Building a Defensible Maintenance Plan for Next Year

In this on-demand conversation, HappyCo President Ben Nowacky sits down with Jesse Anderson, Director of Systems and Sustainability at Blanton Turner, to look ahead to 2027. Jesse walks through how his team is navigating a shifting Seattle market, rising benefit premiums, and tightening fee regulations — and how they're building owner-ready budgets backed by real work order data.

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Key Takeaways:

• Don't let preventative maintenance be the first cut. Some clients want to defer maintenance to save in the short term. Jesse's team answers with data on what deferral does to the property. Prospects in his market check Google and Reddit before they ever visit, and slipping upkeep shows up in reviews and achievable rents fast.
• Fit the staffing model to the property. Larger assets keep their current model. For boutique properties under 100 units, Blanton Turner is moving from a fixed carrying cost toward on-demand maintenance. Demand varies with a property's age, residents, and wear, so one model won't fit every building.
• Bring owners options, not a single number. Jesse works with his directors of finance and facilities to model yearly work order volume and seasonal spikes, then compares hourly against static staffing. Clients see three paths: a dedicated on-site person, a flexible shared team, or vendors only. The vendor route still carries coordination costs and less consistent quality.
• Old service contracts are a hidden cost. Waste, elevator, and HVAC contracts are all getting rebid and renegotiated. A contract signed three years ago and never shopped is easy to miss when site teams are stretched, so Blanton Turner is moving that review to a central team. Owners are also asking for more than three bids.
• Keep the people, rethink the work. Blanton Turner holds about 85% employee retention and losing a good maintenance tech is costly. Resident-facing work stays in-house. Vendors are more likely to handle turns and painting, and entry-level staff can take repetitive tasks so skilled techs focus on what they do best.
• Use AI for speed, keep a human in the loop. The biggest gain Jesse sees is faster acknowledgment, triage, and routing — getting the right tech with the right skills on the job. Simple questions like amenity policies or thermostat settings can be answered right away.
• No surprises. Budgets rarely survive the year intact. Jesse's team flags cost issues early and meets with clients at least monthly, sometimes twice a month or weekly, to reprioritize.

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Speakers:

Ben Nowacky

President, HappyCo | Ben Nowacky is President of HappyCo, where he works with multifamily owners and operators on how maintenance, inspections, and property operations get done.
‍➔ Connect with Ben

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Jesse Anderson

Director of Systems and Sustainability, Blanton Turner |Jesse Anderson oversees technology and sustainability at Blanton Turner, a property management company operating across Washington and Oregon, with a diverse portfolio of residential and commercial properties.
‍➔ Connect with Jesse

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