Private & Commercial Property Maintenance Services

As the owner, the responsibility of maintaining the property ultimately falls to you. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be the one who does the work. There are a number of ways you can assign and delegate these tasks.

When it comes to maintenance, commercial property owners generally have three options:

• Do the work yourself: If you’re dealing with a smaller property, and you enjoy repairs and maintenance, you may elect to do some of the work yourself. This is more suited for hands-on owners who want to be involved in the day-to-day operation of the building. Keep in mind that for things like electrical, plumbing, and HVAC, it’s always recommended to hire professionals.

• Hire a Commercial Property Maintenance Service Provider: These companies offer a number of services, including cleaning, pressure washing, landscape maintenance, and general repairs. This is a great option if you want to keep things simple since you can hire one company to handle most or all of the work for you.

• Make Your Tenants Responsible for Maintenance:  If you want to be completely hands-off you can simply make the tenant responsible for all repairs and maintenance. This can be done by having them sign a NNN or absolute NNN lease. Some modified gross leases may also include this stipulation as well.

Commercial property maintenance is the work carried out to preserve the property’s safety, cleanliness and integrity. This work includes cleaning common areas and repairing any significant issues in the building. It’s the owner’s responsibility to ensure that someone is carrying out these duties. Depending on the commercial property’s size and the amount of work needed, the owner may choose to hire a maintenance team, complete the work themselves or contract each task to private workers. It’s best to examine and maintain systems seasonally and clean weekly or bi-weekly as needed.

There are two main types of facility management; Hard and soft management. Hard Facilities Management refers to services relating to the actual structure of a property and the systems that make it work effectively and remain safe. Soft Facilities Management refers to services that overlap with property management, such as pest control, cleaning, grounds maintenance, and security.

One huge reason we discuss in other questions is the fact that management expenses are tax-deductible, which makes it much more affordable than most account for. Another issue most landlords fail to account for is the value of your time. If you have little better to do then great, however, most of our customers have careers they are excellent at, as well as flourishing personal lives. In these cases, it typically makes sense to let a dedicated low-cost pro handle the headaches so you can focus on what really matters. Other reasons include…

1. Risk: Unfortunately we’ve had many owners come to us after suffering massive losses. Problem tenants are usually astonishingly effective at manipulating inexperienced landlords, and even those who are very experienced if they lack discipline at any point. Furthermore, even good tenants can overstep their boundaries at times, especially when the rules and expectations aren’t crystal clear & consistent. The laws regarding how to handle rental problems are extremely detailed and lengthy, so by the time a major problem is addressed, in most instances, a large amount of damage has already occurred. Failing to word a document properly or moving too quickly in many situations can lead to a lost eviction hearing and costly delays, not to mention a possible civil suit filed by the tenant. 
2. Time. Rental Management requires a large amount of time even in great situations. Standard tasks include documentation, scheduling, marketing, accounting, etc. Many of these services require expenses of their own. Now mix in a picky or problem tenant, and you could quickly find yourself drowning in tedious, time-consuming research to figure out your best legal & strategic options. Now that you’re halfway there, you then have to begin to execute those tasks quickly & effectively. 
3. Convenience, for what is effectively very little cost. As we mentioned before, management fees are tax-deductible so most landlords typically get a 30% discount off of their management costs at tax time. In this light, it’s exceptionally difficult to justify the time spent for self-management, relative to the minor cost even for an average management experience. In most cases a phenomenal manager like Victory will earn their customers a large amount of additional net income (after management expenses) by increasing revenue, decreasing expenses, and minimizing risk. The combination of these three factors can be extremely lucrative while also freeing you up to focus on what is truly important in your own life. In addition to basic tenant/property services we also include at no charge ACH rent deposits saving you dozens of trips to the bank and allowing funds to clear much faster, end of year tax accounting, contractor referrals, 24/7 emergency availability, and much more