Chris Knight: Okay, we are about to disclose this month’s Bonehead, which is one of my favorite segments to get into, where we can really dial in to where another property management company might be falling short and how Red Door might have resolved a certain situation a little bit better.

So today’s Bonehead is the “We Don’t Need to Bother the Owner Yet.” A lot of times this is maintenance related because that is where a lot of the boneheads really cost the owner a tremendous amount of money. So that is where we focus a lot of these bonehead situations because we have spent a tremendous amount of money really dialing in our maintenance.

So here we go. Here is how this one goes. A tenant submits a maintenance request saying there is a soft spot in the hallway floor near the bathroom. Now nothing dramatic, no emergency language, no panic, just a note that says something like, “Floor feels a little spongy by the bathroom.”

Now, unfortunately, another property management company looks at that and then decides, “Let’s just keep an eye on it for now. Save the owner some money, some hassle, and I hate to send them another maintenance request because that owner is going to complain. Maybe it is old flooring, maybe the tenant is exaggerating, maybe it is not worth bringing to the owner yet until we know more.”

So instead of acting quickly, they let it sit. This is a terrible mistake, of course. You already know where the bonehead is coming in here. A few days pass. Then more time passes. Eventually someone gets out there and surprise, it was not just a soft floor. There had been a slow toilet seal leak causing moisture under the flooring for who knows how long.

Now instead of a relatively simple early repair, the owner is looking at damaged subfloor, probably going to require replacement, possible drywall touch-up, possible odor concerns, and a much more expensive bill than they would have had if the issue had been addressed right away.

Of course, now the owner is frustrated because from their perspective, the real issue is not just the leak. It is that nobody communicated. Nobody said, “Hey, this may be minor, but it could be the start of something bigger.” Nobody said, “We recommend getting eyes on this quickly before it turns into a larger repair.” Nobody gave the owner visibility whatsoever.

That is the bonehead move. Not because every soft spot in the floor turns into a major problem, but because experienced property management is not about waiting until the problem becomes obvious. It is about understanding which small issues have the potential to become expensive ones if they are ignored. That is where the experience matters.

A strong property management company does not create panic over every maintenance concern, but they do understand patterns. They know that soft flooring near a bathroom, kitchen, water heater, laundry area, those things are going to deserve attention fast. They document it. They communicate it clearly. They keep the owner informed and they move quickly enough to protect the asset.

Because this is one of the biggest differences between reactive management and proactive management. Reactive management says, “Let’s wait until we know it is bad.” Proactive management says, “This might still be small, but if it is not, every day we wait could make it more expensive.”

That is the right mindset. The best companies are not trying to avoid bothering the owner. They are trying to protect the owner from bigger costs later. And that usually means communicating early, documenting it well, and getting the right vendor involved before a manageable repair becomes a full-blown project.

So today’s bonehead goes to the company that saw a warning sign, shrugged it off, and let a preventable issue grow teeth. Because in property management, the expensive part is often not the original problem, it is the delay.

Mike, from your perspective, what should have happened differently in this particular situation?

Mike Taylor: Well, Chris, you said the difference is experience. That is really what made the difference here. This obviously was a lack of experience, maybe maintenance coordinator. Clearly management was not involved. Obviously, this needed to be put to the high priority list or potential high priority list.

I mean, not actioning this obviously was the huge mistake here. And so that is one thing you have to think about when you hire property management companies. How experienced are they? How experienced are your people?

And then here at Red Door, I was just thinking, how would we handle that? First of all, our maintenance coordinators are dedicated. So we have a maintenance department. We have maintenance coordinators. That is what they do all day, every day.

Instead of somebody who is doing everything with all of your properties, we have people dedicated just to maintenance. So I think that is an important distinction. Do you have people dedicated just to that? I think that is a huge distinction.

The other thing is, are they experienced? All of ours have several years of experience. And then the other thing is that our management has visibility on every single work order that comes in.

So not only are we expecting and knowing that our maintenance coordinators would know what to do, that would go by management and then management would be able to flag that and then have a priority system. We also have a priority system, right?

So this would be listed as a high priority work order and it would be done by the maintenance coordinator. If not, management would catch it and flag it for the high priority. So there are a couple of different ways that really should have been handled a lot better.

Chris Knight: Bingo. You beat me to it.

Yeah, and so if you are checking this out and you are trying to vet a new property management company and you have come across our website, which is being designed to specifically address concerns like this before you even get someone on the phone. What I mean by that is we have a management pillar page. Under property management services, explore around a little bit. We address major pillars of the property management search process: how communication is handled, but in this case, how maintenance is handled.

It is extremely transparent. Check out that page. You will quickly see we even have an example on there of how you are notified when a maintenance concern comes in and what communication you are going to see. So transparency is every step of the way here with Red Door Property Management. Number one, you are never going to be left in the dark.

But back to your point, experience. That is where a lot of the magic is happening here. You have soft structure, then it is near any type of a water source. That is your immediate trigger right there that we have to get eyes on. So if it costs the owner $95, for example, as a trip charge or whatever it may be, it is 100% worth it to escape a much larger expense there just to get eyes on.

That is where experience matters. And it can be intimidating having to have those conversations with the owner, right? Well, not here at Red Door. We will have those conversations because we know it is in your best interest, even though nobody likes to hear about another additional potential maintenance expense. And we get it.

We just want to save you money to improve your ROI because we know that is what is going to keep you as a long-term client here with Red Door.

There it is. All right, that is a wrap on the April podcast here for Red Door Property Management. That is this year’s Bonehead. You have got to check out the economic reports, what is happening economically here in Indianapolis and surrounding suburbs. We get into the market reports, which most of it is pretty good information, but not all, so be sure to check that out.

And then of course, we get into the question of the week and this month’s Bonehead. So hope you enjoyed it. If you have any questions, you have your own Bonehead, or you have a question maybe you are thinking about asking, be sure to drop it in the comments. I would love to share some more information or feedback on any of those.

Needing a rental analysis, jump on our website, reach out to me directly. Happy to run a rental analysis anytime you like. And of course, be sure to like and subscribe so that you do not miss out when we do next month’s market report as we are tracking trends as we approach the spring and summer hot season. We will see you in the next video.

Mike Taylor: All right.