The Maintenance Request Challenge
Maintenance requests are one of the most frequent points of friction in condominium management. Residents want fast responses; administrators need to coordinate with suppliers; there's no easy way to track dozens of open jobs simultaneously; and without a clear system, things fall through the cracks.
What Goes Wrong Without a System
- Requests submitted by phone or email are missed or forgotten
- No audit trail of what was requested, when, and what happened
- Residents have no way to check the status of their request
- Administrator spends time manually coordinating between residents and suppliers
- Disputes arise about whether issues were reported or resolved
Best Practices for Maintenance Management
1. Online Submission Only
Moving all maintenance request submission online — through a resident portal — creates a complete, timestamped record of every request. No more missed phone calls or lost emails.
2. Categorise and Prioritise
Establish a clear categorisation system (urgent, routine, cosmetic) and ensure your software supports prioritised assignment.
3. Assign Immediately
Every request should be assigned to an employee or supplier within 24 hours. Software that shows unassigned requests prominently in a dashboard makes this easy.
4. Keep Residents Informed
Automatic status updates — "Your request has been received", "A supplier has been assigned", "Your issue has been resolved" — reduce follow-up calls and improve resident satisfaction significantly.
5. Maintain the Audit Trail
The complete history of every request — who submitted it, when, what action was taken, and by whom — is invaluable for AGM reporting, supplier management, and dispute resolution.
How Software Transforms the Process
With software like Dominium, the entire maintenance request lifecycle is managed within a single system: resident submits via portal → administrator assigns to supplier → supplier completes work → resident receives confirmation. Every step is logged automatically.