Appliance Diagnostic Software Lower Costs In Your Properties

What is the Answer to Controlling and Reducing the Variable Costs of Appliance Maintenance in Your Properties?

You know the answer today is ‘Proptech’ (property technology), and specifically appliance-management software, but you have to find the right combination of appliance-maintenance and appliance-diagnostic software to integrate with your property-management platform and your variety of appliances. If you’re stuck there, it’s a good time to start with that initial question: Which appliance-management software is going to make your specific variable costs less variable, to consistently increase your profits?

The answer initially depends on your appliances.

1. Maximum cost reductions are achieved when you have smart appliances of the same brand, engaged with the same brand of appliance-management software.

The ‘smart’ software within each appliance includes its own diagnostic reporting, status, alerts and remote-control features. The corresponding appliance-management software is already programmed to receive all unit identification, specs and diagnostics from each appliance as it’s “plugged in” to the network. The warranty details of each appliance are included, so the pre-set and user-modified diagnostics will automate the preventive-maintenance, routine status checks, and energy-efficient settings (i.e., automated cooling and heating temperatures when properties are vacated) across all appliances, across all properties, relative to the warranties. A mobile app will ensure that the Property Manager has all the diagnostic and remote-control capabilities in the palm of their hand at all times.

GE SmartHQ Service is the industry-leading example of reducing appliance maintenance costs to a minimum by connecting GE Smart Appliances to the Appliance-Diagnostics software.

2. Lesser savings are achieved with a variety of appliance makes and models, requiring more manual input into an appliance-diagnostic platform, and resulting in fewer automations, energy efficiencies, controls, alarms, etc.

If you have discount-shopped appliances of different manufacturers, you save on the front end, but will pay higher maintenance costs for the lives of the appliances if they can’t self-report failures and status, can’t be remote controlled on a schedule, or can’t tell you exactly what needs to be repaired or replaced. An open-source, multi-brand, appliance-management software is still possible, and you may achieve cost reductions primarily with energy-saving remote controls, but the cost savings will be limited to the ‘smart’ capabilities of the appliances, and the automation capabilities of the software. Also, the input of the appliances into the platform is more manual.

What Types of Property Management Cost Reductions Can You Expect with Smart Appliances and Appliance Diagnostic Software?

Investing in full deployment of smart appliances across your properties, and plugging them into the wifi-enabled network of your appliance-management platform, will yield immediate and continuous reductions of costs and stress for property managers. Most importantly, costs become more consistent with more controls, fewer surprises and complaints, and more certainty of appliance diagnostics. Surveying the current and foreseeable landscape of maintenance labor, the decision has become an imperative for profitability and growth.

Energy Cost Reductions

Smart appliances combined with an appliance-management system like GE SmartHQ will immediately enable energy cost reductions across virtually all property types.

• Temperature can be set at the most energy-efficient levels when hotel rooms, rental units and rental homes are vacated, and cycled back to average “comfort” levels when new guests are checking in.
• Lighting can likewise be set to “off” when vacant.
• Campus buildings can be zone-controlled during breaks and Summer months, such that any summer programs could be limited to certain buildings/zones, while the others remain at energy-saving levels.
• Appliance diagnostics for washers, dryers and refrigerators can send alerts when running ‘hot’, which will not only trigger the appropriate maintenance response, but will keep energy costs at the most efficient levels.

Appliance Repair Reductions

Appliance alerts indicate to the property manager whether or not the equipment needs repair, and specifically what repairs are needed.

• Based on the appliance diagnostics, a maintenance technician arrives at the appliance with exactly the right tools and parts for a repair, reducing return service calls.
• A guest or tenant complaint of a broken appliance can be checked against the appliance diagnostics, which may indicate that a restart or correction of a setting could solve the problem, instead of a service call.
• Scheduled and automated preventive maintenance will prevent failures and lengthen the life of the appliance, reducing maintenance visits, repairs and replacements.

Customer Service Cost Reductions

Dissatisfied customers are more expensive customers.

• Automated, remote-controlled and failure-reporting appliances will reduce the complaints and time required to respond to complaints about appliance issues.
• Costly downtime of rental units is reduced with prevented appliance failures and faster repair from reliable diagnostics.
• Remote control capabilities can be extended to guests and tenants, depending on the property management platform, so they are more in control of their comfort and more likely to provide favorable reviews, which improve the revenue side of profitability.

For property managers, smart appliance diagnostic software has become the most effective tool for directly reducing appliance-maintenance costs, but more importantly for controlling the variable nature of property maintenance costs. Stress and cost of unpredictable maintenance can be shifted to confidence and relief of control and prevention.

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