Receive
Log the source, date, location, description, contact details, and attachments. Avoid asking the resident to repeat the story at every handoff.
Operations guide
Make every resident request visible from intake to closure.
A reliable request process records the issue, assigns urgency and ownership, keeps the resident informed, and confirms the work actually solved the problem.
Service standard
One request, one accountable owner.
Requests arrive by phone, email, portal, staff observation, and board referral. Put them into one controlled queue so that an issue does not disappear because it reached the wrong person.
Capture the location, reported condition, time received, resident contact preference, access constraints, photographs when useful, and any immediate safety concern. Acknowledge receipt with a reference number and the next expected update. Use a separate channel for emergencies that need immediate action.
- Record the request once and preserve its history.
- Classify urgency from observable impact, not the loudness of the request.
- Assign one owner even when several vendors contribute.
- Tell the resident when the next update will arrive.
- Close only after evidence of completion and a clear outcome.
Six-stage workflow01 02 03 04 05 06
Build a queue that can be audited.
Triage
Check for safety, active damage, essential service loss, and accessibility impact. Route urgent cases to the emergency procedure and document interim protection.
Assign
Name the person coordinating the response, the party doing the work, the next milestone, and any approval or access dependency.
Update
Use a promised update date even when work is awaiting parts, access, a specialist, or an insurance decision. Explain what is known and what remains uncertain.
Verify
Keep work orders, photos, inspection notes, and resident confirmation where appropriate. Distinguish a temporary mitigation from the permanent repair.
Learn
Review repeated locations, categories, vendors, overdue items, and reopened requests. Send systemic issues into the maintenance plan and risk register.
Escalation rules
Make the handoff explicit.
- Immediate safety or active damageUse the property emergency procedure, protect people and the asset, and record who took command.
- Blocked or overdue workRecord the blocker, revised milestone, interim measure, and person who can remove the dependency.
- Repeated failureConnect the request history to an inspection, root-cause review, vendor performance discussion, or capital decision.
- Decision beyond delegated authorityPrepare a short board decision brief with options, cost, timing, and consequence of delay.
Measures that matter
Measure the service experience and the repair outcome.
Track time to acknowledge, time to first action, aging by urgency, overdue updates, reopen rate, and repeat requests by asset or location. A fast closure rate is misleading if requests reopen or residents have to chase for information. Define each measure consistently before comparing periods or vendors.
Use the KPI library to set definitions, the maintenance planning guide to prevent recurring faults, and the risk register to escalate patterns with material impact.
When is a request ready to close?
When the assigned work is complete, the outcome is documented, related safety or access concerns are resolved, and the resident has been told what happened. If only a temporary measure is in place, keep the permanent action open.
How often should the resident receive an update?
Set a frequency based on urgency and the expected duration. Tell the resident the next update date at intake and revise it when the plan changes. A meaningful update can report a confirmed delay and a new action.
What should the board see?
A concise trend report: urgent open items, overdue cases, repeats, unresolved dependencies, material resident impacts, and corrective actions. Routine personal details should be handled according to the association’s records and privacy rules.
Working method
Use a visible status model
A request should never disappear between acknowledgment and closure.
Use a small set of statuses such as received, triaged, assigned, awaiting access or vendor, work in progress, pending verification, and closed. Record who can move a request between statuses and what evidence is required. An acknowledgment confirms receipt; it does not promise a completion date that has not been checked.
Measure aging by priority and cause, not only by ticket count. Repeated requests for the same asset may signal a maintenance or vendor issue. When a response depends on a board decision or outside contractor, tell the resident what is known, what remains open, and when the next update is expected. The resident communication standards guide provides a wider framework for consistent messages.