Mark Haigh is a Property Manager at Little Real Estate. We recently sat down with him to discuss improving team efficiencies, adopting new technology and finding your grove using the new Bricks + Agent property maintenance solution.
What’s changed the most in your office since using the B+A platform?
It's got to be the speed at
which I can receive a tenants
email to the time the job is sent
and the trade has contacted the
tenant. Previously we had to
create a request in our system
along with a work order and then
email it to the contractor. We
also had to email the tenant to
let them know we had completed the
maintenance or repair.
Since using the Bricks + Agent solution, job completion rates are so much faster and the tenant stays informed at every stage of the maintenance or repair workflow,
Lastly, our tradespeople don’t just get emails when a job comes they also get notifications on their phones. They are responding and following up with our team and tenants quicker than they ever did before.
How has the platform made your work day easier?
Simple. I can go to one place
and look at and keep track of
all the maintenance jobs for the
properties I manage.
Push notifications have completely improved individual and team efficiencies, When a job is posted by a tenant I get instantly notified and if I'm not in the office I can still action it from my mobile. Also, having the ability to remind trades to book in jobs when they haven’t contacted the tenant is a real game changer.
There is also a great built in feature that allows you to view jobs based on their progress rather then having to check in different properties to find out what stage they are at. If I want to view all quotes in the system I can, rather than searching for individual ones.
What do your tenants and trades using the platform think?
Our tenants like using the solution because it offers full transparency, they know when a job has been actioned and they receive contact details for the tradespeople. The fact that all trades are verified via a thorough certification process on the platform has provided an extra layer of security and trust in adopting the technology. I have not had one issue of trades not showing up to jobs or any misunderstandings around appointments. It all just seems to work.
Trades are learning to like it and it's something new however, the ones that have invested the time and effort to learn the system are now utilising it and can really see the benefits.
How did you get your team to adopt the B+A product?
Make them use it and ‘play with it’ because you need to spend an hour or so getting used to using it. I found showing the team how it worked on real jobs and how the process goes from beginning to end really helped with adoption. The solution is always evolving which is fantastic, so the more people are on it the more comfortable they will get with it.
Ready to streamline your maintenance workflows and start spending more time growing the rent roll? Get in touch below for a free demo.