What Is a Master Maintenance Task List and How Does It Benefit Your Luxury Home?
The biggest mistake I repeatedly see with new- and old-money-principals is…
When they hire staff without creating this one document for their home.
This document includes all mechanical maintenance, housekeeping tasks, inventory replenishment, pet and child care needs, plant care, and all other personal service requirements. This document consists of the frequency of when each task needs to be completed (daily, weekly, monthly, etc.), assignments for each of these tasks to staff or contractors, and the approximate length of time each task takes to complete (changing HVAC filters, 20 minutes each unit).
I call this document the Master Maintenance Task List.
Once built, this Excel spreadsheet is a powerful tool. The rows of information in this database can be sorted by Who completes the task (the appliance repair technician), the frequency of the task (Annual service), or the Item category (Dishwasher, Dryer, Exhaust Fan, etc.). Then all information can be added to your calendar.
The investment of time to create this task database provides information such as:
How many hours it takes to maintain your home and meet your service needs (thus, determining how many staff are required).
It helps determine if a staff member is assigned too many responsibilities, needs extra training to increase efficiency, or is underperforming.
How much time each system requires for maintenance. That will allow you to assess whether using staff or contractors is smart and whether to repair or replace older mechanical equipment.
How much time will your staff be required to work each week to keep up with their responsibilities. In other words, will they be required to work overtime frequently? If so, consider contracting out the service or hiring another maintenance tech to lessen your staff’s need to work overtime.
This information helps proactively schedule preventative maintenance and develops a scope of work so your subcontractors can price their service.
Create this document for each property you manage to track critical information.
Then, create a Trello.com account (or other project management software) to implement this information to track progress and communicate with your household team about each of these tasks.
We sell this document in our House Manual Templates, available to download and edit for your principal, property, and personnel needs.
If you’d like to create an online household management system, check out our How To Manage A Mansion™ Housekeeping module:
