Property management requires a delicate juggling act—balancing ownership demands, resident expectations, and staff needs simultaneously. At Happy Summit, Avenue5 Residential’s Duston Larsen and Franklin Group’s Aaron Ball shared hard-won wisdom on managing this high-wire performance.
“You’re disconnected from the larger group,” Aaron explained, highlighting how teams become siloed, especially in today’s distributed work environment. With COVID, he asked rhetorically, “How do we keep everybody connected and feel the bigger picture from a distance?”
The answer lies in empowering teams with the right perspective and tools—without drowning in technology that doesn’t actually solve real problems. Let’s dive into their tactical recommendations.
Your Tactical Implementation Guide
Stop Wasting Everyone’s Time
Duston caught supervisors spending hours cleaning paint off cover plates: “That’s great, but you just took an hour to do that when you have 20 work orders in your life.” Effective maintenance requires prioritizing what truly matters.
- Categorize work orders by resident impact and property value preservation to establish clear priorities
- Hold weekly 15-minute stand-ups focused solely on identifying and eliminating low-value tasks
- Implement a 2-minute decision rule: if a task takes under 2 minutes, do it now; otherwise, schedule it properly
Treat Tech Rollouts Like an Artform
Aaron witnessed the challenges of rushed implementations where “everybody left on Friday and it was not a thing, and then they showed up on Monday” with entirely new systems. Successful technology adoption requires careful planning and stakeholder management.
- Create a 30-60-90 day implementation calendar with specific milestones for each stakeholder group
- Run two-week pilot programs with leadership teams before expanding to the entire staff
- Schedule dedicated training sessions in 60-minute increments rather than full-day overwhelm sessions
Break Down Silos
“You might enjoy being a maintenance technician, but there might be something specific about the job that you really enjoy,” Aaron explained. Finding those specific talents and leveraging them creates both happier teams and better results.
- Create skill inventories for each team member to identify hidden talents and specialties
- Match technical specialists with tasks that leverage their unique expertise
- Schedule monthly cross-training sessions where specialists teach their expertise
Master the Psychology of Change
“Change is hard, and buy-in is change,” Duston observed. Understanding human psychology helps navigate transitions successfully.
- Present new initiatives with clear options: “Would you prefer to implement this in May or June?” instead of “We’re implementing this”
- Establish “change champions” from the team to help design and lead implementation efforts
- Create visual progress trackers in common areas to celebrate milestones and maintain momentum
The Bottom Line
The properties that win aren’t choosing between happy residents, satisfied owners, or engaged teams—they’re figuring out how to get all three. As Duston put it, “At the end of the day, you’re all ONE team. If a resident comes in angry, it's not ‘maintenance did something wrong’ - it’s WE.”
When showing results to ownership, Duston takes a direct approach: “I’m always looking for that low-hanging giant fruit - utilities and wage burden.” He shows the receipts on what matters. “When we deflect 50% of calls with Happy Force, that’s an easy one to relay. Those numbers are right there,” said Duston.
Move past the individual pieces to see the whole picture. This is how you win the great multifamily balancing act.
