Emergency on Call- Your Maintenance Super Hero is on the way
/Being on call for maintenance in residential property management means that you have to be available outside of business hours to handle maintenance emergencies. For several years I was on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week. You might as well own your own company if you work those kind of hours. Property Managers with a high volume of properties who are on call handle a wide variety of maintenance issues during and outside of business hours. It can wear on you when you are at someone else's disposal all the time. Emergencies happen at any time. They happen on weekends and they happen five minutes before the Friday work day is supposed to be over.
I have received calls at 10:00pm on a Friday night for a ruptured water heater, 7:00am on a Saturday morning for a broken HVAC unit, and maintenance calls at 2:00pm on a sunny Sunday afternoon when I am headed to the pool with my son. I have received calls while out to lunch from Agents unable to operate lock boxes, and responded to landlords and tenants at Zoe's Kitchen while traveling for Christmas. One Thanksgiving weekend I had six (6) plumbing calls. I have been called on Christmas Eve for a sink back up. I have lost two (2) children in a corn maze responding to a gas leak. I had an oven go out on Good Friday and the tenants had family coming into town for Easter and needed a working oven to make dinner. I was in Fripp Island having lunch with my mom heading to our spring break vacation home. I got their oven repaired the same day. Many maintenance calls come in on evenings and weekends because that's when most tenants are off work and notice their is an issue in their rental home. Some of these calls can be scheduled during business hours. Many of them need to be addressed right away.
I have hundreds of memories with family and friends that have been interrupted by after hours calls. So why would anyone want to pursue a career when their time is never really their own? I asked myself this a lot when I first became a Property Manager. It wasn't a planned career change. I was perfectly satisfied doing Accounting where numbers are black and white and they don't go gray. Property Management is exactly the opposite. Every situation is unique and there are lots of factors to be considered when handling a maintenance call. How does the homeowner want it handled? Are the tenants safety at risk? Is the maintenance call an emergency of an inconvenience? Who is available to make the repair?
Several years ago I was given an opportunity for a promotion and with that came a great deal of additional responsibility. I went from a position in accounting to running a property management company. When I took my Property Manager test the Owner of the Real Estate school asked me if I wanted to teach the class. I slowly shook my head at him. No way was I doing this for long. I missed my coworker and I was sad she was gone. We were a great team and now I was on my own. For about six months I just did the job emotionless making and saving as much money as I could. I was doing the best job I could to avoid getting yelled at, which still happened. In property management there is always the potential for something to go less than perfect, someone to perceive their needs aren't being met, and dealing with difficult personalities is inevitable. I would often say that no good deed goes unpunished.
After six (6) months I decided I would stick it out for two (2) years and then I was going to do something else. I made peace with my coworker leaving because she was truly happy in her new career. Somewhere in that next year and a half I realized that I was doing good for others through my work. I wasn't just managing properties. I was helping people find homes. I was helping Landlords find good quality tenants. I was consulting with homeowners and tenants on past experiences to help the renting process go smoothly. I could advise future Landlords on what to look for in the Charleston area to get the maximum return on their investment. I referred good contractors and good Real Estate Agents. I was detailed and worked well with contractors. I had found something I was really good at. I was a really good Property Manager and great at running a property management company.
I have a ton of crazy stories. I can calm people when they feel like the world is ending by getting maintenance repaired quickly. I can relate to how the tenants are inconvenienced. Why would anyone want to do a job when none of their time is really their own? The answer is because I can make some of my time my own. I can leave the phone at home when we head to the dog park for 30 minutes. I can let a call wait until I finish my morning run. When my business grows there will be several Property Managers to share the on call time. Yes, my personal life is periodically interrupted with after hours calls but most of the time I can handle those calls from the soccer field, the pool, Costco, The Children's Museum, restaurants, even a corn maze, and my home. I get to be present in my son's life everyday. Property Management is a 24 hour job but it allows me to have a career in Mt Pleasant and be with my family. Once I saw the good in what I was doing and the quality of life the career allowed me to have with my family I realized it was a career path I could stick with. I founded Pelican Properties of SC to run with dedication and integrity to my clients and tenants, and the contractors we partner with.
Charleston Plumbing Emergencies