Upon my official entrance to the multi-family housing world I was hired by one of the largest players in the REIT (Real Estate Investments Trust) industry at the time. Having one year of leasing experience in the private sector, I was naively awarded, and naively accepted the position of Marketing and Training Director. It was truly baptism by fire, nine states, and 25,000+ units. Luckily, I was young, dumb and equipped with a yet unscarred ego.
One of my states was Michigan, and one of my cities in Michigan was Ann Arbor. My employed REIT owned multiple assets in the surrounding areas of Detroit, but this community was by far their unrecognized gem. A beautiful community, off the beaten path, exceptionally well maintained and managed by a delightful staff. When you walked this community, you couldn't help but feel great, feel happy, feel refreshed, feel .......... HIGH???
So, for those of you who do not know about Ann Arbor, Michigan, sit back and relax, you are in for a treat. Ann Arbor has very lenient laws regarding the possession of marijuana – a $25 fine for your first offense, a $50 for your second and $100 for your third (and subsequent) offense(s). More notable, if caught, it is a simple civil infraction rather than a criminal offense, such as misdemeanor or felony. In fact, the first Saturday of every April at high noon, the Hash Bash festival is legally held, also known as the Monroe Street fair.
Oops, I must have spaced, back to the maintenance service story.
So, I am visiting this cozy little property, and I tend to have the habit of asking residents how they like living at the community I am visiting. I first venture out to the pool, where I see a lovely middle-aged woman relaxing in the sun enjoying a novel. I introduced myself and posed the pending question of her resident enjoyment level. She quickly provided neutral and positive comments about the environment and staff, but rapidly related the EXCEPTIONAL SERVICE that a specific maintenance technician by the name of Larry provided. I thanked her for her invaluable input, and moved on to walk the property.
I met another young lady walking her dog on the grounds, again introduced myself and posed the question leading to her community approval rating. Again, I was presented with neutral and positive feedback regarding the property and staff, but was quickly redirected to the awesome service that a certain maintenance technician by the name of Larry provided. Again, I expressed my thanks and moved on.
During my walk I witnessed a woman struggling to get groceries out of her car in an attempt to carry them to her apartment, I offered my assistance. She accepted and during our trek to her apartment, again I posted the rating question. Without fail, I received the neutral to positive answer regarding community and staff, but received the standing ovation for maintenance technician Larry.
As I left her apartment home I could not stop myself from wondering what made Larry so popular with the residents. Unfortunately my mind wondered to the negative; is he the pot provider to the community, is he the community gigolo and exceptionally gifted at it, is he the king of free and unreported upgrades, what is it that makes Larry so notable among the residents?
While walking, as all property management people do, I soon found my hands full of garbage that I had unconsciously collected during my pondering stroll. In the short distance I noticed a maintenance golf cart, so I headed for it to deposit my collected garbage. I was greeted by a short, horizontally challenged older man with a Cheshire cat grin that quickly extracted the contents from my hand stating he would take care of it. Upon noticing his captivating smile, his substantial girth, his balding head and his untrimmed eyebrows ... I then noticed his name tag, Larry. Sorry to say, I quickly ruled out resident gigolo and moved to pot supplier or unreported upgrade provider at warp speed.
Soon I found myself walking along side an elderly woman who invited me to see her lovely apartment home that she had been living in for 13 years. Minutes later I was on her balcony chatting, having coffee and missing my grandma. The only difference being, my grandma grew geraniums on her balcony, not marijuana like this resident grandma. Having been offered a cookie or a joint, and selecting the cookie, I once again posed the satisfaction question. As she took a long drag off of her freshly rolled treat, holding it in for maximum enjoyment, expelling the smoke intoxicating me and anyone else within 20 yards of her - she moved directly to Larry. A few puffs later from her, and a few peanut butter cookie nibbles from me, I found out that Larry had a maintenance customer service program he had put in place.
After Larry completed work orders, he would leave a miniature roll of wild cherry Life Savers and a note that said, "I am your personal maintenance Life Saver Larry, call and request for me if you need anything". WOW ... no wonder everyone loves Larry! I quickly excused myself and made an immediate dash to the office.
Upon arrival to the office I spoke with the community manager about Larry's customer service program, she was clueless, but noted that an uncanny amount of people requested his services. We got on the radio and requested Larry to come in the office. Upon questioning him about the program, we found out that it was one of many "Larry Programs". He had large orange stickers, that his wife ink stamped with the words, "Larry went the extra mile for you today". While he was in the apartment, he would search for other things he could fix and leave the sticker on them. He had laminated cards that he would put under windshields in the winter saying, "Have a safe warm drive to work, your windows were scrapped by Larry today". OMG! OMG! OMG! If only maintenance staffs were made up of Larrys, we would never have to worry about renewals.
Suddenly, I forgot that he may have been the pot dealer, the free upgrade provider or the over weight furry eyed gigolo ... all I recognized was, that he was my EXTREME MAINTENANCE SERVICE provider.
Wherever you are Larry, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE ... start writing your own maintenance blog. I will be your first dedicated follower, because you were the first maintenance dude to ROCK MY EXTREME MAINTENANCE SERVICE WORLD! You truly became my Maintenance Service Life Saver.
