07/28/2026
Longer post: but think worth the read.
Taking Care of Your Maintenance Team During the Summer: The Hottest Season Deserves Your Best Leadership
Every summer, multifamily communities prepare for the same reality.
The temperatures rise.
Air conditioners begin working overtime.
Residents become less patient.
Service requests increase.
And your maintenance team quietly becomes the backbone of your community.
While residents experience a few uncomfortable hours without air conditioning, maintenance professionals spend entire days climbing attic ladders, working on rooftops, repairing condensers, crawling through mechanical rooms, and moving from emergency to emergency—often in temperatures exceeding 110 degrees.
Summer isn't simply busy.
It's physically exhausting.
As leaders, Community Managers and Regional Managers have an incredible opportunity to make sure their maintenance teams know one thing:
"We see you, and we appreciate you."
Maintenance Is More Than Repairing Air Conditioners
During the summer, maintenance professionals aren't just fixing equipment.
They're managing emotions.
A resident without air conditioning is uncomfortable, frustrated, and sometimes scared—especially families with young children or elderly residents.
That means every maintenance technician is expected to be both:
A skilled HVAC troubleshooter
A customer service professional
That's a difficult combination.
Stephen Covey wrote in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:
"Seek first to understand, then to be understood."
Residents want empathy before explanations. Great maintenance professionals understand this naturally—but that emotional labor can become draining after weeks of nonstop emergencies.
The best leaders recognize that their teams carry both the technical and emotional weight of summer.
Small Gestures Create Big Loyalty
One of the biggest misconceptions in leadership is believing appreciation requires a large budget.
It doesn't.
Often, the smallest gestures create the biggest impact.
Consider simple ways to recognize your maintenance team:
Surprise the team with lunch after a difficult week.
Bring ice cream or popsicles during an especially hot afternoon.
Stock the shop with electrolyte drinks and cold water.
Purchase cooling towels or neck fans.
Leave handwritten thank-you notes.
Celebrate quick response times and resident compliments during team meetings.
These moments communicate something powerful:
"You matter."
Simon Sinek reminds us in Leaders Eat Last:
"Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first."
When maintenance teams feel supported, residents feel the difference.
Recognition Should Increase During the Hardest Season
Ironically, summer is often when recognition decreases.
Everyone becomes busy.
Managers move from crisis to crisis.
Regional Managers are visiting more communities than ever.
Yet this is precisely when encouragement matters most.
If you're a Regional Manager, don't underestimate the impact of simply walking into the maintenance shop and saying:
"I know how hard you've been working. Thank you."
Those thirty seconds may be remembered longer than the quarterly bonus.
Recognition doesn't always require an award.
Sometimes it simply requires noticing.
Don't Forget the Team Behind the Team
Maintenance Supervisors often carry an invisible burden.
They're coordinating vendors.
Ordering parts.
Managing budgets.
Training new technicians.
Handling emergency calls.
Supporting the office.
Taking after-hours phone calls.
They're solving problems long before residents ever know they existed.
Take time to recognize your supervisors, too.
Leadership can become lonely during the busiest months.
Preventative Maintenance Starts Long Before Summer
One of the best ways to support your maintenance team isn't during July.
It's during January.
Preventative maintenance often becomes the first task postponed when schedules become busy. Unfortunately, delaying preventative maintenance usually creates more emergency work later.
Communities that prioritize:
HVAC inspections
Filter replacement schedules
Condenser cleaning
Irrigation checks
Water heater inspections
Roof evaluations
Pool equipment maintenance
typically experience fewer emergency service requests during the hottest months of the year.
The old saying rings true:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
Investing in preventative maintenance isn't just protecting equipment—it's protecting your people.
Build a Culture Where People Feel Seen
In The Energy Bus, Jon Gordon writes:
"Positive energy and encouragement are contagious."
Your maintenance team doesn't expect perfection.
They don't expect every day to be easy.
But they do hope someone notices the effort they're giving.
A leader who brings cold drinks.
A manager who jumps in to help.
A regional who makes time to say thank you.
Those moments build culture.
And culture is what keeps great maintenance professionals coming back year after year.
Summer Is Temporary. Your Leadership Isn't.
Eventually, the temperatures will cool.
The work orders will slow down.
The emergency HVAC calls will become less frequent.
What your maintenance team will remember isn't how hot it was.
They'll remember how they were treated while it was hot.
At The Phoenix Staffing, we've worked alongside multifamily maintenance professionals for years, and one thing remains true: great maintenance teams are built on more than technical skill. They thrive when they're respected, appreciated, and supported by leaders who understand the challenges they face every day.
This summer, don't just focus on keeping your communities cool.
Make sure you're taking care of the people who make that possible.
