How should a property manager track maintenance backlog?
Maintenance backlog is the number and value of open maintenance requests or work orders not yet completed. Track the count, the age of each request, priority, and the estimated cost, and report how many are overdue against target resolution times.
It matters because unresolved issues affect tenant satisfaction and renewals, and small repairs can become costly ones.
Useful measures:
- Open requests by age bucket.
- Average days to close, by priority.
- Repeat requests on the same unit or asset.
Commonly misread:
- A falling backlog may reflect requests being closed without the work being done, or tenants giving up reporting.
- Counting urgent and cosmetic requests equally.
Check closed requests against completion evidence, and look at repeat issues, which often point to an asset to replace rather than keep repairing.
Want this applied to your business? Zansa builds dashboards and forecasts for small and mid-sized companies worldwide. Start with a free intro call.
Book a call