The Overlooked Maintenance Problem: Unscooped Pet Waste is Stifling Maintenance Teams Efficiency

The Overlooked Maintenance Problem: Unscooped Pet Waste is Stifling Maintenance Teams Efficiency

Maintenance teams are the very core of every apartment community, keeping operations running smoothly and residents happy. They are responsible for a multitude of day-to-day tasks around apartment communities – they fulfill resident work orders and tend to onsite amenities, like pools and washing machines. But one thing they didn’t sign up to do is pick up unscooped pet waste. 

With a sizable increase in the number of pet owners living in an apartment community, the amount of pet waste found within a community is sure to pile up. Relying on maintenance teams to remedy the problem is no longer a feasible option. In fact, utilizing maintenance teams to pick up waste is most likely costing operators valuable time, equating to a substantial loss in revenue. 

Maintenance professionals worldwide will tell you that there is never a dull moment throughout their work day. From ensuring units are ready for move-in to tending to the countless resident maintenance requests pouring in, they don’t have a moment to spare. Yet, when the need arises to clean the community and pick up unscooped pet waste, they are still the ones called on. However, by doing so, operators are ultimately doing a disservice to the entire community, including themselves and onsite teams.  

While many operators are looking to improve maintenance efficiencies and streamline workflows with mobile maintenance systems, unscooped pet waste remains the hindrance that stifles all these efforts. Maintenance teams can spend an abundance of time, in many cases one to two days per week, picking up pet waste around a community. That inevitably impacts their ability to quickly respond to the wealth of tasks already on their plates – and residents certainly take notice of those delays. 

Operators have tried just about everything in an attempt to dwindle the amount of unscooped pet waste at their communities, but those efforts still seem to come up drastically short of providing a sustainable solution to the challenge. To finally put an end to this seemingly never ending problem, an increasing number of operators are taking a more forward-thinking approach and turning to proactive solutions like enlisting a biotechnology service that performs DNA testing of pet waste. 

More than 7,000 communities spanning the globe have tapped into the holistic approach of biotechnology services and an overwhelming number of them have reported a 95% reduction in the amount of unscooped pet waste at their respective communities. That level of improvement greatly deducts the time that maintenance teams have to spend correcting what’s really the responsibility of the pet owner. 

Ultimately, everything ties back to resident satisfaction. Taking away time from the maintenance team definitely impacts the bottom line. If they can’t turn an apartment quickly enough or get to work orders in a timely manner, resident satisfaction will significantly drop and the domino effect negatively impacts everybody and everything, including NOI.

Technology-Enhanced Sustainability at Apartment Communities

Technology-Enhanced Sustainability at Apartment Communities

Technology has bolstered many aspects of apartment management, from automating onsite tasks to creating a more streamlined leasing experience for renters. As green initiatives gain traction at apartment companies across the country, technologies geared towards sustainability and cleanliness have been playing a larger role within the industry. 

An increasing number of residents want to live in eco-friendly environments and have indicated they’d pay more in rent to live in an efficient and sustainable community. Outside of  being conscious of building materials and energy consumption, apartment operators have also been looking to implement trash automation and biotechnology services to create cleaner, healthier communities while minimizing impact to the surrounding environment and overall neighborhood and region. 

Communities go through rigorous environmental testing to ensure they are following the appropriate sustainability efforts that enhance not only a specific property’s green initiatives, but the entire region’s ecosystem. Technology is leading the way in these efforts and its capabilities offer wide-reaching benefits for the environment. 

For instance, trash collection is standard in many apartment communities, but technology-focused operators are now shifting towards options like trash automation. Automating trash collection offers multiple benefits to residents and the environment, including keeping communities free of materials that can cause lasting impacts to the environment. 

While trash automation is a great solution, it doesn’t solve the challenge of unscooped pet waste. Pet waste provides a whole different, more harmful layer to environmental impact. Not only can the harmful pathogens found in pet waste make residents, onsite teams and and other pets sick, but on a larger scale, it can also contaminate local water sources. 

Pet waste harbors millions of harmful bacteria that threaten the well being of both humans and animals. After a period of time, pet waste runs into water systems, negatively impacting  multiple water sources and inevitably drinking water. If people come in contact with the bacteria found in pet waste, they can become extremely ill. If the environment is being negatively affected by pet waste, it’s only a matter of time before humans and other animals feel the impacts. 

As pet ownership increases across the country, operators are reconsidering their pet restrictions and allowing more dog breeds and pets  to live onsite. Although these advancements mean broader resident pools and higher occupancy rates, it also means more unscooped pet waste. 

In an effort to reduce the amount of unscooped pet waste at communities, operators have turned to technology as a proactive pet waste solution. More and more apartment operators are utilizing biotechnology services that offer DNA testing of pet waste. Biotechnology not only proactively combats the amount of unscooped pet waste, but it also holds pet owners accountable, making it less likely they’ll make the same mistake more than once. 

Biotechnology has proven to be an effective pet waste mitigation solution for operators around the world. More than 7,000 communities worldwide utilizing DNA testing for pet waste have reported a 95% decrease in the amount of unscooped pet waste. 

Services like DNA testing for pet waste aim to protect the environment by promoting responsible pet ownership. If a DNA match points to a specific resident, there isn’t really an excuse. After all, DNA doesn’t lie. Accountability is one part of the unscooped pet waste problem and leveraging technology to create accountability allows operators to get ahead of the problem before it even begins. If the problem gets out of hand, eventually onsite efficiencies will suffer.

Maintenance teams are typically tasked with picking up unscooped pet waste, which can equate to one or two days a week of picking up pet waste. In that timeframe, important duties, like fulfilling work orders and turning vacant apartments, are not getting done, which can tank resident satisfaction. The ripple effect can be damaging to both community reputation and environmental sustainability. Maintenance teams are the backbone of any community and operators simply cannot afford to have them sidelined or distracted cleaning up pet waste. 

Successful sustainability efforts, especially those that enhance community cleanliness, attract and retain quality renters that value living  in environmentally conscious communities. Keeping a clean and green property will most certainly give operators a competitive advantage that decreases vacancy rates and resident turnover while simultaneously doing their part to minimize environmental impact.