Boyle Talks: Dena Forbes Talks Tenant Satisfaction and Retention

In this series of Boyle Talks, Dena discusses the role of a property manager, tenant satisfaction, efficiency, and problem solving. She includes how property managers care for the ins and outs of buildings, allowing the properties to be safe, efficient, and maintained properly for tenants. “The best way to do this..,” says Dena, “is to communicate and listen effectively to tenants and their needs.”

Dena describes her maintenance team as being the “boots on the ground” for properties as they navigate through the challenges of water intrusion coming from small household items like coffee pots, and decisions to install new items like LED lights for efficiency.

Gary: Hi, I’m Gary Thompson with Boyle Investment Company and we’re here for another episode of Boyle Talks. Today, we’ll be interviewing Dena Forbes who is a key property manager with our commercial sales and leasing group. Dena, tell us what a property manager does.

Dena: Sure. A property manager within our group takes care of anything pertaining to the building envelope. Anything from roofing systems, to the parking lot, landscaping, HVAC… basically everything that allows the building to run.

Gary: So, you’re sort of the front line with the tenants?

Dena: Yes, we are. Not only the property managers, but we also have a maintenance team, so they’re really our boots on the ground.

Gary: So, what would something that you would do, help lead to tenant satisfaction or retention?

Dena: So, the biggest thing is having a great team. It all starts with the team. We try to communicate very effectively and really listen to our tenants. Trying to do what’s best at all times.

Gary: Are there things that you can do to make these buildings more efficient?

Dena: Over the years we’ve done several cost analyses, and we have found one of the biggest things is LED lighting retrofits. We also use our in-house labor for that, which also helps save on labor costs.

Gary: Excellent. So Dena, it’s springtime right now and it seems like it rains every day… is that a problem in any of our buildings?

Dena: Well, it certainly can be. Like I said before, we want to make sure all of the roofing systems are up to date. You know, there are no leaks coming in through the flashing or any roof penetrations. Another way that we get water intrusion is from coffee pots. And what we’ve done is we’ve implemented a water detection system at the majority of our buildings. It has really saved us a lot of money.

Gary: Interesting… I never would have thought a coffee pot could cause a water problem.

Dena: Yes, it seems like the smaller the line the more water gets pushed out.

Gary: So, it sounds like being a property manager is a 24 hour, seven days a week sort of job.

Dena: It really is. We are on call 24/7, 365 so it’s an undertaking but very fun at the same time!

Gary: Well, it seems like you’re at sort of the beck and call of these buildings.

Dena: We are our! Our entire team, like I said, we’ve got 12 maintenance engineers and you know they’re really our boots on the ground. They’re really our first line of defense. They do a great job.

Gary: Well, Dena thank you for the information on property management. Sounds like our customers are in great shape with you and your team. And thank you for joining us for another episode of Boyle Talks.