Managing Properties during a pandemic: reducing exposure, increasing operational efficiency

Over the past few months, the human population has experienced a drastic shift in the way we go about conducting daily activities. For businesses, the social distancing orders have of course resulted in the majority of in-person tasks and operations now being carried out remotely. And while many businesses soon hope to make the switch from operating virtually back to

in-person, there are many management teams that will benefit from continuing to handle certain procedures entirely remotely.

We’re referring to the Property Management industry in particular.

Facilities-based IoT Solutions, like TrustHab, empower Property Managers (or others on maintenance and facility teams) to be alerted of vital information from afar. ‘Vital information’ meaning things like when an HVAC unit has been running extensively, or is having trouble reaching the thermostat set point, or even if high humidity levels are present within a residence, just to name a few. And with stay-at-home orders resulting in people now actually spending more time inside their residences, utility usage has increased and therefore the risk of a potential maintenance malfunction occuring has also heightened.

In short, a Facilities-based IoT Solution uses connected devices to continuously monitor equipment activity within residences. When unusual conditions are detected, an alert is automatically sent to the specified staff member to notify them that something needs addressing. Think of these notifications as proactive maintenance alerts.

The ability for staff to have identified a potential maintenance issue prior to even entering a residence eliminates any unnecessary in-person diagnostic time upon arrival, which has been especially helpful since the beginning of the pandemic when minimizing in-person contact has been strongly advised.

Additionally, many seemingly risky conditions can be triggered by something as simple as a window accidentally being left open. For example, let’s say a Property Manager is alerted to the fact that an HVAC unit has been running extensively but cannot seem to cool a residence. There are no other conditions present that would suggest this HVAC unit is in poor working condition, so it’s likely the issue is being caused merely by an open window (this scenario is a lot more common than you may think)… which can easily be solved with a quick phone call to the tenant. No in-person service call (aka, unnecessary exposure) needed.

This can also be of great benefit when it comes to managing vacant units. With staff now being less likely to visit vacant units in-person, there’s a greater chance that any brewing maintenance problem will be left undetected for an even longer period of time, and therefore have the opportunity to turn into a costly repair… unless it’s quickly caught by a Facilities-based IoT Solution first, of course.

We know that not all maintenance problems can be solved remotely, but having insight to key data and analytics allows management teams to prioritize service calls and only send staff to conduct in-person assessments where absolutely necessary. Even when daily business operations have returned to ‘normal,’ continuing to empower property staff with remote equipment monitoring solutions will remain an effective way to improve operational efficiency, reduce unnecessary costs, and increase property NOI.

Contact us today to learn how we can help you optimize the safety of staff workflows during this time.

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