As a landlord I hate it when the property manager calls or emails me and say, "... hey the tenant said there's an issue with the shower, are you okay for me to send the plumber..."
I'll pause and say, "whats the problem?"
Property Manager will reply, "The tenant said there's a problem with the water flow and pressure"
I'll pause again and think, surely your job is to figure out how to fix this problem without sending a plumber... how many other properties have you managed that had problems with the water flow and surely you can troubleshoot the issue before asking me to pay a plumber?
If you've been a landlord for a while, I am sure this has happened to you. Maybe it's not water flow, but it could be door knobs not turning properly, toilet has hissing noise, hinges coming out of place etc.
Whatever it is, its super annoying when someone you are paying does not even troubleshoot the problem and happily offers to call a plumber at your expense! Here's a link to a previous post I wrote about the oven knob if you want to have a good laugh at my expense.
Anyways, I digressed.... what I wanted to do is share what Tien said to me when I asked told him about my annoying challenge. After I moaned to Tien, he forwarded an example of a recent tenant's maintenance request. After reading the email, I know I've made the right choice switching over to Tien at Box Property Management. All I want (and I think most landlord wants) is a property manager with commonsense and ask some simple question to root cause the problem.
So here's how the email unfolds...
Tenant send message.
Hi Tien,
Happy New Year!
I am sorry to report a problem with the shower in the main bathroom.
The water flow and pressure from the shower head has suddenly turned weak. When having a shower, the hot water will after a minute or so, gradually turn cold, no hot water.
I hate to bother you but can you please send a plumber to have a look at it.
That will be much appreciated.
Many thanks
The Tenant
Within 24 hours, Tien responded with.
Hi The Tenant,
Thank you for reporting this.
I think I know the problem.
This is the same problem we may have been having for the other taps you had previously.
There is a small water restrictor they put in the shower head when they installed it, this was to reduce water wastage, but over time gets clogged up.
What the plumber did was just unscrew the head and removed the small restrictor then put it back.
Could you please try to do this to see if it helps with the hot water issue?
Instructions can be found here, thanks.
The following day then tenant replies with
Hi Tien
It worked😀😀
We have taken the restrictor out, it was clogged with sand particles. Now back to normal.
Thank you for your help
Regards
The Tenant
Same day Tien responded with
Thanks The Tenant,
Thanks for the update.
What I personally didn't know is how Tien knew removing the water restrictor in the shower head will fix a hot/cold water issue... After talking with Tien I realised he's been doing a mini apprenticeship in plumbing by learning from all the plumbers he's had to send on site to fix problem. He simply asked what the plumber did to fix the problem and then asked whether a tenant would be able to fix it themselves if it happened again.
How simple is that!
Unfortunately for Tien, the landlord doesn't know that Tien saved them $140! But Fortunately for all the landlords with Box Property Management, this is not the only story I've seen and read. Tien actually has quite a long list and hopefully I'll get him to share more with me so that I can share them with you guys.
I've personally been through many different Property Management companies and I know this is not a common thing in the industry. Not all Property Management companies spend the time to root cause a problem.
If you want to invest in property for the long term and to secure your future, or knows someone who does, then get in contact to start the switch
call (08) 6557 8990 or
drop us an email: switchnow@boxpm.com.au
More importantly, tell Tien you read this post so he knows I'm not just writing post that nobody reads.
:)