PROPERTY MANAGER STORIES

[Jimmy L]

What are some of your gripes with those mega property managers?


1. Give you the wrong keys
2. Scheduled 4 aparts to clean but when you get there its only one.
3. ?

 

[bob vawter]

Sid sells the property to his brother Sal...an' skips town.....

 

[Dolly Llama]

What are some of your gripes with those mega property managers?


what classifies them as "mega" ?

we haven't had much success cracking the "mega" sized ones.
Those ones seem to want them cleaned "mega" cheap.
OR they have in house dudes with a porty cleaning them and all you'll get are the salvage/restoration rags
and they want THOSE done for fiddy bukz

we do a fair amount of empties though.
Our biggest pisser is when they're not ready and the maintenance dude left a mess or tools and supplies all over the place.


..L.T.A.

 

[bob vawter]

or the closet bi-folds on the floor.......

 

[bob vawter]

NOOO...

it's when they take off the lite switch plates and LEAVE the screws all over the floor......huh?

 

[Mike Draper]

I have a contract with a development that has 290 condo's. They never pay me late, in fact they pay every 2 weeks, if it's a bad condo they let me charge at my discretion. develpment is a newer so carpet is like new and I clean after every move out, wether it needs it or not. On the other hand I have another devopment of 100 (low income) apts and they never, ever pay me on time, usually quarterly. My invoices are usually lost and have to be turned in 2 times, Carpets look like absolute shit " always"! Place always need a shop vac just to prep for vacuuming, They won't pay late fees. But when they do pay, it's gravy.

 

[Able 1]

What are some of your gripes with those mega property managers?



Our biggest pisser is when they're not ready and the maintenance dude left a mess or tools and supplies all over the place.


..L.T.A.

I hate that or when I beat the exterminator and roaches are crawling all over :shock: ... That has only happened one time and I doubled his bill.

 

[esquireservicesinc]

I have one here that has asked me several times about cleaning the carpet in the apartment complex. I have submitted prices to her on several occasions. I will not touch this particular place for less than $150. She says she can get them done for $50...I tell her go ahead then. I don't feel like telling my guys to lock the truck while they are cleaning.

 

[Larry B]

The best ones I think are when they call and say it's ready to be cleaned and you get their and its full of furniture and trash.

 

[clean one]

Thats my best one too Larry, happens once in a while. But most of them i go into i'm thinking why am i cleaning this. Its already clean

 

[Jimmy L]

We have say around 4 mega property companies here.
I used to clean some apt complexes years ago but gave them up for all the hassle.

I agree with larry in that the bigger they are the more they want them done the cheapest.

All the newbie carpet cleaners go after the complexes and restaurants.

New managers means having to suck up to be able to get the work.
Too many power plays where you are at their mercy.

Stay in that game and before you know it they have beaten you down like a janitor.
Worthless and no self esteem.


:roll:

 

[Heathrow]

I work for 5 property management companies - the biggest has around 500 rentals, so I don't know if you'd call them mega? I love working for them and it's a good part of my turnover. They get a good price but all seem to value service over price (to a point).
Wish I had more of them - looove those emptys

 

[SRI Cleaning]

When they dont pay!!! or they send you into an occupied unit and think you are going to charge the same.

 

[XTREME1]

I have 3 companies with over 300 apartments or condos and only one can be a pain occasionally. The worst is you schedule it to suit their time and you have 5 or 6 to do and someone is working in each one. Whether it is the electrician, painters etc and you have to organize their people so you can get your job done

1 guy I met once a year ago emails me what buildings what units and it the halls need to be done always pays on time

The last guy sends me the most and he does some GC on the side so I will drive 40 miles out of my way to stretch in a carpet or handle something for his personal business and of course I never charge him

 

[RandyHilburn]

About a year ago we reorganized the company began building a broad based 'cleaning services company' (geared specifically at Apartments). Some may think I'm crazy and that's ok because for a few months, I wasn't certain that I was going in the right direction either.

Nevertheless, we do the kickback routine for the property managers under the guise of a 'Loyalty Rewards' program! Everyone else has a loyalty program (Air-Miles, Kroger, Office Depot, PetSmart, AMEX, Visa/MC; so why not the carpet cleaners? Like everybody else, we factor the cost into the pricing our services.

At the end of each month, we take each property manager a 'bag full of money' and everybody is happy! If the property manager changes, we take the new manager a 'bag full of money' his/her first day on the job. We code it to advertising/marketing and it's more effective than any post card program we've ever done.

However, two weeks ago, the owner of one of our apartment groups declared bankruptcy and we may be out more than $31K. Damn. I guess I'll be factoring that number into our price 2009 price quotes!

 

[Rex Tyus]

However, two weeks ago, the owner of one of our apartment groups declared bankruptcy and we may be out more than $31K. Damn. I guess I'll be factoring that number into our price 2009 price quotes!

Dude that sucks. That is a good example of why not to let any one client get too deep in your pocket. Especially good advice for the younger companies. Property management companies were notorious for that around here a few years ago. The ones that survived seem to be legit now.

Was that company current on their account and just does a large volume with you, or were they behind and you continued to carry them?

 

[bob vawter]

Sid sells the property to his brother Sal...an' skips town.....

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[RandyHilburn]

Rex, your are correct. It really sucks to be me this month.

Large account was sixty days behind, but that's really not unusual. The learning is two fold:
1. Don't let anybody get too deep in your pockets is a good one and
2. Don't let any one client become more than about 10% of your overall business