How to Build a Reliable Maintenance Plan Before Tenants Move In

This text is introduced by RentRedi.

After I first began managing my rental properties, upkeep requests would throw off my whole week. A tenant would name, textual content, or electronic mail about one thing being damaged, and I’d drop every thing and scramble to search out the best vendor, comply with up for updates, and observe receipts for bookkeeping.

This scramble was not sustainable, and I noticed I wanted a greater system if I used to be going to proceed self-managing my rental properties.

Creating a normal working process (SOP) for dealing with upkeep requests is likely one of the best methods to streamline your property administration and take the guesswork out of emergencies. An SOP is merely a step-by-step doc that outlines how a particular course of ought to be performed. The SOP is a repeatable guidelines that anybody in your group (or perhaps a digital assistant) can comply with to maintain issues working easily—and hold you out of the scramble mindset.

With out a clear upkeep SOP, small points can spiral into massive issues. Requests can get misplaced in your inbox, distributors would possibly overlook to ship invoices, and repairs might drag on longer than they need to. 

This generally is a drawback, not just for you and your schedule, however in your tenants as effectively. Tenants would possibly really feel like they’re being ignored as a result of upkeep delays. This might result in extra complaints and doubtlessly increased turnover. 

For you and your funds, an absence of SOP can create issues. It turns into more durable to trace bills, forecast budgets, or show restore historical past for insurance coverage or tax functions with out clear documentation in place. The result’s a whole lot of pointless stress and inefficiency that may very well be averted with a easy, repeatable course of.

Why You Want an SOP for Upkeep

1. Consistency

When each request follows the identical course of, nothing slips by means of the cracks. You’ll know precisely the place issues stand with every restore, whether or not it’s a leaky faucet or a damaged furnace.

2. Time financial savings

An SOP eliminates repetitive decision-making. You gained’t waste time determining what to do subsequent, since you’ve already mapped out your course of for any request. This turns into particularly invaluable when you begin including extra items or hiring assist.

3. Higher tenant expertise

Tenants discover while you reply shortly and hold them up to date. A transparent upkeep system makes you look skilled, builds belief, and encourages lease renewals.

The Step-by-Step Upkeep SOP 

RentRedi makes the tenant upkeep request course of simple as a result of every thing could be dealt with instantly contained in the app, from the second a tenant reviews a difficulty to closing it out after repairs. Use this as a template or guideline to create your personal SOP in your rental properties. 

1. Request submission by tenant

Every little thing begins when your tenant submits a upkeep request by means of the RentRedi app.

Tenant actions:

1. Opens the RentRedi app and selects Upkeep Request
2. Uploads pictures or movies of the problem
3. Describes the issue (location, particulars, urgency)
4. Submits the request

Computerized system actions:

1. The request seems in your Upkeep Dashboard in RentRedi.
2. You obtain an instantaneous notification through electronic mail or app push.

This method eliminates the back-and-forth communication that usually occurs over textual content or electronic mail, and retains every thing documented in a single place. 

2. Evaluation and preliminary triage

As quickly because the request is available in, evaluation it rigorously to resolve how pressing it’s and what sort of restore it wants. Having the tenant ship pictures and supply extra element as an choice of their portal offers you a lot extra to work with so as to diagnose the problem and know who to name. 

My upkeep particular person all the time desires to know what instruments and supplies he must carry. Having all this info helps reduce down the back-and-forth questions.

Steps:

1. Navigate to Upkeep > New Requests and open the submission.
2. Evaluation the tenant’s notes and attachments.
3. Assign a precedence stage:
   • Emergency: Leak, no warmth, damaged exterior door lock (instant response)
   • Excessive: Impacts habitability, however not an emergency (inside 24 hours)
   • Routine: Minor points (inside three to 5 enterprise days)
4. Add inside notes (for instance, “Tenant reviews leak close to water heater. Photograph exhibits minor drip.”)

Documenting upkeep requests the best approach ensures that emergencies are dealt with quick, whereas much less pressing duties don’t get misplaced within the shuffle. 

3. Assigning a vendor or upkeep tech

When you’ve reviewed the request, it’s time to ship it to the best particular person. RentRedi offers you choices for both assigning your personal vendor or utilizing their built-in 24/7 service.

Steps:

1. Click on Assign Vendor, and choose out of your saved vendor checklist.
2. Moreover, you’ll be able to leverage RentRedi’s full-service upkeep program to supply distributors and repairs.
3. Add entry particulars (for instance, “Enter through storage code” or “Tenant dwelling after 5 p.m.”).
4. Affirm the seller receives the request and any attachments.
5. Message the tenant utilizing the Upkeep Chat to acknowledge receipt and share the subsequent steps, e.g., “Thanks for reporting this, Sarah. We’ve reviewed your request and have a vendor scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.”

4. Observe progress

Now that the request is assigned, your job is to ensure it stays on observe.

Steps:

1. Distributors can mark jobs as In Progress, Awaiting Components, or Accomplished.
2. From the Upkeep Dashboard, filter by In Progress to view all open jobs.
3. Comply with up if there’s no replace after 48 hours for high-priority points.
4. Use in-app chat to ship progress updates to the tenant.

This retains everybody knowledgeable and avoids pointless telephone calls.

5. Completion and verification

When the work is completed, confirm that the issue is definitely resolved earlier than closing it out.

Steps:

1. Vendor marks the request as Accomplished.
2. Vendor uploads earlier than and after pictures, and any invoices or receipts.
3. Evaluation the photographs and make sure completion.
4. Replace notes (for instance, “Leak repaired by ABC Plumbing, changed valve on 10/21/25.”)
5. Tenant receives a notification to substantiate satisfaction or reopen the request if wanted.

6. Recordkeeping and expense administration

Good recordkeeping protects you throughout tax season and helps you observe property efficiency. Retaining clear, correct data of your upkeep bills is simply as essential as getting the work performed. With out organized bookkeeping, you’ll be able to simply lose observe of restore prices, overpay distributors, or miss invaluable tax deductions. 

Correct monitoring helps you see patterns, like which properties are costing probably the most to keep up or which programs want alternative quickly, and it offers you a transparent image of your portfolio’s efficiency. It could possibly additionally defend you throughout tax season or audits, because you’ll have documentation for each expense tied to a particular property.

Steps:

1. Connect invoices or receipts on to the request.
2. Assign an expense class (for instance, Plumbing, HVAC, Electrical).
3. Confirm the associated fee seems in Properties > Bills.
4. Export information in your accounting software program.

Retaining these bills organized in RentRedi saves hours of bookkeeping work later. 

7. Shut and archive

As soon as every thing checks out, shut the request and transfer it into your accomplished file. 

Steps:

1. Mark the request Closed.
2. Transfer it to Accomplished Requests for historic monitoring.
3. Evaluation any upkeep analytics to get common response occasions, recurring points, and price developments.

This information helps you catch repeat issues earlier than they flip into main repairs.

8. Comply with-up and prevention

Lastly, use what you’ve discovered from previous requests to plan preventative upkeep.

Steps:

1. Schedule annual or seasonal inspections.
2. Add recurring reminders in RentRedi’s calendar instrument.
3. Maintain your most popular vendor checklist up to date for fast assignments.

Ultimate Ideas

Preventative work is nearly all the time cheaper than emergency repairs, and having it constructed into your SOP ensures it by no means will get ignored. A $75 HVAC filter change can forestall a $5,000 system alternative. Common gutter cleanings can cease roof leaks and basis points earlier than they begin.

Past saving cash, proactive maintenance protects your property worth and retains tenants happier, as a result of issues are solved earlier than they even discover them. If you construct preventative duties into your SOP, you defend your funding and create a smoother, extra predictable operation.

In the event you’ve ever felt overwhelmed managing upkeep throughout a number of items, this course of modifications every thing. Constructing an SOP forces you to suppose by means of each step as soon as, so that you don’t should reinvent the wheel each time one thing breaks.

Whether or not you’re managing one property or 50, RentRedi’s upkeep instruments provide the construction to reply sooner, keep organized, and hold your tenants completely happy.