The Best Ways to Organize Work Order Maintenance Requests

The Best Ways to Organize Work Order Maintenance Requests

As all Property Managers know, good property maintenance starts with good organization. When you can successfully organize work orders, you can prioritize emergencies and still manage scheduled and seasonal maintenance. And, your team can function in a low-stress environment and become more productive and efficient. 

Many maintenance teams want to be organized, but don’t know how to get there. We are here to help. 

Follow these steps to learn how to organize work orders and take control of your property maintenance requests.  

#1) Streamline the Service Request Process

It is easy to get overwhelmed when you have multiple requests coming in from different channels of communication. Text messages, emails, written notes, and verbal communication can get confusing when they are used simultaneously without a process. It can feel almost impossible to remember where the request came from, much less what needs to be done. 

Implementing a streamlined process for receiving requests from residents and assigning work orders can help.

Consider using a fully integrated property maintenance mobile app and desktop solution like HOMEE with Resident Request. With HOMEE, residents place service requests at their convenience without the need for scheduling. After residents upload photos and notes, you authorize the work order or make changes, then assign the job to an in-house maintenance tech, your preferred network, or HOMEE’s open network of maintenance professionals. Once approved, residents request their service provider at their convenience. It's that easy.

#2) Establish a System to Prioritize Work Orders

While each service request is important to the resident who makes it, seasoned Property Managers will tell you that not all requests are created equal. A broken pipe that is flooding a hallway and creating an unsafe living environment is much more important than a burned-out lightbulb.

Create a system where you can evaluate and organize work orders based on their priority. 

This can be a simple system where only one person reviews the service requests (typically the head of operations) and sets priorities for team members. It can also be more complex where tasks are given a number between one and five, with one being the highest priority and five being the lowest, so teams focus on the most important work first. 

Whichever process you use, make sure your employees know how to read and respond to different priority levels.    

#3) Categorize Your Service Requests

Along with prioritizing your tasks, you can organize your work orders by categorizing them into different types of issues. 

For example, a few categories you might have include:

• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Landscaping
• Pool and Spa
• Indoor Appliances
• HVAC
• Handyman

With these categories, you can see exactly which types of tasks you need to complete and exactly who can complete them. If the problem is landscaping related, your lawn-service provider will most likely be able to handle it. If the problem is plumbing related, then you may need to hire a plumber. 

From here, you can see which tasks your team is capable of completing themselves, which tasks can be delegated to contractors, and which tasks require outside specialists to figure out. This process can either be done manually by your property management team, or digitally through a property maintenance solution like HOMEE. The goal is to better understand what work needs to be done and who is doing it.  

#4) Track Work Until Completion 

One of the problems Property Managers have while trying to organize work orders is knowing which tasks are active and which ones are complete. You need an easy way to see which tasks are active and need attention and which work orders need to be closed out.

HOMEE’s work order management software can also help with this step. HOMEE with Resident Request provides Property Managers with a single portal to review, manage and close all service requests. That way, the most important work won’t get lost in the shuffle.

#5) Improve the Average Time to Complete Service Requests

There’s an additional benefit to tracking the completion of service requests: you can determine how long it takes for tasks to get done. 

There are KPIs (key performance indicators or metrics) that you can track to see if your team is performing at its best. Common KPIs for property maintenance include the amount of time it takes a request to be first addressed and the time it takes to complete it.

For example, if a resident asks your team to replace a lightbulb in a common area to make it safer, but your team doesn’t address the request for a week, then that resident is likely to get frustrated and submit multiple requests and issue formal complaints. However, if you address the issue within a day, then that resident will be happy you promptly acknowledged them.  

Small changes to your workflow through tracked KPIs and goal setting can improve your service and make your residents happier. 

Organize Work Orders with HOMEE

If you need to take control of your schedule and better organize your service requests, turn to a property maintenance solution like HOMEE. 

HOMEE makes it easy for you to receive requests, assign them to your in-house techs, preferred network or HOMEE’s open network of on-demand property maintenance professionals who are ready to take your job at the tap of a button. 

Request a demo to see how HOMEE can help you organize work orders and improve your operations today.