- Tenant Service
- Grace Under Pressure
- Equipment Guru
- Breaking Boundaries
- The Moneymaker
SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION
BREAKING BOUNDARIES
Finalists
Dave Becker
Maintenance Supervisor
Flaherty & Collins Properties
NOMINATED BY: Angela Peoples
Dave is in the Maintenance Office every morning having a mini pow-wow with his team. Then they go over their plans for the day and Dave gives praise for the work or good examples that his team has done the day before. Weekly staff meetings are always met with Dave giving praise to the entire staff for how we all work together. Dave often offers monthly maintenance contests for his team. These contests consist of service request completions, grounds up-keep, new ideas, and turning apartments. He often gives rewards out of his own pocket to keep from dipping into our budget. Dave is very quick to point out others' accomplishments and is consistently trying to motivate his staff to do better.
Dave has also been known to leave post-it notes on our Renewal Board. He will tell our staff, "Good Job! Almost There!" or "We've Almost Captured All Renewals For September!" and "Keep Up The Good Work!" He also will call in on weekends to make sure the Leasing Staff doesn't have any work orders that can't wait until Monday. Dave will also offer to "watch the pager" for his team if they have a family function or etc.
Throughout the day you can always hear Dave giving praise to his fellow employees, not just maintenance. The office staff loves that Dave is here because he is always telling them how they do such a great job. He makes it so the staff wants to do better for him and their entire team.
Dave has implemented the "Shock and Awe" program. It is an outline that he gives his maintenance team to improve the community. In this program Dave set out to change the mentality of the maintenance department from what is expected to why they are better than the competition. The Shock and Awe program changes the dynamic of the whole maintenance department by giving new titles such as the "Service Division" made up of the Service Director and his team of Service Agents. If I could type more I would :( But it just wont let me.
Juan Diaz
Building Engineer
DTZ
NOMINATED BY: Marcey Collman
This is a single-tenant building and the needs of the tenant are so varied that the job requires someone who not only excels at multitasking but is also great with picking up tasks which are very much outside the realm of a building engineer's normal duties. Juan is always more than happy to assist with any task, great or small, which may be asked of him by the tenant and is always 100% on board with helping the property manager and assistant (me). He is polite and accommodating with everyone he deals with. I hear only positive things said about him by everyone, both personally and professionally. He will always go above and beyond for the tenants of the building as well as his coworkers.
Juan goes out of his way to be sure that each individual receives personal attention; by performing daily checks to ensure someone's work environment is comfortable, or by making a special trip to speak directly with an employee regarding an outstanding or new situation so that employee understands that the issue is being addressed. These small, personal touches make each employee feel important and that their needs are being met. Juan puts his many years of experience to work with the complex a/c and electrical system of the building; he is always ready with a solution to any of the issues which have arisen. Juan is an irreplaceable asset to the building and co-workers, as well as the tenants of the building.
Dennis James
Service Supervisor
Timberland Partners
NOMINATED BY: Nadia Faumuina
Dennis displays excellent customer service every day. He takes the time to talk to prospects and new residents when he enters the office and them about items in their apartment like the thermostat or the garbage disposal and always says, "If you need anything, let me know - we'll do our best to be there as soon as we can." He treats all residents with respect and kindness and educates them if something is resident caused - for example, a garbage disposal. Once he's completed the task of fixing the GD he shows them how it can be reset and how to use it properly. He knows the residents by name and greets them when he seems them on property. He makes himself available to our residents and they truly appreciate that.
Dennis also displays customer service to our team members by treating everyone on the team, not just at Timberland Heights but all of Timberland Partners, with respect, humor and kindness. If he's in a position where he has to teach something, he is patient and answers all questions - even when they are asked 5 times! He makes himself available to other properties if he is needed and volunteers or readily says "yes" for special project such as the Maintenance Mentor Program, Service Manager Advisory Committee Member, as well as an MHA speaker! He is truly a wonderful example of Customer service - not just for a Maintenance Supervisor but for anyone.
Dennis strategically monitors his maintenance budget each month focusing on every opportunity to reduce his controllable expenses. In 2014, with a company goal of a 5% reduction Dennis saved over $12,000 in maintenance repairs/supplies. This surpassed the 5% and came in at 9.36%! Since being in the supervisor role at Timberland Heights he has saved approx. 7% over budget from 7/2012 to 2/2015 - that is an amazing feat! While saving the company money he has not lost sight of the portion of the mission providing an outstanding living experience for our residents.
Daniel Sanchez
Building Engineer
NAI Norris, Beggs and Simpson
NOMINATED BY: Katie Brotherton
Two years ago, when we took over management of the Lincoln Building, the tenants made it clear that they felt the current engineering team was not replaceable. Since retaining the prior management company's engineering staff was not an option, we elected to assign Daniel to this building. Daniel recognized the tenuous nature of the situation and, one by one, quickly won the tenants over with great customer service skills and his professionalism. Those concerns, so strongly voiced by our critics, are a distant memory now. That is how Daniel works: he looks at every problem as an opportunity.
Before he picks up the phone to call for a particular service from specialized contractors, he takes a step back and asks, "Why not me?" Time and again Daniel has demonstrated an ability to draw on his experience and education and, with confidence in his ability, roll up his sleeves and get to the bottom of the problem. As a result of his focus and determination, Daniel has exceeded all expectations as he has taken it upon himself to: rebuild pumps, re-plumb chilled water piping, troubleshoot control air systems, even troubleshooting and replacing a failed capacitor in a variable frequency drive!
As the sole operating engineer in a 273,000 square foot historic office building in downtown Portland, Daniel is constantly surprising his management team by taking on challenges and breaking expectant boundaries.
