7 ms·

Ask HN: How do you submit maintenance requests as a tenant?

2 points by aml183 11y ago

We are building a software for property managers to help them manage maintenance requests. Wanted to know more about what tenants think.

Slix 11y ago
There's a horrible web form on my property management's website. My landlord is awesome, but this part of the process is pretty bad. I'm a student living in a mostly-student apartment place. After submitting my address, unit number, name, email, and a description of the problem (sidenote: I always have to figure out which way is north and try to describe the bedroom/bathroom with the problem), it tells me "thanks for your feedback". From what I can tell, the office people completely reword my query (taking out all of the relevant detail like what we've already tried to fix the problem or how the tub is clogged but it takes a while to see). Then they assign it to some maintenance person in their ticketing system. And eventually they come out and fix the issue. Then they leave a printout of the ticket with some scribbled notes (which I assume is legally required). I'd love to know the status of my maintenance request, especially if I have to or want to be home for it. An email would probably be nice. And informing my roommates on submission (so they know I did) and/or further notifications would be neat too, since I end up having to tell them manually.
- aml183 11y ago
  Can you email me at me@arilewis.com? We are trying to develop a solution to this problem.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
panorama 11y ago
We email a single person in what's probably a ~40-unit apartment in SF who then dispatches the maintenance team the next day. That person is probably in charge of the maintenance team's scheduling. For us, it's a pretty painless, straightforward process. Not entirely sure how it is on the other side though.
adam419 11y ago
I use something that does this powered by AppFolio. I just create a maintenance request through it when needed and can track it online and the property manager get's notified about it.
dalerus 11y ago
Email to the landlord, they send a maintenance person to fix the problem. When we had a property management company, worked the same way, but they usually had someone out quicker.

2 points by aml183 11y ago

We are building a software for property managers to help them manage maintenance requests. Wanted to know more about what tenants think.

Slix 11y ago

There's a horrible web form on my property management's website. My landlord is awesome, but this part of the process is pretty bad. I'm a student living in a mostly-student apartment place. After submitting my address, unit number, name, email, and a description of the problem (sidenote: I always have to figure out which way is north and try to describe the bedroom/bathroom with the problem), it tells me "thanks for your feedback". From what I can tell, the office people completely reword my query (taking out all of the relevant detail like what we've already tried to fix the problem or how the tub is clogged but it takes a while to see). Then they assign it to some maintenance person in their ticketing system. And eventually they come out and fix the issue. Then they leave a printout of the ticket with some scribbled notes (which I assume is legally required). I'd love to know the status of my maintenance request, especially if I have to or want to be home for it. An email would probably be nice. And informing my roommates on submission (so they know I did) and/or further notifications would be neat too, since I end up having to tell them manually.

aml183 11y ago
Can you email me at me@arilewis.com? We are trying to develop a solution to this problem.
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

panorama 11y ago

We email a single person in what's probably a ~40-unit apartment in SF who then dispatches the maintenance team the next day. That person is probably in charge of the maintenance team's scheduling. For us, it's a pretty painless, straightforward process. Not entirely sure how it is on the other side though.

adam419 11y ago

I use something that does this powered by AppFolio. I just create a maintenance request through it when needed and can track it online and the property manager get's notified about it.

dalerus 11y ago

Email to the landlord, they send a maintenance person to fix the problem. When we had a property management company, worked the same way, but they usually had someone out quicker.