Founded in 1987, Maxus Properties, LLC manages about 8,000 multifamily units, focusing on Class A properties. The company excels in revitalizing underperforming properties and uses advanced technology and strategic management to maintain high occupancy and enhance property value.
When Maxus Properties first came to HappyCo in 2016, they needed help streamlining their move-in and move-out inspections. We sat down with Alex Cuenca, now Director of Asset Performance, in 2017 to chat about how HappyCo helped reduce turn time and aided with maintenance. But, in the six years since, Maxus and HappyCo have both changed a lot. HappyCo has evolved from a single offering to a multi-product provider, and Maxus has upleveled the quality of their assets.
In the last few years especially, Maxus has scrutinized their tech stack and optimized the use of their current tools—HappyCo being one of them. So, why has Maxus stuck with HappyCo, and how has their usage of our products evolved? Keep reading to find out!
When Maxus Properties first partnered with HappyCo in 2016, their primary objective was to improve property inspections, specifically move-ins and move-outs. Even then, Alex and his team were quick to find additional use cases for HappyCo—eventually, they converted more than 30 inspection templates into electronic forms.
“We really got into the weeds and ended up converting 30 different inspections into the mobile app,” shared Alex. “Everything from keeping up with our refrigerant log, our incident reports, our IT team even used it as an inventory tool to store hardware!”
As of 2023, Maxus conducts an average of six inspections per unit per year and has collected 1.08 million ratings in the last year via HappyCo.
Now, the area where HappyCo has had the biggest impact on Maxus Properties is producing insights into the state of operations at their communities.
As part of the semi-annual apartment inspections, onsite teams record the expiration date and purchase date of smoke alarms and smoke detectors to comply with fire and life safety. With HappyCo, they have an accurate property- and portfolio-wide picture into their yearly budget for new equipment.
“We get a better discount on those products, which is a huge win for us,” said Alex. “Previously, we may have not kept up with it as easily or to that scale, and we wouldn't have been getting those bulk discounts—which have been a home run for us.”
"Sometimes, when I evaluate our tech stack, I think, ‘Do we really need this? Do we really need that?,’ but that’s never crossed my mind with HappyCo."
Alex Cuenca,
Director of Asset Performance
Maxus Properties
"Sometimes, when I evaluate our tech stack, I think, ‘Do we really need this? Do we really need that?,’ but that’s never crossed my mind with HappyCo."
Alex Cuenca,
Director of Asset Performance
Maxus Properties
With more than 8,000 units spread across 30 properties, keeping communities up and running smoothly requires a ton of moving parts. Keeping reports and inspections on pen and paper wasn’t working—it’s difficult for onsite teams to keep track of individual reports, let alone sharing them with Maxus’s stakeholders in different states.
With HappyCo, the team can easily distribute reports and inspection results across the organization. When an incident occurs at any property, the new standard protocol is to send them off to the VP of Operations, Construction Managers, Regional Maintenance teams, and so on to bridge the disconnect across the portfolio.
With the semi-annual apartment inspection, Alex can see how many units have been inspected so far, view the dashboard for real-time progress, and send it out to his regional and property managers on a weekly basis for increased transparency.
Another area where HappyCo has had a great impact is on budgeting visibility. Because everything is documented in such great detail, they have a crystal clear understanding of where funds need to be allocated.
"Having a monthly property inspection that our property managers are required to complete each month has really helped us plan our budgets more effectively. It gives us a better idea of wish list items versus absolute needs."
Alex Cuenca,
Director of Asset Performance
Maxus Properties
"Having a monthly property inspection that our property managers are required to complete each month has really helped us plan our budgets more effectively. It gives us a better idea of wish list items versus absolute needs."
Alex Cuenca,
Director of Asset Performance
Maxus Properties
Liability is a primary concern in multifamily. Accidents happen, but multifamily owners like Maxus need to ensure they do everything they can to protect their residents.
HappyCo makes it easy to reduce risk and get ahead of any compliance issues. From elevator inspections to exterior light checks, the Maxus team uses HappyCo to keep up with their properties’ overall condition to catch any potential problems before they occur.
Alex has found particular value in the snow log template, where he can easily record if there was snowfall or not and upload pictures of the team shoveling and throwing down snow melt. “Being prepared for anything has been huge” Alex shared.
As Director of Asset Performance, Alex is no stranger to random, one-off asks. But, with HappyCo, fulfilling them is less of a headache. If someone asks him how many incidents in the past month involved a dog or a cat, he can easily customize reporting to find the answer.
“The Happy Property reporting is extremely flexible and useful for any sort of report, photo, comment, or rating you want to look at,” said Alex. “Whatever it is you need, you can find it in there.”
Now, instead of combing through incident reports and manually categorizing them, Alex can spend more time doing what really matters—providing the best possible experience for Maxus residents.
At HappyCo, one of our core values is to remain customer obsessed. We want to do more than just provide a solution to our customers—we want to be true, long-term partners who work together to make our customers’ communities a great place to call home.
Alex shared that he’s found HappyCo’s collaborative spirit to be a major asset to Maxus Properties. In one specific instance, the HappyCo team created an integration with Maxus’s property management provider so when onsite teams complete an inspection, it’s automatically reflected in a resident activity log. That way, even if property managers can’t get a PDF of the inspection report, they can still access it from anywhere.
The ease of use with HappyCo software combined with the ease of working with HappyCo team members, has made a world of difference for Maxus.
"Whenever I talk to anybody from HappyCo, it always feels very personal and like a true partnership. The team isn’t hyper-focused on revenue, but instead on asking questions like, ‘What can we do for you?’ or ‘How can we improve this process?,’ which I value quite a bit."
Alex Cuenca,
Director of Asset Performance
Maxus Properties
"Whenever I talk to anybody from HappyCo, it always feels very personal and like a true partnership. The team isn’t hyper-focused on revenue, but instead on asking questions like, ‘What can we do for you?’ or ‘How can we improve this process?,’ which I value quite a bit."
Alex Cuenca,
Director of Asset Performance
Maxus Properties
After a seven-years-long partnership, it’s safe to say that for Maxus Properties, HappyCo isn’t just a phase. As Maxus hones their focus on optimizing the usage of their current tech stack, they’re continuing to find new, innovative ways to use HappyCo’s property inspection and insights software.
"We just acquired a new property in Kansas City, and the first thing the regional manager said to me was, ‘When can we have HappyCo active and ready to go?"
- Alex Cuenca, Director of Asset Performance at Maxus Properties
We couldn’t be happier to have them as a long-term partner!
Please note that positions and personnel mentioned in our customer stories may change over time as individuals transition within or leave the company.
Since joining Maxus Properties in March 2016, Alex has led the smart home technology initiative and managed sustainability projects, including Energy Star reporting. Overseeing value-added renovations, his role has been pivotal in the implementation of ERP system software and vendor management.
Please note that positions and personnel mentioned in our customer stories may change over time as individuals transition within or leave the company.
Founded in 1987, Maxus Properties is a Multifamily owner and operator with a diverse portfolio of 30 properties across 8 states, including rental housing at every income level. Maxus focuses on creating sustainable, thriving communities by maintaining and enhancing the properties they own and manage.
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