{"id":4255,"date":"2024-03-25T22:04:43","date_gmt":"2024-03-25T22:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/propertymeld.com\/?p=4255"},"modified":"2025-04-14T15:50:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T15:50:40","slug":"what-kpis-matter-in-property-maintenance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/propertymeld.com\/blog\/what-kpis-matter-in-property-maintenance\/","title":{"rendered":"What KPIs Matter in Property Maintenance?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some businesses define success as ever-increasing revenues and profits. Yet this simple definition comes with a catch:\u00a0<\/span>revenue and profits are lagging indicators<\/span><\/strong>, meaning that you’re already feeling the heat by the time you notice something is awry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Enter the concept of\u00a0<\/span>key performance indicators (KPIs)<\/span><\/em><\/strong>. KPIs, help you measure how various successful aspects of your business or operation perform in real-time. This allows you to get ahead of problems before they negatively impact your company’s bottom line. When it comes to assessing the health of a property management maintenance operation, KPIs are beneficial.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Leading vs. Lagging Indicators<\/h3>\n

First, let’s try out an example. Say you’re cruising along the highway, and suddenly, red-and-blue flashing lights pop up in your rearview mirror. Twenty minutes later, you’re holding a speeding ticket. That ticket is a KPI of your driving. But, it’s a\u00a0<\/span>lagging indicator<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/a>, meaning it measures your poor driving performance after it has already occurred and the problem has already presented itself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In business, using profits and revenue as KPIs is like using a speeding ticket to measure your driving. While profits and revenue are crucial measurements of the performance of your business, they serve more as a broad signal that something else in your operation is awry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, consider the alternative. You’re driving along a winding country road when you glance down at your speedometer and notice you’re speeding 10 miles per hour over the speed limit. Naturally, you slow down. The speedometer just served as a KPI, but it’s a\u00a0<\/span>leading indicator<\/span><\/em><\/strong>\u00a0in this case.<\/span><\/p>\n

In other words, it measures your driving performance as it occurs, identifies the problem \u2014 you’re speed \u2014 and gets ahead of the issue before you’re stuck with a speeding ticket or in business, lagging revenues, and profits.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It is better to measure for leading indicators than lagging indicators when deciding what types of KPIs you should measure in your property management maintenance operation. But where do you start?<\/span><\/p>\n

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Here are some property management KPI examples:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Leading KPIs<\/h4>\n

1. Resident Retention<\/p>\n

Happy residents are less likely to move, reducing resident turnover, vacancy rates, and staff work to fill empty units. In other words, the more comfortable your residents are, the more money and less work your company has to do.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, the resident turnover rate is an excellent example of a KPI leading indicator in the property management business.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s logical to assume that your profits and revenue will suffer if your resident turnover rate is high. But, with the insight that your company has an abnormally high resident turnover rate, you can address the issue immediately. But how do you get ahead of this leading indicator?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Time of Repair<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to create happy residents is to fix maintenance issues quickly and effectively. According to our data,\u00a0<\/span>46% of residents said that maintenance issues factored into their decision to leave. Even more interesting, but not surprising, is 31% of residents reported that maintenance issues were the primary reason they left a property.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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With our data, we developed a data-based guideline for how long your company has to repair each type of maintenance issue before your chances of a happy resident drop off considerably.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n