RENTAL MAINTENANCE: LET’S GET STARTED RIGHT! Our Itemized Interior Maintenance Checklist.

Ready or not, here comes a new month.
Already! Because of the deadlines they have for us, as I write this article, it’s still dark, cold, and wet. So, what’s new, right? The changing global weather patterns have generally been making the Pacific NW winters longer, colder, and wetter. But whether it feels like it or not, spring is right around the corner. And, since by then we’ll want to be starting to look at and work on outside maintenance, it’s a good idea to get started this month with inside maintenance.

Normally, we recommend to our Housing providers and property managers that their rental or lease agreements include interior maintenance checks, two times a year, in the spring and in the fall. As the new month begins, there is plenty of time to get Entry Notices out so that the spring interior maintenance check can be done this month. I realize that many housing providers and property managers recoil a bit when it comes to actually doing maintenance checks, but without exception, not ONE that we work with has regretted getting them started and doing them, because no matter how well you screen your tenants, you just don’t know what you don’t know until you take a quick look. It’s kind of like President Reagan used to say: “Trust… but Verify.”

Semi-annual maintenance checks can be minimally intrusive; just 10 or 15 minutes. All it has to be is a physical walk-through of each room, with detailed attention to the kitchen and bathrooms.

When we do them for our clients, after the initial introduction at the door (which has been expected sometime that week), we have our phone/camera in hand, and as we enter each room, we smoothly follow a wall all the way around the room back to where we started. If we see something that needs attention, like a bad ding in a wall or a fixture not working, we snap a quick pic as we say, “we need to take care of that,” but we don’t do any kind of third degree like “how did that happen?” We just take a quick pic to document and then keep moving.

Of course, the main thing we are looking for, besides blatant abuse/damages, is any problems or issues around water because water damage is so relentless and unforgiving. Consequently, the interior maintenance checklist we use has a line item for every water-related damage area that we’ve seen that needs to be watched.

Simply list every room or area in the units normally and include enough line-items to quickly double-check the primary areas of concern. It can be just like the Water Heater or Furnace Checklist, which normally lists everything that needs to be serviced/checked.

You get the idea. Being able to get the Interior Maintenance Checklist out of the way now helps the year get started nicely and helps set the tone for being proactive and prepared for the year ahead.

Bruce Davis, Sr. is a Licensed Journeyman Plumber, Licensed Electrician, HVAC/R Electrical Administrator, HVAC/R, and Certified WA State C.E.U. Instructor. Day and Nite Plumbing and Heating, Inc. has been in Lynnwood serving Snohomish and N. King County for over 68 years, and Bruce Sr. has been President and working at this family-owned business for 36 years. Bruce can be contacted at: Email: Bruce@dayandnite.net. Day and Nite Plumbing and Heating Inc., 16614 13 Ave. W., Lynnwood, WA 98037, (800) 972-7000.