On The Property Management Show, we recently had a conversation with Ray Hespen, the CEO and co-founder of Property Meld.

We always find ourselves talking to him a lot – and about a lot. This episode is no different. We covered so much ground that we split the interview into two episodes.

Here’s part one – where we talk about what maintenance analytics is, why it’s important, and how it can help a property management business hold onto business and grow.

Property Meld and Maintenance Analytics

In total, this is the seventh time that Ray joined the property management show, which means there’s a lot to learn from him. In this conversation, we want to know what his team has been so busy doing this year.

It turns out, they’ve been combing through maintenance analytics.

Ray says he’s thrilled that the industry continues to evolve into something more sophisticated, especially around maintenance. Property

managers are looking for more information to make data-driven decisions around maintenance, rather than relying on a gut feel.

So, the questions Property Meld has been focusing on are:



* How do we make decision based on quantitative or numerically-driven data?

* How can a property management company use that information to move the needle as an organization?



Property Meld has collected data on hundreds of thousands of maintenance issues and units. That data is used to transform how people run the maintenance part of their property management business.

Maintenance analytics is a term that sounds technical. It’s also called maintenance insights. This is simply following the data and learning from it.

Basically, maintenance analytics or insights is this concept of allowing any operator to, at a granular level, understand how they’re doing on maintenance. The maintenance analytics will help you understand how to think about maintenance, and to understand what happens before the next things happen.

This provides visibility into a maintenance operation.



* How is your communication?

* How is your scheduling efficiency?

* How is your maintenance staffing?

* Are you prioritizing preventative maintenance?



Some of the information that Ray and the team at Property Meld have been gathering will be ready to share, soon. It will help property management companies really get into the weeds of how they’re doing with maintenance.

If there’s a specific KPI you’re trying to move, you might learn that you need to engage your vendors better. Maybe you need to work on efficiency with your maintenance coordinators. The deep dive will move you into a pointed plan of attack, and that’s going to improve your business.

Think about your bank account.

What are you spending all your money on? By examining the withdrawals and the expenditures, you might see your rent payments and your gas and then you’ll also see a lot of brunch. You know that you need to reduce the brunch budget if you want to save money.

That kind of visibility is essential when you’re making spending decisions. Ray’s maintenance analytics can bring that visibility into the maintenance world for property managers.

As a business owner, you need to make data-driven decisions.

Other industries have figured this out, and it’s exciting that property management finally gets it.

Lagging Indicators and Leading Indicators

What kind of data do you need?

First, you need to know what’s going on. Then, you need to be diagnostic, and then predictive, and then prescriptive.

The data presents itself. It tells you what to do.

Ray tends to start with lagging indicators when looking at insights. Your lease renewal rates, for example, is a lagging indicator. Resident satisfaction is lagging. Things will tell you if it’s going well or if it’s going poorly.