In this month’s “Five for Friday,” we are spotlighting Kari Guillette (KG), Director of Business Development and General Manager. Kari is our resident property management guru with close to 20 years prior experience in the field and she has worn all the hats at apartment communities. Her primary role at Rent Ready is to pair our partner communities and their leaders with our network of professionals to complete their communities’ make-ready process.
Rent Ready (RR): How have your experiences in property management guided your work at Rent Ready?
Kari Guillette (KG): The biggest advantage is that I’m able to see everything through the eyes of the customer. They connect quickly with me because they know I lived through the stresses of working onsite and experienced the countless struggles that they face each and every day! In short, they see that I “get it!”
RR: What are potential customers’ / current customers’ three most common questions about Rent Ready?
KG: Most of our potential customers ask, “How much do your services cost?” Rent Ready is very competitive when it comes to pricing. Our pricing is based on our package models.
The next question I get quite frequently is, “What if I have an emergency and need services right away?” It’s actually pretty simple. We work with a network of professionals – we aren’t your typical single provider. So, our vast network allows for a far greater success rate of being able to find a vendor that can handle those last-minute emergencies versus your average turn vendor.
And lastly, “Can Rent Ready help me with punch services?” Rent Ready does offer punch services. But we don’t provide those as stand-alone services. Because we are a multi-service platform, our goal is to partner with communities and provide them with the benefit of our punch services along with so many other services.
RR: What do you see as the greatest benefit of Rent Ready to property managers and maintenance managers?
KG: Without question, the time it saves! There just aren’t enough hours in the day between required reporting, meetings, resident issues, emergencies, preventative maintenance, and the list goes on. Time is very important.
I remember when I joined the Rent Ready Team thinking how this would have benefitted me as a manager and afforded my Service Manager extra time too. To have one apartment ready, site teams need to call their painter, cleaner and carpet cleaner – at a minimum. In many cases, they need to call in a resurfacer and a handyman to do some minor wall or ceiling repairs too. That’s five calls for just a single unit! The bigger picture is that typically there are several units that need services and, in many cases, that could mean eight to 15 units per month. That’s anywhere from 40 to 75 calls a site team is having to make every month!!
With Rent Ready, Property Managers and Service Managers just need one interaction to arrange the single unit services!
RR: What aspect of Rent Ready services do you wish you would’ve had when you were a property manager?
KG: I think about this all the time. In my last role as a Regional Manager in the property management industry, I was tasked with renovating multiple sites at one time. We contracted out the renovation pieces of the project, but I think about how much easier my life would have been if we had used a platform like Rent Ready to come in to paint, clean and carpet-clean the units afterward. I think about how much time it would have saved my property managers and service managers in separating and processing bills, not to mention coordinating with multiple contractors and subcontractors.
RR: Fun fact about yourself. Go!
KG: Years ago, I attended the Connecticut Culinary Institute and graduated with a degree in Pastry and Baking. In my down time, I enjoy being in my kitchen creating all sorts of creations from cookies to wedding cakes. For those who have ever worked onsite with me in the past may have experienced a resident or employee function where I’ve either catered or made some tasty treats!! Being in the kitchen is relaxing and therapeutic.
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