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Merion Residential‘s faster work turnaround
Merion Residential prides itself on providing residents with a hassle-free rental experience while also delivering owners and investors a solid return on their investments. When the company needed a one-stop-shop solution for turning around work orders faster, it turned to SmartRent.
10,000+
Units
95%
Completed tasks within 12hrs
95%
Week closes with no open tasks
"In order for us to be successful in our business, our goal was to find a solution with the capacity to serve our residents’ needs with as much speed as possible. We knew it would take an innovative partner to further improve our processes as needs evolve and grow. SmartRent checked off all those items we were looking for in a mobile-maintenance solution, as well as offered some we never even considered."
The Challenge: How to optimize service through user-friendly operations software
Merion Residential is a leading multifamily operator with 10,000-plus communities in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Before partnering with SmartRent, the company had employed other software services that just weren’t delivering what its expanding teams needed in terms of fast data exchange and real-time notifications of resident service requests.
Merion decided that its maintenance services needed a mobile workflow platform that could optimize all areas of its operations, with an emphasis for the maintenance teams.
The Solution: Merion Residential implements our user-friendly workflow system to make completing tasks easier
Merion found the solution in SmartRent’s intuitive, holistic, mobile-first workflow platform.
"In order for us to be successful in our business, our goal was to find a solution with the capacity to serve our residents’ needs with as much speed as possible,” said Ron Javis, Vice President of Maintenance and Capital Improvements for Merion Residential. “We knew it would take an innovative partner to further improve our processes as needs evolve and grow. SmartRent checked off all those items we were looking for in a mobile maintenance solution, as well as offered some we never even considered."
The implementation process was fairly seamless. All SmartRent solutions run through a single app that can be downloaded to any smart device. Merion Residential gave its team the option to download the app to their own smart devices, which had two benefits: (1) It dramatically flattened the learning curve for team members, since they were already familiar with their own smartphones; and (2) it reduced the financial impact of having to maintain an inventory of devices across all of Merion Residential’s properties.
Maintenance managers get on board
"My favorite thing about SmartRent is its simplicity. We can research past and present tasks, and create future tasks with ease. Anyone can do it. Even my less-tech-savvy technicians can navigate this platform. ‘You can’t break it,’ as I was told in my orientation to SmartRent, and I truly stand behind that statement."
Tony Oteri, Maintenance Supervisor Champions Walk Apartments
Tony Torres, maintenance supervisor at Bradenton Reserve Apartments, also loves the SmartRent interface.
“Once I got acclimated to all the features, it became a vital tool in my everyday tasks,” said Torres. “Having everything in the palm of my hand to utilize work requests while keeping organized and not losing paper. The timelines allow us to schedule work and keep the residents informed on the progress of tasks. Being able to directly call, email or text the resident gives a variety of contact and communication between us.
"Also, being able to assign work requests to my crew and view completion times and resident response is a vital tool for keeping our residents satisfied. I give SmartRent a ‘10,’ hands-down, for usability and customer service."
The Result: Setting the standard for operational best practices
SmartRent enables Merion Residential to create a uniform standard for best practices—from due diligence to inspections to everyday tasks.
Merion uses the platform’s real-time reporting features to see what tasks are most time-consuming for their on-site teams. Since implementing the SmartRent interface, Merion’s on-site teams are completing tasks faster than ever, closing out each week with zero open tasks—all while providing residents with exceptional service.
“I remember paperwork orders. They would blow off the cart, get wet in the rain or in your sweaty pocket—you’d have to dig through banker boxes to research past work orders, creating a task all in itself. SmartRent played a huge part in our operations efficiency by having everything you need at your fingertips. Plus, our residents love it!"
Tony Oteri, Maintenance Supervisor Champions Walk Apartments
What SmartRent solutions do for Merion Residential
SmartRent’s Work Management and Answer Automation solutions make the Merion Residential team’s job easier by offering the following:
Work Management:
- Easy-to-use workflow platform, available on both iOS and Android for mobile and tablet devices
- Elimination of duplicated efforts, and flexible virtual workspaces
- Improved efficiencies resulting in improved customer service, revenue collections rates, and reduced payment delinquencies
- Advanced reporting using advanced filters and easily exportable data into third-party tools for deeper analysis
Answer Automation:
- Call masking guarantees that residents always pick up to the main community number by masking team members phone numbers.
- Professional greetings to welcome callers with professionally recorded prompts, custom multilingual announcements, and on-hold marketing.
- 24/7 phone answering to provide service, no matter the hour, with an interactive caller experience: office hours, directions, urgent maintenance and service requests, etc.
- Efficient call routing to Improve response time to the right team member, with up to 10 levels of escalation.
- Seamless integration with all major property management systems to immediately recognize residents via CallerID and deliver a personalized experience.
Happy residents and increased retention
Merion Residential’s teams have gone from taking two to three days to complete service requests to completing them in 12 hours or less. They have gone from leaving an average of 92 requests open at the end of each week to leaving zero open.
"Our ability to communicate in real time with our residents with regards to their service requests has resulted in even better retention,” Jarvis said. “Our residents are less inclined to worry if their service request has been received/delayed, or if it’s in progress, when they can text our maintenance technicians or office team members with questions, comments or any additional details.
“It’s more of a personal experience; they get an alert that their work order has been completed before they leave the office. They know before they even get home that a request is going to be (or has been) fulfilled. It’s just awesome."
