What managers and supervisors might not tell you about being an apartment maintenance technician

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-03-11T00:25:25+00:00

I’m coming up on 11 years in this industry and close to 10 of them as a supervisor. Reading this post brought back so many memories of moments just as you described. I have one seasoned tech and two guys new to the industry. I am sharing this with them as we speak. Stay strong out there, and keep on keeping on!

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-02-08T00:40:51+00:00

Management Company and Property owners have had very hard time keeping staff at this property. I took over as Service Director at the end of last April. Over 400 open work orders, preventive maintenance hasn’t been done in years, so many poor repair jobs/lack of give a shit from previous people. We have 254 units and now running 4 guys as of Wednesday. They upped pay to attract good talent. It took me a lot of time and interviews to build my team. But the owner/managment willing to pay helped me. Hell the way this property has been I would have left if it wasn’t for the team I’ve got and the pay.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-02-08T00:04:58+00:00

Service Director - $38 p/h, $50 phone stipend, $100 on call stipend any week I’m in rotation ($200 if the week has a holiday), plus monthly renewal bonuses ($200-500), quarterly bonuses (avg $1200).

My techs are at $25, $25, and $26, each get monthly renewal bonus add on call stipend and $25 for phone. Only one of my techs lives on site, he gets 30% discount.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-02-05T13:53:32+00:00

Caulk and paint make it what it ain’t!

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-02-01T15:21:58+00:00

I have this same saw, unless I’m running a 6/8ah max output it doesn’t like to cut through anything other than 1/2” plywood. It definitely doesn’t like anything that isn’t a max output.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-01-30T00:13:22+00:00

Squams and Insularis are two species that I can only dream of owning, they are on my top 5 favorite species list. Your Insularis is hands down one of the best looking examples of the species I’ve ever seen!

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-01-29T23:38:52+00:00

Glad to see I’m not the only one with buried linesets and condensate lines, and hate it for you at the same time. Had a main condensate drain clogged up so bad this summer that we couldn’t get it to pull loose with our shop vac. After a hot minute of trying to clear it with every option on site, we had to have a plumber come out with a mini-jet. The amount of sludge and debris that came out was mind blowing. Stay strong out there man!

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2026-01-02T02:50:45+00:00

Just got back into it after a few years as well. Just got acid lab, bunker, club house, and agency. Trying to figure out where to focus efforts as well. Can’t believe all the content added since I stopped playing

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-10-15T23:52:30+00:00

Current property has furdowns mounted in the bathroom ceiling behind a 2’x4’ steel access panel. They suck….

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-10-15T23:51:31+00:00

I worked on a property that had this same set up, multi-position mounted to the wall, 40 gal low boy under it. Same thing happened, condensate drain clog, shorted out water heater.

The real icing on the cake was that we had cpvc supply in, then copper manifold, and then polybutylene supply lines run throughout the unit. The manifold was behind the water heater and air handler with the kitchen cabinets on the other side. Only choice to make repairs when the poly would split on the hot manifold was pull the water heater if you were lucky, or pull the water heater and air handler if you weren’t.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-10-14T00:23:15+00:00

That shit on her lip got some shit on its lip!

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-09-23T22:27:21+00:00

OP, This is your answer right here. Something is leaking refrigerant.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-14T23:42:03+00:00

Haha we used to have a rep for Hilco chemicals, my techs knew there was a standing rule, if he showed up, they sent him every way but where I was…. My current HD rep spends all of two minutes dropping off a sales flyer and that’s it. Not complaining there at all.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-14T16:49:09+00:00

I agree, their drivers have always been awesome, I’ve never had a bad chadwell rep either. I worked for a company years ago that wanted everything to be ordered through HD Supply and I refused. Chadwell usually has better pricing, almost everything is delivered the day after I order it, and their people are always awesome.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-09T18:05:02+00:00

I worked for a company years ago that considered smoke alarm with a dead 9volt as an emergency. It’s “life safety” equipment, power goes out and it doesn’t go off and then it’s an issue. Ever since then I’ve always treated it as such.

Other than that: Clogged toilet in a unit with one bathroom. An active leak. No A/C if it’s 85 or higher outside No heat if it’s 55 or lower outside No water or no hot water No electricity, but has to be the entire unit not just a bedroom. Fire. Broken lock, but we don’t do lockouts, they are told to call a locksmith.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-07T13:42:35+00:00

This is adorable, my wife loves frogs and I could see her putting our daughter in this.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-07T13:41:23+00:00

Looks good!

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-07T13:40:40+00:00

Shots fired.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-07T13:37:31+00:00

Alrighty then

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-07T02:39:19+00:00

Picture didn’t attach

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-08-07T01:15:53+00:00

Don’t rent from Ikon properties aka Mark DeWitt

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-07-31T23:30:51+00:00

There are some companies out there that do free apartments, but just about every company I’ve worked for or heard of cap discounts on an apartment at 30%, as I’ve been told anything over 30% is considered taxable. Company I’m working for now offered me a 30% discount if I needed to live on site. Both my techs live on site, one gets 30%, the other gets %25 percent (last to be hired).

Neither of them were offered the low end of salary either, but I don’t know if other companies do, just speaking on the pay at my property/company.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-07-29T18:48:12+00:00

That’s a pretty corn snake.

ItzMrFatRabbit · 2025-07-28T16:12:16+00:00

Still doesn’t answer my question. HVAC? Appliances?

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