traffic areas in your office.

We also use a proven fogging disinfectant (also used by Delta Airlines!) that cleans and sanitizes EVERY surface.

Keep reading about how we help property managers fight COVID-19.

Spreading themselves too thin

You only have so much time and can only do so much. So how do you prioritize the most important tasks that need to get done? One of the biggest mistakes we see property managers make is to spread themselves too thin and to try to take on too much.

You have to find a partner you can trust. At Cascade Building Services, we act as a 1-stop shop, offering a wide variety of services to property managers, including:

That’s right — instead of finding, vetting, and hiring multiple contractors, we help our clients get all the property management, cleaning, and maintenance services they need. Everything is done by our in-house team of experienced professionals.

Haphazard cleaning and maintenance schedules

Consistency is key to providing a great experience for residents and tenants. Regular, scheduled maintenance and cleanings provide a much better experience than irregular bursts of activity.

By chipping away at maintenance and cleaning on a schedule, you can reduce interruptions to your tenants’ lives and businesses. Doing too much all at once can be stressful, noisy, and challenging to coordinate.

Remember, property management is a marathon not a sprint! Slow and steady wins the race!

Fixing problems instead of preventing them

As we talked about earlier, we know that most property managers are verybusy people. It can be easy to fall into the habit of fixing problems instead of preventing them. What do we mean by that?

Fixing leaking roofs as they occur instead of investing in roof inspections and maintenance
Waiting until parking lot stripes are worn away to nearly nothing instead of touching them up regularly
Letting dirt and grime build up on windows and only investing in window cleaning when tenants start to complain

Preventive maintenance not only makes your residents happier, but it can be a lower-cost investment in the long run!

Ignoring ADA requirements

Make your building accessible and inviting to all people. There are many often misunderstood (or just flat out ignored) accessibility requirements that your property must meet. For example, parking lot striping might not seem like a big deal, but it’s an ADA compliance requirement.

Making mistakes or not taking ADA compliance seriously can expose you to legal liability.

Fully understanding how the ADA’s guidelines affect your property is essential. Examples of what you might have to consider include:

Ramps and railings
Doorways
Bathrooms
Pet and animal requirements

Focusing too heavily on one area

As a property manager, you may be tempted to focus your efforts on a specific area of your property. Maybe you want to increase curb appeal and invest time and money in landscaping — but at the expense of your indoor common areas. Maybe you keep your marble floors sparkling, but neglect much-needed roof repairs.

Time and again, we’ve seen property managers make the mistake of getting fixated on one area while letting another languish. Balance in all things! You mustn’t allow your desire for a great looking building to come before completing structural repairs and maintenance.

How do you find the right balance? That’s where the team at Cascade Building Services comes in. With our wide variety of property management services, we can help you create a custom cleaning and maintenance schedule. We’ll help you take care of all the little repairs and chores you’ve been putting off while still focusing on the big picture of making your building shine!

Not asking tenants and residents for feedback

Remember: at its core, property management is a service business. While maintaining your property is key, where would you be without happy tenants and residents? We recommend that property managers ask their tenants and residents for feedback and ideas for improvement. Consider a quarterly or yearly survey asking about:

Their overall impression of the building
Any maintenance issues they’ve had recently
Timeliness of maintenance requests
Anything that they think is being overlooked
Concerns they have about the building
New features or improvements they’d like to see
Whether they would recommend the building to a friend

Their answers will provide valuable information you can use to plan upcoming maintenance projects or changes to how you manage your property.

Missing opportunities to improve property value

Just keeping up with the maintenance needs of your property can be a huge challenge. How could you ever hope to actually get ahead and add value to your property? This is the question many property managers ask themselves. They’re too busy with the little things to ever consider the big picture.

Ask yourself,

In 5, 10, or even 15 years, will your property be as appealing to tenants as it is today?

The best time to start planning for your building’s future is right now. At Cascade Building Services we are not just the Portland area’s most trusted property managers and janitorial service company, we’re licensed contractors, too. We can help you stay on top of everyday maintenance and help out when you need emergency repairs. Plus, we can even tackle the bigger renovation projects you need to get ahead in Portland’s ultra-competitive real estate market.

Call (503) 691-0776 today to learn more.