Hi everyone! If you have read our past blogs or case studies and like to keep up with what we are doing, thank you! We appreciate you all more than you know. If you are new to reading our blogs or aren’t sure who we are or what we do, let me explain real quick 😊We are a window film company that installs different kinds of window film and custom graphics to homes and commercial spaces pretty much across the country.
On the commercial side of things, we work with so many different professionals and vendors ranging from general contractors to property managers to business owners, etc. As a company, our goal for the 2020 year is to write content that is specific to the different personas we are lucky enough to work with and to highlight the different services we can provide and show you what that relationship looks like.
We understand that window film isn’t the most popular or fun topic to talk about and that’s okay, we get it. However, we want to highlight these different relationships because you might not know exactly what the professional does on a day to day basis, but you just might learn that you interact with them all the time. With that being said, this particular blog we are going to highlight a persona we work with all the time in both a residential setting as well as a commercial setting.
That persona is a property manager! We will talk in general about what they are and what it looks like for Solar Art to work with them. If you happen to be a property manager, or frequently interact with a property manager, this blog might be beneficial for you to read, because we might just be able to be of service to you!
This is a great question. To be honest with you, before I started working here, I wasn’t sure what exactly a property manager does. The roles and responsibilities of a property manager can be unclear and kind of confusing. First off, when people think of a property manager, they typically think of residential settings like an apartment complex, which is correct. However, there are property managers in commercial settings as well.
There is probably a property manager that is in charge of your office complex or community. To put it simply, the typical property manager has a lengthy list of responsibilities and duties. First and foremost, their biggest responsibility is to handle the daily care of the property. This includes making sure everything is operating smoothly and checking in with both the maintenance staff and tenants etc.
Property managers typically are the ones to show prospective tenants the property as well as collecting the monthly rent and handling the taxes and maintenance fees. Property managers typically find potential tenants, screen them, handle the leases, move-outs, as well as any other complaints or emergencies they may have. If something breaks in your unit, who do you call? The property manager. If you are having an issue with a neighbor, who gets called? The property manager.
Basically, if there is any sort of problem whatsoever, the property manager is the one who has to deal with it. That’s crazy to me. I know my apartment complex is huge and the property manager probably gets phone calls daily with fires they have to put out. And...that’s not even the only thing they are responsible for. Property managers are the ones that have to make sure everything is compliant with the laws and keep the records etc. It’s safe to say that being a property manager is a huge role and they wear so many different hats and I can only imagine how stressful it can be!
Now that we have talked about what the role of a property manager looks like, we can talk about how Solar Art typically works with them. We talked earlier about how the property manager deals directly with the tenants and handles any problems or complaints they may have. Sounds fun right? Not so much. I can’t imagine having to take care of the needs of an entire community's worth of tenants.
Being as we are headquartered in Southern California and have offices all up and down the West Coast, we are no stranger to the heat. It’s warm pretty much throughout the entire year, which can make a space really hot and uncomfortable. We get requests every single day, even multiple times a day from homeowners and business professionals both, complaining about the heat and glare. With that being said, since we are talking about property managers specifically, all apartment units or rental homes have windows that let in a lot of heat. Hence the problem. If tenants feel their units are unbearably hot, who do they turn to who to fix it? You got it. Property managers. It’s yet another thing that they have to worry about now.
Typically, we see that property managers want to keep the units looking as uniform as possible from both the interior and the exterior. Having a non-uniform look from the exterior looks messy and can be a turn off for potential tenants. With that being said, blinds are pretty standard to have in every unit. Unfortunately, they don’t help much with the heat and they can make a unit dark and uninviting. Most property managers aren’t going to want to install shades on top of the blinds because that won't look the most aesthetically pleasing.
So then what are the property managers to do? That’s where Solar Art comes in 😊 We work with commercial property managers all the time. With window film you have a ton of different options, which is great for a property manager. There are window films on the market that have more tint to them and there are some that have less. There are some window films on the market that are optically clear and still provide heat and glare rejection benefits.
The optically clear route is great for a property manager because it’s not going to change the aesthetics of the unit. What this means, is the tenants who are having an issue with the heat and glare can have the window film installed and the tenants who don’t have those issues don’t have to have it installed. The units aren’t going to look un-uniform or off from the exterior, which is a huge benefit.
If a property manager calls up Solar Art and expresses that their tenants are having an issue with heat, glare or sun fading, the first step will be to have our sales representative meet the customer at the property. Our sales representative will bring different window film samples with him or her for the customer to look through and see which they like best. Each solar film has a different look and provides its own benefits. Some reduce more heat and glare than others and some are darker than others.
Our sales representative works with the property manager to learn their goals and what they are looking for exactly with their window film installation. Our sales representative will explain the benefits of each solar film to the property manager so they can decide which one will be the best fit for the property. Some property managers choose between a few similar solar films and allow their tenants to choose which ones they like best, while others just choose one standard window film the tenant can have installed.
From there, we draw up a contract with the property manager to make it easy, since they will most likely have a lot of repeat work. Once all of that is taken care of, we are set to do the installation! Our main point is to show that window film is a great option for property managers because it’s affordable, requires little work on their end and can help make tenants more comfortable.
Depending on which solar film you go with, you can block up to 63% of heat, 62% of glare and 99% of ultraviolet rays. Yeah, you heard me right. Let those numbers sink in for a minute. Window film can make a drastic change in the comfort of your tenants, and it only requires a phone call on your end. It’s crazy.
So there you go! We briefly went over what a property manager even is, how Solar Art works with them, and what our relationship is like! Knowing how we work with property managers might be really important if A. You are one or B. you are a tenant that has a property manager so you know what your options are.
If you have any questions regarding this topic or would like more information, don’t hesitate to reach out to anyone at Solar Art, we would love to hear from you!
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