How Centralization Through Smart Home Automation Can Improve Multifamily Management
As labor shortages persist, multifamily owners and operators continue to struggle to find skilled workers to manage their communities. One solution to help fill this void is the adoption of centralization and automation to keep buildings running efficiently, while boosting the resident experience.
More multifamily operators are adopting proptech to not only improve access control but to streamline work tasks and prevent potential problems on-site.
SmartRent, a smart home automation company that helps property owners, managers and homebuilders better manage multifamily communities, takes an Internet of Things approach to address property management pain points.
“The labor shortage is raising the cost of hiring the right workforce to help manage multifamily properties,” SmartRent CEO Lucas Haldeman said. “We’ve found that more multifamily communities are finally embracing mobile and cloud overlay, which can help keep their properties in order and reduce costs.”
Haldeman said this transition to proptech requires the right software. Too many multifamily communities are not only using outdated technology, but they need to create a smooth integration process that allows them to properly pivot, he said.
“Things have evolved in the years since the early days of leasing agents, which means you have to change the approach,” Haldeman said. “With many leasing agents going into property management, property owners have to get the right software and find an internal process that works for their community.”
Software can also address on-site employees’ calls to adopt specialization over so-called podding approaches. Haldeman describes podding as a group of staff that takes responsibility for a variety of things on properties, such as HVAC, plumbing or other forms of maintenance. What he’s found is that people want to be utilized for a skill they specialize in, instead of being a “fix-it-all.”
“More on-site staff want to be hired for specialization, be it repairing HVAC systems, fixing pipe leaks or making sure smoke detectors, alarm systems and thermostats work properly,” he said. “Property owners can hire just a few people who specialize in these areas to save money and increase worker retention because they’re happier to complete tasks they’re most qualified to do.”
In addition to specialization, Haldeman said IoT can help owners and tenants monitor access control, temperature, air quality and noise pollution conveniently on smart devices. This makes it easier for staff members, owners, management and residents to spot and report or resolve issues even when they’re away from the property. A specialized worker can step in and address a specific issue while another attends to something else.
“We have a variety of hardware such as sensors, thermostats and access control that owners, residents and staff members can access from their smart devices,” he said. “Having the right software and hardware is essential to centralizing multifamily communities and prioritizing tasks to help manage things more efficiently.”
Haldeman said that a key part of SmartRent’s success is in creating tailor-made software that suits a community’s needs.
“We have an open-ended software approach that fits our customers’ needs and we integrate it in a way that’s easy for them to access,” he said. “Our Next-Level Smart approach helps us keep the operators in mind because each software integration is different depending on the type of community. Whether a property owner is managing thousands of units or a few hundred, SmartRent makes it scalable for their community.”
Avanti Residential is an owner and operator of multifamily apartment communities in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Kansas and Florida. Avanti already had a mobile maintenance system in place but found SmartRent’s work management system was better suited for its communities.
Avanti Executive Vice President of Operations Brenda Gammie said the easy decision would have been to go with its property management system’s mobile maintenance. However, the company found SmartRent’s work management platform to be more compatible while also reducing costs, which came at a crucial time when it needed a flexible software component during the uncertainty of the pandemic.
“The price that we were paying for just the answering service was about twice the price we pay for the entire SmartRent platform, including the answering service,” she said. “The value of SmartRent really stood out to me.”
SmartRent’s work management software allowed Avanti to have better customer service for residents, track and report workflow maintenance and improve response time. Avanti adapted to operational changes and increased its performance by 122.4% within just six months of implementing SmartRent’s program.
Haldeman said it is important to adapt to operational changes because many multifamily properties operate on tight budgets, especially today.
“Property management is a tough business, and these days property owners just can’t fill up their staff like before,” he said. “With properties becoming more expensive to run, owners have to be more cost-efficient to make a profit off the rent. Specialization can help fill in the labor gaps and save owners time and money running their communities by decreasing costs while increasing efficiency.”
He added that he predicts that smart home automation will soon become a must-have for multifamily communities.
“In the next five years, I see property management entering a new phase where smart home automation will be at the helm to help run multifamily communities,” he said. “We want to continue building reliable and adaptable software that provides multifamily operators and residents with a seamless and convenient smart home automation experience for years to come.”
This article was produced in collaboration between SmartRent and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.
Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.
