Proactive Planning for Worry-Free Plumbing & Resident Satisfaction
In our last blog post, we recommended that the New Year serves as a good reminder to assess and inspect your piping systems to ensure they are in proper working condition and not showing any dangerous signs of aging.
Taking proactive steps to maintain a functional and leak free plumbing system is one of the key elements of providing a comfortable home and keeping your residents happy.
In the age of ‘everything online all the time’, bad news spreads quickly and residents are leveraging various online channels (BBB, Yelp, Google Reviews, Facebook, ApartmentRatings.com, and others) to communicate their displeasure and frustration. Every property has residents looking for opportunities to criticize their community, and there is no better reason to criticize than having a plumbing leak that does a lot of damage.
If your community is having or has had its fair share of leaks, it is critical to remedy the situation quickly and decisively to avoid this resident criticism. If leaks are not immediately addressed, residents feel as though the property does not care about their living conditions, personal belongings, safety or well-being. From a resident’s perspective, a leak, no matter how small, is a real emergency, so it’s critical that your property has effective and clear communication protocols in place to keep residents informed on the steps being taken to remedy the problem.
Properties that have repeated leaks are often faced with considerable resident dissatisfaction, lowered resident retention and increased costs (insurance premiums, water extraction, mold abatement, plumbing repairs, maintenance overtime, damage repairs, and sometimes even legal fees). It’s these properties that should consider a property-wide repipe.
By replacing a leaking piping system, properties can eliminate the costs and concerns that come with repeated leaks, and ensure years of worry fee (and maintenance free) plumbing. The increase in resident satisfaction that comes from living in a worry free community is a significant component of increased resident retention. Repiping a repeatedly leaking property is a great way to show residents you care, and are investing in their wellbeing.
By being proactive with the maintenance or (if required) replacement of your plumbing systems and having an overall effective and meaningful communication strategy, you can set yourself apart from other communities and have a positive impact on your resident retention.