Although my area of Central VA is still cold and rainy (witness last Sunday's NASCAR race from Martinsville, VA), I'll be preparing my property list this week for our HVAC service co to arrange for their "spring maintenance" AC system check/filter change.
I am surprised how many homeowners do not utilize this service when I go to property presentations and I ask them who services your HVAC system?
I used a "long established" HVAC firm for many years until they elected to concentrate on "new installation" for new construction homes and failed to perform the "fall service" on my properties several years ago....I went interviewing for a new firm immediately and found a GEM!!!
I provide them with names and e-mail addresses of residents in the fall and spring as well as keys to the units and they do the rest....when I have a no AC call in the summer, they schedule a service call that day and when I have to have new AC systems installed, they actually have a portable system they can put into the home to keep my residents comfortable.
They alerted me to the new SEER regulations when they did the first fall property service and we identified units that may need to be replaced in the near future and were able to install these systems BEFORE the newer regulations requiring the more expensive equipment were mandated.
As a property mgmt firm with NO on-staff maintenance, I am very pleased to have garnered a support/resource of vendors who service my properties promptly at reasonable prices for my owners. I use this PROVEN list of service vendors in my property presentations and see homeowners' eyes blink as they never realized this would be an IMPORTANT componant of the management of their rental property.
Wallace S. Gibson, CPM * GIBSON MANAGEMENT GROUP, Ltd.
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We saved a lot of money putting in new units too, but the regulations also help with efficiency which is probably better in the long run.
Your ideas on preventative maintenance is the right way. But many landlords do not want to spend money unless they have to.
Bob - saving money for residents v saving money for my owners is a no brainer....the tenants get a NEW system which is better/cheaper than the system that it replaced and replacing the filers MONTHLY will save tenants MORE than the newer/better SEER rated equipment.
We replaced 15 systems over 2 years and NO tenant ever requested the SEER rating on their new equipment - they just knew it was newer and QUIETER than the old system so they liked it.
When system is checked S/A our HVAC service provides additional filters so tenants CAN change filters themselves which greatly increases the cost of operating the equipment.