Minimizing Revenue Shrinkage 

July 20, 2021

How to MinimizeImprove Revenue Shrinkage

By Operations Team. For more information, contact Robert Parmar

Revenue shrinkage an unfortunate subject but a real one and something Ownership should think about. The fact is most if not all apartment properties experience some loss of revenue due to questionable On-site activities. Properties experience negative pressure on NOI from anything from not getting a fair return on labor to actual theft that goes unaddressed.

In our discussions with people in the business, we find most people are honest and upstanding but a few just cannot help taking advantage. Here are some examples of how someone may try to benefit themselves to the detriment of the property:

  • Collects the pro-rated portion of a tenant’s first-month rent in cash, pockets it, and reports the unit occupied at the beginning of the following month.
  • Conducts off-site personal business while billing labor time to the property.
  • Makes personal purchases on property accounts.
  • Hires friends and family to conduct site work at elevated pricing.

We make an effort to minimize revenue shrinkage by making regular site visits to walk vacant units, utilizing a purchase order approval system for materials, maintaining supply inventory records, implementing a timekeeping system that requires staff to be on-site to clock in or out, utilizing a compliance service to qualify vendors, and in some cases where Ownership either asks or approves we install cameras that can be monitored remotely via a PC or smartphone.

Contact us if you would like to discuss your concerns or other revenue shrinkage examples we have discovered and our recommended solution.

Robert Parmar

Trevor Manning

Pacific Northwest Region

tmanning@smfield.com

503-867-5214

David Cohen

Southeast Region

dcohen@smfield.com

404-431-3333

About Summerfield

Summerfield specializes in the management of apartment properties that are approximately 125 units or larger, and is licensed to manage in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Florida, Georgia, & South Carolina.

If you would like to discuss additional specifics of our management program, please reach out to our Managing Director, Robert Parmar at rparmar@smfield.com or 770-628-5943


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