Apartment Maintenance 101: A Complete Guide

Property rentals can be a lucrative investment, but managing apartments is hardly a hands-off operation. Whether a landlord manages a rental property themselves or hires a property manager to handle the job, apartment maintenance is non-negotiable. A lack of proactive maintenance will likely result in costly emergency repairs, unhappy tenants and even potential safety risks and lawsuits.

Fortunately, avoiding real estate doomsday is easy if you plan ahead and stay on top of general maintenance work. Let’s break it down.

What Is Apartment Maintenance?

Essentially, apartment maintenance covers all maintenance and repairs done on an apartment building. Just about anything that can break in a rental unit is considered part of an apartment maintenance plan, aside from appliances that tenants own. As a landlord, it’s your legal responsibility to keep apartment units habitable, safe and comfortable for renters. Routine maintenance activities cover a broad range of repair work to keep your tenants happy and safeguard your property.

What Does Apartment Maintenance Entail?

Maintaining an apartment requires extensive, ongoing work, so organization is key. Necessary building maintenance tasks include all of the following:

Inspecting and repairing all heating, ventilation and A/C systems: This form of facilities maintenance is ideally done prior to peak-use season. It’s better to repair or replace a heating unit over the summer months than it is to wait until residents need them around the clock in winter.
Groundskeeping and landscaping: Lawn care, tree-trimming, clearing walkways and power-washing driveways should be done as part of a proper grounds maintenance plan.
Appliance repairs: This includes addressing maintenance requests for ovens, stoves, dishwashers, microwaves and laundry facilities offered as part of your lease agreement.
Security check: All structures should be inspected for security and safety, including all doors, windows, hallways and stairwells.
Pest control: Professional maintenance services can assist with spraying and doing routine inspections for termites, insects and rodent infestations.
Plumbing: This involves repairing worn bathroom fixtures, inspecting drains, performing water quality tests and handling urgent repairs.
Electrical repairs: Improving energy efficiency as much as possible, checking for potential safety hazards, assessing electrical load and ensuring outdoor outlets and wiring is properly weatherproofed are all tasks for a qualified electrician.
Cleaning: Last but not least, cleaning pools, gyms and other common areas thoroughly is an important part of property upkeep.

Types of Buildings That Use Apartment Maintenance

Many rental properties require dedicated property maintenance plans. Almost any property inhabited by a tenant requires apartment maintenance, but the requirements vary depending on the type of facility.

Studio apartments: Studios are self-contained and typically are the easiest to maintain.
Lofts: Loft apartments are spacious with high ceilings, few rooms and large windows. Since many lofts were converted from older industrial buildings, it’s important to check that aging and outdated components are repaired or replaced.
Garden apartments: The highlight of a garden apartment complex is an aesthetically pleasing outdoor space. In addition to the required interior maintenance, keeping up outdoor spaces is expected.
High-rise apartments: A high-rise apartment building generally has 12 stories or more, so elevators are a requirement for convenience and accessibility. Ensuring elevators are up-to-code and in working order is essential for high-rise maintenance.
Walk-ups: Smaller storied apartments may not have elevators. In these instances, staircases should be clean, dry and well-lit to avoid accidents.
Duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes: In units with separate entrances, every unit should be considered an individual residence to be inspected and maintained accordingly.

Different Kinds of Apartment Maintenance Workers

Three types of apartment maintenance workers are frequently involved in apartment upkeep. These include apartment maintenance supervisors, apartment maintenance managers and apartment maintenance technicians. Keeping up an apartment is a time-consuming undertaking, so each apartment maintenance job covers a different subset of tasks.

What Does an Apartment Maintenance Supervisor Do?

Large facilities that rely on multiple maintenance service technicians require apartment supervisors to keep operations running smoothly. They oversee inspections, maintenance schedules and daily tasks. Today, many apartment maintenance supervisors rely on computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) like Coast to streamline their workflow and meet resident service requests as promptly as possible.

What Does an Apartment Maintenance Manager Do?

Apartment maintenance managers are in charge of hiring and managing maintenance teams. Properties should budget for two full-time technicians per 100 units, and the manager’s role is to plan, schedule and assign work orders for the techs they oversee. In facilities with fewer than 100 units, it’s common to hire a maintenance worker with a few years of experience in management to coordinate and perform the work independently.

What Does an Apartment Maintenance Technician Do?

Apartment maintenance technicians are the ones who actually perform the work. A good technician has maintenance experience performing preventive and routine property maintenance and can troubleshoot problems in common appliances, HVAC systems, plumbing systems and safety systems. Large apartment complexes may employ technicians with different specialties, but facilities with only a few units often hire a jack-of-all-trades tech.

Most Common Apartment Maintenance Strategies

When you’re defining your apartment maintenance approach, there are several types of maintenance worth considering. For the most part, the following three strategies should cover all your bases:

Preventive Maintenance: For Avoiding Problems in the First Place

Preventive maintenance is the process of taking proactive measures to prevent equipment failures before they happen. Typically, this involves adhering to a routine inspection schedule, performing upgrades to parts as needed, lubricating moving parts of appliances, changing water filters, sealing bathtubs and countertops and other similar tasks that protect your assets and keep your tenants comfortable.

Reactive Maintenance: For Fixing Problems After They Occur

Reactive maintenance is a reaction to any apartment issue that is fairly harmless but needs to be repaired. A dripping faucet or out-of-order dryer is a pain, but it falls below emergency repairs on the priority list.

Emergency Maintenance: For Addressing Problems That Pose a Threat to Health & Safety

Emergency maintenance is similar to reactive maintenance in that it’s a reaction to a problem, but it typically involves a significant hazard that must be addressed urgently. For example, a gas leak or backed-up sewer line may require residents to evacuate for their own safety.

Apartment Maintenance Example: Proactive vs. Reactive Maintenance

Let’s take a look at exactly how a proactive versus reactive maintenance approach affects everyone involved in an apartment community. A proactive approach to maintaining good, quality air-conditioning in the summertime would involve inspecting HVAC units before summertime. If a property owner waits until an air-conditioning unit fails during a heat wave, the problem requires reactive maintenance in that it must be prepared right away. And the problem can quickly turn into an emergency maintenance situation if residents (especially elderly tenants or young children) need to be relocated to avoid health complications like heat stroke.

Since the property owner is responsible for providing habitable living conditions, they will likely be responsible for providing relocation funds until the issue is resolved. Covering motel stays for multiple residents is far more expensive than repairing or replacing old A/C units before the first heat wave of summer hits. Additionally, it saves owners, property managers and maintenance staff from the stressful experience of scrambling to meet resident needs and conduct emergency repairs overnight.

Sample Preventive Maintenance Checklist for Apartments

Without a doubt, preventive maintenance beats last-minute repairs, both in terms of cost and resident satisfaction. If you don’t have a maintenance plan now, don’t put it off any longer. While the following list is far from exhaustive, it’s a good starting point for developing your apartment maintenance strategy.

Interior apartment maintenance checklist

Interior Inspections

Check the attic for insulation, moisture build-up and structural issues.
Examine the plumbing system for signs of leaking or broken pipes.
Check the air-conditioning to ensure it’s in good condition in anticipation of summer.
Inspect all appliances for proper functioning, and install new filters as needed.
Clean and inspect vents and ductwork, check furnace filters, test thermostats and check all components of the system.
Check for signs of termites and other pests at regular intervals.

Exterior Inspections

Check all caulking around windows, doors and siding.
Inspect exterior paint for peeling or cracking; touch up areas where needed.
Check exterior grounds for signs of overgrowth, debris or other hazards.
Inspect roofs for signs of damage that may result in leaks.

Testing

Test all smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.
Test all exterior lighting, and replace light bulbs as needed.

Cleaning/Landscaping

Clean out gutters and make sure they’re draining properly.
Trim trees, rake leaves and check for any standing water after rainfall.
Power wash roofs and outdoor surfaces to prevent the growth of moss and grass that may damage surfaces.

How a CMMS Can Help Streamline Your Apartment Maintenance Program

A CMMS software like Coast offers a comprehensive platform designed to help facility managers mitigate risk and prepare for equipment failures, including those that give property managers the biggest headaches.