Fix It Forward - Episode 7

 Hi, everyone. Super excited, super, super excited about this unprecedented production. We're here in Atlanta today. We're going to highlight the best. Maintenance professionals in multifamily.

I am getting more and more excited every single, with every single episode that we do to see, to uncover like more amazing stories, journeys, and also incredible professionals. Hopefully inspire others to that might consider, go to other industries to work there, to stay with us or others that never even heard of, uh, multifamily to actually consider giving multifamily a shot because it's, it could be an amazing career for them.

Michael, welcome. Thank you for having us today. 

No problem. 

It's amazing. So tell us where we are today. 

Ashland Ridge. 

Ashland Ridge in, uh. New Georgia, new England, Georgia, south, uh, south of Atlanta. 

Yes. 

How long, uh, how long have you been, you've been working here? 

We've both with, we're in our 12th year with the company.

12 year with the company. 

Yeah. 

What makes you stick around for this long? 12 years is a long tenure. 

We're not job hoppers. 

We just like working with each other. 

Yeah. 

And we get along real good and we both know what we're gonna do, how we're gonna do it, when we're gonna do it. He does one thing and he's not afraid, could we go do another thing and vice versa?

So we're good teammates is what we are. That's makes it 

interesting. By the way, Larry. 

Yes. 

Thank you for having us today. How long you been in industry, Michael? 

I have been doing maintenance since I was 14 years old. 

14 years old? 

Yes. 

This has been a, a little while. 

Yes. It's been a little while. Yeah. I'm 66.

66. What made you stick to the industry? 

Um, 

for, for this long, 

it's actually been a mixture of residential schools and, uh, commercial and, uh, apartment maintenance. I was young. I started doing maintenance in, uh, the schools in the town I lived in. We would go in there in the summertime and we would do the floors and paint the walls and whatever else had to be done.

That was it. We were there for the summer and then they called me back, asked me if I wanted a permanent job. So I stayed there until I graduated high school. And, uh, I went to school for welding, but I really didn't like it. So, um, I went into commercial maintenance in, uh, commercial buildings slash production.

Um. I did that till about 16 years ago, and I just couldn't take it anymore because it was too stressful. And then I went to an interview at an apartment complex and the guy says to me, the owner, he's like, well, why aren't you working? And I said, well, you didn't hire me, hired me on the spot. Uh, that was in Virginia.

And I stayed with them for five years, and we moved down here in 2014 simply because my wife said she wanted to move to Georgia. And I said, well, if you can find a job, we'll move there next month. She had a job. 

She made it happen. 

Yeah, she made it happen. So this place was my first interview and this is the job I took.

Did you interview here for service technician or for service manager? 

No, I started as a tech. 

As a tech. 

Yep. 

Uh, how long have you been a supervisor for how many years now? 

Probably about 10 years. 

About 10 years. 

But, and this is my 1, 2, 3, 4. This is my fifth property with them. Yes. So 

you, you moved around with them?

Yes. 

With them? 

Yes. 

How many units here at your current? 

There's, uh, 202 

here. 202.

When we first opened this place, we had a, a huge turnover of people. Um, I think we have redid probably. Over a hundred apartments where people move out, you have to go in and you have to paint them and, uh, get 'em ready for the next resident. It's pretty much settled down now. Um, things have calmed down and when a new building, everybody thinks a new building is better than an old building, but that's not necessarily true.

A new building has its issues. We've had a lot of settling with this building. Which meant a lot of wall cracks. We've had, uh, quite a few broken pipes because the cabinets in the kitchen have the rock countertops. Can't think of Right, right off the top of head. 

Granite. 

Granite. And so they're heavy. So when the building shifts, snaps the pipe.

Yeah. I've seen this on, you know, 20 plus year old buildings, 30-year-old buildings. 

Yes. 

I'm also seeing this nowadays. Because sometimes I inspect on behalf of owners, like literally new construction and I'm seeing like stress cracks there sometimes. You know, you could stick your finger in it. Oh, 

yes. 

And we're talking about like six months after the building's being put up.

Yes. 

Six months, not six years. Not six years. 

No six months. And that's it. Started here rather quickly. Uh, more so on this side because this was the fill side, that side over there. This was a hill, so that side is where they dug into the hill. So they had, you know, pretty good packing over here. This is all Phil over here.

So tell us about, uh, the lift station, the story there. 

Okay. The lift station. The biggest issue we have with the lift station is, is the thing that everybody loves to use nowadays. Wipes. Okay. 

Yeah. 

Pumps don't like wipes. 

Well, they don't deserve Well, 

no. By the time that we mo started moving people in, we had probably gone through about 12 pumps.

12 pumps, 

yeah. 

W was the time period. 

Three, four months 

in. Three, four months. 12 pumps. 

Mm-hmm. 

Unbelievable. Like almost one a week. 

Yeah. Sometimes four week. 

Oh wow. 

Yeah.

What is a day in a life of for you? Like, 

um, 

here? 

It depends. We, we have five, six work orders a day, and then we work on other stuff. We, uh, do all our own repairs on, um, microwaves, refrigerators, washers, and dryers. Stoves. We do all our own repair work. This is the pump station. And keep it locked so nobody can go in there.

It's hard to see until your eyes get adjusted to it. But there are four pumps down there, and, uh, the pumps come on as the water level goes up and goes down. Um, it alternates pumps. Um, the biggest issue you can see down there. Uh, there's a basket that I made down there, and if you look close enough, you'll see that that basket is full of wipes.

Yeah? 

Mm-hmm. 

Okay. So basically what I have to do is that once a week I bring that basket up. I use the vacuum cleaner, suck the wipes out of there, put 'em in a plastic bag, take 'em upstairs to put 'em on garbage. 

Unfortunately, you can't stop 

people, people from doing that. 

You can't. You're right. You 

can't.

The reason I ended up getting into this is because the people that were doing it said, look, we're not doing anymore. We quit and they left. And I'm like, uh, and you know, there, there is nobody in a close vicinity that can come and work on these. So basically I am the, other than Dan, he's part of the maintenance of the management.

Um, other than me. There is nobody else in this company that will work on these. And I, I kind of enjoy it because I kind of try and figure out stuff to make it do stuff that actually shouldn't do and to make it work. And, uh, I've been doing, I've had this now probably for that said, I think that said August.

So. Probably almost a, it's either almost a year or almost two years I've been taking care of it. Um, eventually we're going to rebuild it and put in a different kind of pump when we actually find the right pump that will take care of wipes. Until then, there's nothing. 

Do you think there's a pump pump out there that actually pumps out and 

you, um, 

does wipes, do 

they say they do?

But the pumps that are in here are considered grinder pumps. And they should, 

they should grind. 

They should grind the stuff and then, and then push them. And then push it out. The problem is you have so many, sometimes that come out at the same time. 

There 

is too much, and it overwhelms the pump, the pumps, and it clogs them.

So you go from four pumps to three pumps, to two pumps, to one pump, to no pump, to no pump. And that has happened a lot and we've had to have. Trucks parked up there with the guy down here constantly sucking the stuff out. Um, it took me a little while to figure out, I, I'd come down here with my trusty rusty net over there, and I would actually take the net and I would actually scoop out all of the wipes on a daily basis.

And then I just got the idea to make a basket so that when they come out of the pipe, they drop into the basket. 

That's so ingenious. Like it's probably an engineer wouldn't have thought about this. You know, most engineers wouldn't have thought about it. It's so simple when you think about it. That's 

the thing.

It's so, it is so simple that you know, why didn't you think about it? And then I decided, okay, so there's actually a pump that is inside that basket. And once I get that right. It should do what I want it to do. And that is it takes the, the, uh, toilet paper and the solids and basically lets them come through their pump.

The pump turns them up and spits 'em out and just leaves the wipes in there. That's why the pump that was sitting on the table in the shop, it looked like it had a metal, a metal cage over it. Um, I started working on that on Monday. Um. That metal cage is actually gonna go over the top of this pump, which is gonna stop it from sucking the wipes into that pump.

And I find out the more that you can agitate the water in that system, the better it works. 

So she kind of dilutes it, makes them spread away and they don't all push at once. 

Exactly, exactly. 

To overwhelm the pump. 

And that, that comes from my cosmetic background. From manufacturing liquid makeup. Um, I, uh, uh, mascara because we actually had machines that had to grind the pigment in order to mix a oil and a water together.

That's a tough thing to do, mixing water. 

It's a very tough thing to do. 

Yeah. 'cause they don't, they don't mix together. 

No, but the grinding. Is the same. The thing is you can't afford one of those machines to sit in here and do that because you would have to get a huge one and you would have to replace the blades a lot because it emulsifies, it would emulsify the wipes, but it's not practical for this use.

So, so I, I. Basically Dan and I, Dan, um, he's in Florida and we talk and we go back and forth. He'll find some pumps. He'll call me, I'll fight some pumps, I'll call him, and eventually we're gonna find something that works, but it's gonna take a little while. It's been, like I said, since I took over it, but they don't have to call anybody to come and take care of it.

So they have x amount of savings per month. Because I take care of it. 

If I had to guess a lot of savings 

Oh yeah. About $3,500 a week. 

Yeah. So you, you, so you basically pay for yourself and then something 

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. 

Well, just for everybody watching now, that's what a good maintenance professional is their where their waiting goal.

We keep, you know, we keep saying that this is the example. Like, 

yeah, 

look. Look at this situation. This is like, this is it. This is the best example. One of the best examples. Oh, what you're weighting gold. That's it. 

People don't think what whites will do. Okay. Wipes will tangle around everything. I mean, I found and, and I know they flushed me down.

I have found, um, watermelon. Okay. Wa you can't put watermelon down a disposal and it come out looking like watermelon. So, you know, they flushed it down the toilet apples, you know, it's like, okay, you people wanna sit on your toilet and eat? That's fine by me, but don't flush 'em. 

It's, uh, it's funny 

but true.

It's quite amazing. I, I think, uh, this episode, you know, really had to give a micro a run for his money. Yeah. When it comes to dirty jobs. 'cause it, it's, it is the real deal. 

I.

Dominion is a, is a fairly large company. Um, when COVID was going on, that was a really hard time for us going into people's apartments, you know, trying to work with gloves on, trying to work with a mask on. Um, the time through COVI, they gave us. A lot of bonuses to, I guess help keep us going. They never held back the bonuses.

They, they were really good about taking care of all of us. They, even at one, at a couple of times, they, um, they would in your area. Okay. At this property on this day, you can get your COVID shot for free. So you would have like. 10 or 12 properties, go to that one property and then, um, get your shot. And at the end of COVID, they, they pretty much gave everybody a huge bonus, a thank, uh, uh, you know, thanking us for, for what we did.

So, I mean, this worrying for this company compared to the one in Virginia, I wouldn't be here this long if it wasn't a good company. Some of the properties I was on. We're really rough and you have to deal with a lot of stuff you really don't want to deal with. But working here at this one, I don't, I'm, I'm inside all the time, which I enjoy.

You know, these, working on properties where they have a lot of children, you get a lot of garbage. The, the older people, I mean, if I walk around the property once every. Three months to pick up trash. That's a lot. Hello? Hey, how y'all? Good, 

good. 

My son works at another property, um, not for Dominion. He works in Noonan at, um, I think he's got about 400 units.

And for the past eight months up until recently, he's been there by himself, him and my grandson. They live with us. However, he went and bought a travel trailer and it's parked on the side of the house and, and that's their house because it's a lot cheaper. 

Definitely. 

Yeah. So, but that poor guy, he pretty much works seven days a week.

He's, he knows sooner he gets home, he gets called out for this, that, or the other thing. So, I mean, that to me is a, is a bad property. 

Well, do you think it'll be better if there'll be fully staffed? Maybe have like, you know, three or four people? 

Like I said, it's really hard to find maintenance people.

Extremely hard. 

It's extremely hard. Um, the guy that works at my old property in Douglasville, um, I, he came in knowing nothing and now he runs that property by himself. 

How long did it take him from knowing nothing to running a property? 

Ha, about six, seven years. 

Okay. 

Um. Um, you know, it's, it's a lot to learn, especially when you have to get a pool license, HVAC license.

Those are the two biggest. And there's some people that can pass the test, but that doesn't mean they know what they're doing. 

Yeah. Well, most people really, yes. Like if you don't have like extra knowledge from, uh, an external source. 

Yes. 

Just passing the test is really not enough. 

No, and I had a, I had some guys that could do that.

But they couldn't, they didn't know what you say. You sent them to a, uh, air conditioner and they had no idea what to do. 

Michael, uh, did you go to any formal school to learn some of the trade, or was it like hands on? 

It's all hands on. 

It All hands on. All hands on. So for 48 years? 

Yeah. 

Everything that you learn is, you know, you learn by doing it and seeing others doing 

it.

Yes. 

And you learn everything. 

Yes. I had a guy in Virginia who, um, he was my boss and he used to work for Sears, so he taught me how to disassemble a washer machine, change the clutch, change the motor in about 15 minutes. So he taught me to start working on appliances. Now, given they're a lot harder these days.

We have our, we have one over there, uh, that came down. It didn't work. We actually found out that the, uh, the main brain to it was bad. So we, um, replaced that. We basically don't put the lid on it in case we need to borrow some parts off it to try on another one. So, 

but other than that, if you were to swap her out, that'd be good to go.

Oh yeah. That's good to go. 

Yeah. 

Um, just 

put a cover 

on him. We've, we've done laundry in it. All the screen did was flash. That was it. I usually have him, he does all the ordering because of his COPD and stuff like that. He can't run around like I can. Um, so he usually, we'll sit down, we'll decide what we wanna order and he takes care of all of the ordering.

So, um. Yeah. Right now we're searching out fan motors for exhaust fans. There's a couple sitting over there that, um, they've died already. Yeah. Things just die. 

We went over, uh, you learning everything hands on what we as a industry can or should do to make it a little easier for the newcomers. Right. So they don't have to learn, just like depend on others to show them.

But more of a, you know, formal training to make that available. 

Okay. Right before Larry and I took over here, um, we actually had, they have classes called DU Online. They had classes on there that you could go through, and I don't, I don't know why they stopped it, but you could go through the process of determining.

Like, they would give you an issue. You would go in the computer, the computer would ask you different things as to how to fix this issue. And I ended up taking all of the classes. I don't think they, Larry didn't get them all for some reason. I, I don't know why, but, um, they were helpful. They would tell you what to look for.

All right. Say like, um, you have a refrigerator that is not cooling okay, but yet the compressor's running. Okay. So that right there, if you feel the side of it and it's extremely hot, uh, there's a good chance that it's trying to defrost itself while it's also trying to cool itself down, which is, it could be, um, I think most of the time that was the control mo the thing to control it from, uh.

Colder to warmer whatever. And actually, um, the people from GE told us to check for that. If the boast things were running, then you have the, um, what puts it into defrost? Uh, 

the defrost timer. 

Yeah, the defrost timer. We had, uh, we had a problem finding a lot of them because they never told us that they hid them in the back on the bottom.

Usually they're in the middle. So, um, it took us a while to find those, but um, we did, we did. Most of the time they're not even worth messing if there's a problem with the compressor because chances are it's never gonna work. Right. 'cause you're never gonna get the same amount of free on or whatever it's filled with.

Exactly. Right. And it's not gonna work. Exactly right. 

Yeah. In my experience, we never done like. Refrigerator Compressor replacements? No, we just, when, when we determined that the compressor was out 

Yep. 

The refrigerator was up for, you know, stripping it for parts. 

Yep. 

Bring anyone in. 

Mm-hmm. 

Yeah. I even had one under warranty.

I remember it was literally dropped in weeks after it got installed. Wouldn't cool. 

Mm-hmm. 

Uh, and, uh, G sent the factory trained technician to do it. 

Yep. 

Uh, the first one replaced the. The whole like, you know, the oil, the refrigerant 

mm-hmm. 

The compressor couldn't get it to cool. 

Mm-hmm. 

The second one came and, uh, was about to burn down the apartment when he was trying to mm-hmm.

Do, uh, you know, uh, use the welding machine. 

Yes. 

Yeah. It didn't go well. No. Let's put it my mildly uh, fortunately we had a fire extinguisher so he was able to put away, but needless to say, we got a new refrigerator. Yes. Another new on top of new, so. Even with a brand new stuff, you are absolutely right. 

Oh, yeah.

Oh yeah. Factory trained technicians cannot at times. 

No. If you don't, and you know the, a lot of times the factory trained technicians will come out. They'll think what it is, and then they have to go and order the part because they don't carry them with them. 

Most of 'em they don't. Right. 

Yeah. So for the most part, if it's a refrigerator, it's gonna sit there for a month if they can get the part.

So, you know, we carry a lot of our own parts so that we don't have to wait. 

When you look at a newer generation coming into the workforce, you've been around for 48 years. A ton of experience, a lot of wisdom. Something that, you know, we, we have less and less of every day. 

Mm-hmm. 

We're losing legacy knowledge mm-hmm.

On a daily basis with people, you know. Around your age, you know, considering going into like lighter jobs. 

Mm-hmm. 

Less physical jobs or retiring. 

Mm-hmm. 

What would you say to a young person that actually is about to enter the, uh, workforce and they haven't even heard of multifamily? 

Mm-hmm. 

Or apartment maintenance.

What would you say to them? Why should they consider working in apartment maintenance? 

You gotta want to do it. You can't talk somebody into being a maintenance person. No, it doesn't work. We usually start our people on grounds, then we take them into turns. If they'll stay for a turn, you, you got something going on.

But by then, a lot of 'em either know they do or they don't want to. Now my son is 39 and he worked with me, uh, not only. In maintenance, but he worked with me when we worked at the factory. He was old enough to work there, so he learned a lot there. Um, chase, he is in his twenties. It was a little harder to work him into that.

Um, but he picked it up quite well because he's smart. I had plenty of guys who started there and by lunchtime they were gone. You can interview. As many people as you want, but you do not know if they're gonna do it or they're not. And you can tell, uh, we call 'em job hoppers. You, I've been at this apartments for five months, four months, three months, a month.

It's like, I'm not gonna hire you because all you're gonna do is stay here for a month and you're gonna leave. I'm not gonna waste my time.

Michael, um, it's been a real pleasure being here with you being your guest. 

Okay. 

Uh, thank you for showing us around. 

Okay. 

Uh, any final thoughts for our audience? 

If you work with the right people and the right property, it's a really good job. You're not gonna get rich, it's just not out there. But like with Dominion.

You can work your way up in the company. A lot of people have done that. You can do that or you can, if you wanna just be a grounds person, you can stay there. If you're happy, if you wanna be a maintenance tech one, you can stay there if you're happy or if you wanna work your way up, that's entirely up to you.

That's the only way you're gonna make more money, is working your way up the ladder.