If you’re looking for ways to manage your repair and maintenance expenses, you are not alone. Staying ahead of expenditures for commercial real estate (CRE) companies is not an issue only at the local level; the “big guys” have named expense mitigation their top priority. Why? Because expected revenue potential is at its lowest level since the Deloitte 2024 Commercial Real Estate Outlook included this industry in their analysis starting in 2018. According to the 750 companies they interviewed with assets under management of at least $50 million fielded in June 2023, the revenue decline is driving CRE businesses to pay much closer attention to costs. There’s no surprise that with Work From Home (WFH) initiatives holding on across the country, as well as other forces and uncertainties in our local and world economies, the general feeling is one of caution.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA’S ANSWER
Southern California is no exception to the concern over rising costs. The Los Angeles and Orange County-based CREM Management team strives to manage repair and maintenance expenses closely for their client’s properties as they have since 2009 in this marketplace. CREM Management handles many different commercial real estate usage types, including office, retail, industrial, residential, and hotel properties, along with the newer requests for cloud computing equipment campuses and senior housing.
CREM Management uses the five tried-and-true (industry-standard) strategies for managing repair and maintenance expenses.
FIVE OBVIOUS STRATEGIES
- Conduct regular inspections to identify issues early.
- Obtain multiple quotes for repair work to ensure competitive pricing.
- Set up an emergency fund for unexpected expenses.
- Prioritize preventive maintenance to avoid expensive repairs in the future.
- Negotiate service contracts with reliable, top-notch vendors to reduce costs and ensure timely fixes.
But CREM Management has incorporated one more.
+ 1 NOT-SO-OBVIOUS APPROACH
With quality built into every property, maintenance and repair expenses are often avoided. For this reason, CREM Management offers a Construction Oversight service that provides owners with expert project supervision for value-added projects from 1 to 100 units, ensuring a smooth completion.
24/7 MAINTENANCE PORTAL & PROCESSING SUPPORT
CREM Management knows the best offense is a good defense, but sometimes, things break. Through the company’s maintenance portal, the CREM Management team assures that every maintenance request is received, processed, and dispatched for efficient completion, using dependable vendors and contractors to handle situations quickly with attention to quality and cleanliness. Great customer service keeps maintenance costs down by reducing turnover, which in turn optimizes your ROI.
CONCLUSION
The entities involved in commercial real estate can range from the homeowner renting his home for the first time to the international conglomerates facing a competitive marketplace and world issues from climate change to sustainability to trade disruptions. The bottom line is that everyone has to watch their expenses, manage the repairs, and plan for prevention by building well in the first place. CREM Management has all the bases covered in its not-so-obvious +1, expert approach to all things having to do with real estate in Southern California.
Please contact us with your questions about managing your commercial real estate expenses or if you have any other inquiries about real estate in Southern California. Our sister company The CREM Group handles probate, trust, and conservatorship real estate sales in California’s Los Angeles and Orange counties.
