Insanely Great Year

Recently, my Maintenance Technician, Carlos, issued a challenge to work one full day in maintenance. Never being one to back down from a challenge I gladly accepted. On Friday June 16th, I worked as a maintenance technician for a day. During that day I helped maintenance turn a home, tear down two fences with a trusty reciprocating saw, did grounds, tested the chemicals in the pool and vacuumed the spa. Being one that loves to get my hands dirty… it was a blast!

Sometimes, to truly understand another point of view, you need to live it. It is so easy to tell somebody that you need something done, but stop and think of all the other things that may need to get done as well.

I asked my staff what they thought about the whole thing and this is what they had to say:

Jim – “Coming from a Maintenance Supervisor who has leased apartments, it was nice to see a manager get out and get dirty with the maintenance crew. It helps to be a more well rounded manager to see all aspects of property management.”

Carlos – “It was good! Even though I wasn’t here I saw the work that you guys did and it looked good.”

Ansley – “It was nice to see office staff come out and see what the maintenance does for once. It would be nice to see more office staff do the same thing.”

Christa – “I think that it is awesome that a manager can go out and work maintenance. No other manager that I know of would do that.”

Alisha – “Awesome that you would take the initiative to work other jobs.”

I would issue this challenge to other managers, assistant managers and leasing staff alike. Take the time to understand the other side. And maintenance staff, I challenge you to do the same. Work one day on the other side of the fence of your job, and see how important we all are to the property.


Shelli Burnham
Property “Team Leader”
Club at the Green