Managing one rental vacation home can feel like a breeze. But when you start growing your portfolio to include multiple properties, the complexity increases exponentially.
Coordinating maintenance work across multiple listings, ensuring the properties are always guest-ready, and staying on top of repairs can quickly become overwhelming. That’s why staying organized, delegating tasks, and utilizing technology are key to keeping everything running smoothly.
From my personal experience, we have learned firsthand that effective maintenance management can make or break your operation.
In this post, we’ll discuss how to streamline your property maintenance process, leverage mobile apps for better organization, and implement smart scheduling techniques to avoid revenue loss. By adopting these strategies, you’ll free up time to scale your business and focus on acquiring new properties without getting bogged down by the day-to-day challenges.
The Power of a Simple List
When it comes to property maintenance, one of the simplest yet most effective strategies is creating a detailed list. Each time a maintenance task arises—whether it’s pest control, fixing an appliance, or something more time-consuming like repainting or deep cleaning—it goes straight onto our to-do list. This list serves as a central hub where we can track the status of every task, set deadlines, and prioritize repairs.
However, when managing multiple properties, staying on top of these tasks can become increasingly difficult. That’s where mobile apps like Todoist come into play.
How Todoist Helps Streamline Property Maintenance Tasks
Todoist is a powerful app that has significantly improved how we manage property maintenance across all our listings. The beauty of Todoist is its simplicity, paired with its rich functionality that helps organize tasks, set priorities, and track progress in real-time. Here’s how we use Todoist to keep everything in check:
Task Assignment: Whether it’s a leaky faucet, a broken appliance, or a scheduled deep clean, each maintenance task is assigned to the appropriate team member, whether that’s an in-house employee or an external contractor. Todoist ensures that no task is forgotten or left uncompleted.
Priority Levels: We set different priority levels for each task, from high-priority issues (like appliance failures or pest infestations) to lower-priority tasks (like cosmetic repairs or seasonal maintenance). This ensures that urgent issues are addressed right away, while less critical tasks can be completed when time permits.
Scheduling and Reminders: With Todoist, we can set clear deadlines and reminders. If a maintenance task is time-sensitive, such as preparing a property for new guests, Todoist sends notifications to ensure it’s completed on schedule.
To start organizing your maintenance tasks with Todoist, download the app here.
Delegation: The Key to Scaling Your Airbnb Business
As your property portfolio grows, you’ll quickly realize that handling all maintenance tasks yourself simply isn’t feasible. To truly scale your business and manage multiple listings without getting overwhelmed, delegation is essential.
This is where an operations manager comes in. An operations manager is responsible for overseeing daily tasks, including maintenance and housekeeping. With an experienced operations manager, you won’t have to deal with the constant back-and-forth of coordinating repairs or chasing contractors. You can trust them to handle the operational side of things, allowing you to focus on growing your business.
Incentives for Operations Managers: Keeping Maintenance on Track
To keep our operations manager motivated and ensure that our properties are always in tip-top shape, we’ve developed an incentive-based salary structure. Here’s how it works:
Base Salary: The operations manager receives a fixed base salary, reflecting their core responsibilities and scope of work.
Incentives Based on Performance: We tie part of their pay to key performance indicators (KPIs), including:
Property Readiness: If a property is ready before the scheduled check-in time, the operations manager earns an incentive. This ensures that properties are always prepared for guests and that there are no delays.
For stayover guests (those who are already checked in and staying for multiple nights), no incentives are awarded for property readiness. However, incentives are still available for timely and efficient maintenance requests or service-related issues.
Maintenance Performance: If there’s a maintenance issue during a guest’s stay (like a broken appliance or plumbing issue), the incentive is withheld. This creates a strong incentive for the operations manager to stay on top of regular maintenance and prevent issues from arising in the first place.
This performance-based model helps keep the operations manager invested in the success of the property and ensures that they are proactive about maintenance and guest satisfaction.
Conclusion: Streamline Your Operations for More Time and Profit
Buy Back Your Time
Managing maintenance across multiple properties doesn’t have to be a nightmare. By using a tool like Todoist to track tasks, delegating responsibilities to a trusted operations manager, and scheduling maintenance strategically, you can keep your properties in excellent condition while maximizing revenue.
Remember, each day counts, and blocking dates for maintenance work can cost you valuable bookings. By planning ahead and using smart scheduling tactics, you can keep your properties guest-ready without losing out on potential profits.
If you're managing multiple Airbnb properties and looking to scale, remember: efficiency is the key to success. The right tools and a motivated team will help you streamline operations, reduce stress, and make more money—all while providing top-notch guest experiences.
Ready to start organizing your property maintenance? Download Todoist here and get started today!
Comments