Property Managers: Can Your Maintenance Solution Stand the Cold Season?

It’s the middle of January, and you get a sudden phone call: it’s your tenant panicking because the heating system suddenly stopped working, and their home is getting colder and colder. Not an hour goes by, and two more tenants report malfunctioning heating systems.

What if your trusted maintenance professional is on vacation, and all other contractor companies you can think of happen to be unavailable?

This might sound like an unlikely situation, but it actually happened to a property manager who is now one of Keepe’s main clients. Always having relied on the same contractor before and assuming that living in a big city would guarantee access to several others in an emergency can make it easy to underestimate how the maintenance solution you are used to might actually not be the most effective solution for you.

Here is where on-demand maintenance and preventative maintenance come in: instead of waiting for the worst, preparing for the cold season ahead is simpler than it seems.

To begin, our experts recommend scheduling a thorough inspection of the heating system once a year, ideally in the fall. Additionally, tenants should be reminded that air filters need to be regularly checked and replaced every 90 days, while vents should be inspected often to prevent clogging caused by debris and dirt. As different heating systems have different maintenance needs, it is best to consult a trusted technician and promptly schedule the recommended maintenance services for your particular system. These combined efforts are designed to properly tend to your heating system in such a way that ensures its continued efficiency.

Secondly, when finding yourself dealing with sudden emergencies, wasting precious time searching for a new contractor can become a stressful process. Not to mention that the pressure to get something fixed quickly can lead to rushing the selection process, and hiring someone who turns out to be unqualified for the job can result in even more problematic and pricier damages. Instead of counting on the same technician every year, the wintertime is the perfect time to consider a new, more efficient solution for your property maintenance. Keepe offers on-demand maintenance, delivering a vetted, bonded and insured contractor to your door when you need it most. Using Keepe is fast and easy, as it does not require any subscription or service fees, matching job requests to the closest available technician in the Keepe network in real time. Available 7 days a week - holidays included - Keepe is the perfect solution for those unfortunate emergencies and routine maintenance services that will save you time and money in the long run. Make sure to check keepe.com to learn more about why on-demand maintenance should be your go-to for seasonal maintenance, especially during the cold winter months.