Monday, January 24, 2011

The Carpet Replacement Nightmare



As many of you know I have been in the apartment industry for over two decades.  I have been blessed to consult with and work for some of the most intelligent Principals, CEO's, COO's, CFO's, Presidents, Executive Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents in the industry.  And yet, every year at budget season they all seemed to be stumped with the past years overage on carpet replacement.  It is like the "Ninth Natural Wonder of the World" to them. 
  1. Great Barrier Reef
  2. Amazon Rain Forest
  3. Grand Canyon
  4. Sahara Desert
  5. Galapagos Islands
  6. Ngorongoro Crater
  7. Halong Bay
  8. Iguazu Falls
  9. CARPET REPLACEMENT
Consistently each year I sit and listen for hours to these brilliant individuals discuss that yet once again, carpet replacement is over budget.  They sit there with wonder and dismay on their faces as they discuss the three to five year life expectancy, and how it is impossible based upon turnover that they should be over budget.

Within minutes the community manager and/or maintenance supervisor have tread marks on their bodies from having been thrown under the bus.  Then they move on to miraculous un-thought of concepts like patching and dying and they get excited by this new delusional world of answers.

I say to these brilliant executives, GET A DAMN GRIP!  Neither cheap or affordable apartment carpet  has nor ever will have a three to five year life span among the average renter.  Pull your community manager and maintenance supervisor from under the bus and replace them with either the vendor who sold you the life expectancy or yourself for believing the vendor year after year. 

Stop wasting valuable time analyzing what has been for years and start running the numbers on the long term pay-off of ceramic or porcelean tile.  This tile lasts for years, increases the value of your asset and often justifies an amenity rent increase for market rate assets.  But most importanly, it prevents you from being nominated for the "Most Likely to Beat a Dead Horse" award again this year!

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