Am i asking to much of my PM

I would like to get others thought about if I am asking to much of my PM.

The firm is large with many managers and a maintenance devision and i have been getting some maintenance sorted this year. It can take up to a week to get a reply to my emails and sometimes no reply until i call to follow up. I will reply almost instantaneously to an email and it will still take a few days to get a reply. All trades have been organised by them using their preferred tradesmen. There have been multiple occasions where i have approved something, three weeks later i have heard nothing so i talk to the PM and nothing has happened so they contact the trades and get it booked in again. Is it to much to expect that they should no whats happening and follow up without me having to prompt them.

I had a roofer attend to do some maintenance on the roof. The report back from the PM to me was that “the roofer couldn’t help”. I had to ask the PM to call them back and find out what “couldn't help” means this took 2 weeks and turned out there were no problems with the roof. I would have expected the PM to ask some more questions before reporting to me.

There are a few other similar issues that generally revolve around lack of communication and the PM not asking any follow up questions from tradesmen.

I understand they are very busy but at the end of the day there are getting a management fee on the higher end. Is this the general service others get from their PM and i am being picky or should i be looking for a new PM?

 

Terrible but what do you expect when you are one property in about 5000 that they manage plenty of awesome independent PMs here that would be ecstatic to have your business and I can guarantee you will hear back within hours. Where is your property Ryan?

 

Ryan, if your i-p is in Brisbane on the inner south-side from rocklea into west end then if you want i will post who our daughters and wife use ..Most times they will reply within the day and they have been in business for longer then i have been alive..Where is the property as they only cover the inner southside..imho..

 

You should be getting a new PM!

 

No you are not asking too much.
Your PMs are not only terrible in communicating, but also uninterested.
Agree with the others, prefer a much smaller agency, or Onsite Managers, if applicable to you.

 

Flip!! Man move to someone who respects your business today!

 

Bzzt

I had read enough by this point to know it wasn't worth continuing any further.

 

Agree with DT - it's so easy to communicate nowadays, it's really not that hard to respond. Even if they didn't know the answer a quick 'I've got your message, I'll look into it further for you'... isn't that hard. Phone, text, wechat, whatsap... either your property manager really doesn't care and is doing the bare minimum to get through the day or, they are managing too many properties to cope with providing good communication (let alone great communication). I'd be looking elsewhere...

 

Thanks for all the reply’s and I'm glad to here it is not normal. The property is in a major town in North Queensland. There are plenty of PM’s around but it Looks like it is time to try a smaller agency.

 

Which town? I network with a few PM's up that way and might be able to give a recommendation

 

Thanks D.T. Just sent you a message,

 

A huge part of a PM's job is to be able to communicate effectively. You're their client and if its taking a week to respond to you, think about your poor tenants. If they're not happy then it means higher turnover and a negative impact on your returns.

I hate slow communication, so in my own PM business I have a policy that all communications are responded to within 24hrs, even if its just to acknowledge receipt and a timeframe.

 

I am now the one who ignores PMs most often.

They always contact me quickly when a tenant calls them, generally, and drag the chain on everything else.....

So I give them the same treatment now, and only respond to what I deem urgent or reqd, the rest goes nowhere.

I got an email recently, saying the trade I organised was not interested in doing the job at hand, but his mate was ready yo do it, funny that I just spoke with the guy doing the job not an hr earlier... I often wonder how or why so much gets buggered up.....by somone who does not have too many properties too manage....

With some it is like you say white, they say black etc, it is a computer spitting out rubbish, the mind boggles at times.

But also, you cant expect them to be waiting to answer your instant messages, a bus day or so is fine, they do get busy and have stuff to do too....

 

I would be getting a new PM straightaway. I wouldn’t put up with any of that. Although I have great managers who usually respond within 24 hours (this is important to me) I find “managing the managers” part of being a landlord. Of course there are different degrees of landlords too. I take a very active role in insuring my properties are well maintained and my tenants are comfortable. A good PM is essential in making this happen.

 

Like all the others, I would change PM's quick smart.

 

Yep thats going to be the best option. Thank you all for the replies.

 

The next challenge may be finding a good replacement PM - I find the smaller agencies where the licensee/director works directly in the PM team is usually a good place to start, especially if they only specialise in PM.