Do you conduct unit inspections in your building just because you have to? Many people do inspections without a real goal, and they end up documenting simply the general condition of the unit. Does it really make a difference to know that Unit 2301 has carpet and Unit 3205 has parquet flooring?!? When you conduct an inspection of multifamily property, it’s an opportunity to collect information you might not use today, but in the future.
Top 5 reasons to perform inspections
Saving Money on Utilities
When you inspect a unit, it’s an excellent opportunity to take note of the energy efficiency of the appliances, fixtures and light bulbs. Are the shower heads high flow? Are there any incandescent light bulbs? Is the refrigerator from the fifties?!? Sometimes there are government programs in place that will pay some of the costs to replace these older fixtures and appliances so it can be very worth your effort.
Tenant Owned Items
Sometimes tenants replace items in the unit with their own, such as light fixtures, appliances and more. When you conduct an inspection of a unit, it’s a perfect time to make a note of any items the tenant owns and figure out where the item that it replaced is. For example, let’s say a tenant installs their own light fixture. When they move out, they take it with them and you are left without a light fixture. Where is the original light fixture? If you cannot locate it, you will be buying a new one.
Budgeting
Are you struggling every year to put together your capital budget for repairs? Plan your inspections to capture details such as the components that are in bad shape and in need of repair or replacement. The condition of the items and when they will need to be replaced combined with cost data can serve as an excellent base for your budget!
Liability reduction, Life and Safety
To ensure the unit is safe, an inspection for life and safety hazards can help you document essential facts for insurance and liability purposes. Check to make sure the window locks are in place and working, and that smoke detectors are working. When this is all clearly documented, you are covered in case of a future issue.
Due diligence, Asset Value
While this might not be at the forefront for a Property Manager, apartment buildings are assets, and with increased institutional investors in the market, rental real estate transactions are becoming more common. When units are thoroughly inspected to document their state and condition, the captured information can present excellent data for strategic decisions on maintaining, upgrading and ultimately sale value.
When you conduct a unit inspection using SuiteSpot Mobile Inspections, our templates are set up with workflows guiding you to document everything, so you are not just capturing images and making notes, you are capturing useful data that can be used to predict when you will need to replace appliances and fixtures. SuiteSpot’s Data Summarizer gives you a complete picture of the State & Condition of your property and provides the data you need to put together a capital budget.
Learn more about how mobile inspections software from SuiteSpot can help reduce costs associated with errors in field maintenance processes.
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