A property maintenance invoice is a billing document used by those who keep commercial and residential rental properties in operable condition. It provides the property owner or manager with a record of the repairs and upkeep rendered to the property, as well as the total cost of conducted repairs. Property maintenance services can be included in the services provided by a property manager, or be a standalone offering that is charged as a monthly fee, or a service that is called upon whenever repairs, lawn care, or other maintenance tasks are required.

Table of Contents

• What is Property Maintenance?
• What Does Property Maintenance Include?
  • Routine Services
  • On-call Services
• Property Maintenance Pricing

What is Property Maintenance?

Property maintenance is the practice of keeping an apartment, home, condominium, or commercial rental property in working order. Oftentimes, property maintenance includes both scheduled and on-call maintenance requests.

What Does Property Maintenance Include?

Depending on the size of the property maintenance company and the number of services already covered by the property manager, owner or tenant(s), property maintenance can include a variety of services. The following services are considered standard in the industry:

Routine Services:

• Safety system check (sprinklers, fire alarm(s), emergency exit(s), etc.)
• Regular property cleaning
• Inspection of plumbing & hot water systems
• Cleaning & inspection of HVAC systems
• Lawn maintenance
• Snow clearing
• Garbage removal

On-call Services:

• Drywall repair
• Interior/exterior painting
• Powerwashing
• HVAC repair
• Plumbing
• Appliance repair/replacement

Property Maintenance Pricing

The majority of property management companies factor property maintenance into their pricing and handle the scheduling and overseeing of unexpected repairs or appliance replacement. The average cost of property management services is between eight and twelve percent (8% – 12%). Having said, property managers should account for unexpected maintenance costs by planning on allocating at least fifty percent (50%) of the monthly rent revenue towards taxes, management costs, insurance, etc. Alternatively, the following two (2) methods are commonly used for budgeting property repair costs:

• Square footage – In this method, the property owner simply takes the number of square feet of the rental property and multiply it by a dollar amount, with a single dollar ($1) being the standard rate. The value can be adjusted depending on the age and property type.
• One-percent (1%) method – Another simple-to-calculate value, the property owner or landlord simply takes the total value of the rental (or home) and multiplies it by .01 (1%). The resulting figure should be the minimum amount of money that is kept in reserve for a years’ worth of maintenance and repair.