These days, everyone is talking about “customer experience.” For the purposes of this article, “customer experience” means the quality of the daily interactions between contractors and their customers. Depending on how these daily interactions go, being a contractor or manager can be a lot easier or a lot harder. As contractors, we want the property managers we work with to have the best possible customer service experience. This will make sure that customers are happy, loyal, and satisfied. If you have a good time with your contractor, you are more likely to stay a customer for a long time.
As an HVAC contractor who focuses on the condo market, I have met with board members and property managers for many years. As a property manager, you are expected to be a “jack of all trades.” With so many different trades and disciplines in your buildings, it can be hard to keep track of everything. I think that if you hire someone,
Having contractors who are skilled, reliable, and trustworthy makes your job much easier. Also, as a contractor, it’s easier for us to do our job if you’re experienced property managers, and things will go more smoothly.
The following things are things that contractors appreciate when they work with property managers every day:
1. Please try to make sure that you value our time as much as we value yours. When I go to a site, the manager has either forgotten about our meeting or says he or she “doesn’t have time” to talk to us. Please keep in mind that we both do something for condo corporations, whether it’s HVAC Services for Property Managers. Try to be aware of each other’s time. Still, we know that emergencies happen in your business, just like they do in ours. We understand that.
2. Knowledge is ‘golden!’ Even though we don’t think you should know everything, feel free to ask as many questions as you need to understand.
3. We appreciate it when you pay your bills on time, and it will make your life much easier because you won’t have to deal with reminders to pay.
4. Write down what you want your contractor to do and how you want it done. For example, how to sign in and out while on-site, which areas are off-limits to contractors, who the main point of contact is while on-site, etc.
5. Ask your contractor what you can do to help them do their work better. Of course, it’s our job to make your busy job as a property manager easier, but if you can help us out too, we’ll all be better off.
Don’t wait until things go wrong. When you and your contractor talk about what you want and what you expect, things go much more smoothly. If there are any problems, we want to know about them before it’s too late.
7. We’re all in the “people” business, so let’s be nice to each other and make our work go more smoothly.
8. Give us the things we need while we’re there. For example, make sure we have keys if we need them, that parking is available, etc. All of this may seem obvious, but a manager who hasn’t done it before might miss some of these things.
9. Let’s respect each other’s expertise. Let us do our jobs and you do yours, and everyone will be happy.
10. Remember these tips the next time your contractor comes to your site. We both want to make sure your boards and owners are happy, and as your contractor, it’s our job to help you do that.
Remember that happy contractors mean happy property managers, which means happy owners and board members.
