Keeping a multifamily community looking its best requires constant daily upkeep from the Property Management team. But when residents move out the individual units need to be refreshed with new paint, carpets need cleaning and blinds might need to be replaced. After several years a property will need to be renovated and upgraded with new cabinets, countertops, fixtures, appliances etc. to remain competitive in the marketplace. Whether you need to refresh single units or renovate an entire building or community, hiring a Professional Project Support Team can reduce stress and save money.
Why Hiring Lowe’s Pro Supply Makes Sense
A successful renovation requires proper planning, detailed budgeting and expense tracking, quality products and services delivered and performed to a detailed schedule to keep timing and costs under control. Lowe’s Pro Supply has a dedicated Project Support Team to handle every step of a project from refreshing a single unit to renovating your entire community.
Lowe’s Companies, including Lowe’s Pro Supply, has long played a key role in helping renovate multifamily properties. The first step is a meeting with executives of the apartment community to determine scope and needs. “Work might involve a short-term change such as wall colors or upgraded appliances,” states Paul Brown, Project Support Director for Lowe’s Pro Supply. “With today’s hot market, many properties are looking to upgrade fixtures and appliances with the new matte black look. If there is a longer-term goal to increase rents, we work with the executives to develop a series of capital improvements.”
Assigning a Project Manager
Regardless of whether a client is a new community or one that Lowe’s Pro Supply has worked with before, a Project Manager is assigned to be the single point of contact. “Our Project Managers work directly with the onsite team to schedule unit walks by floor plan and develop a detailed image quote based on unit type and to provide an overview of the entire cost of the project. It’s a critical first step to making sure that we have properly identified the scope of the project and it also provides a financial roadmap for property owners to make sure their financial objectives are being met before the work actually begins.” States Brown. “Once the project needs and the scope have been identified, the Project Support team goes to work forecasting the inventory needs to their purchasing team to ensure that the inventory is available when the units are ready to turn”.
Ordering Products and Services
To meet the specific timelines of each project, Lowes Pro Supply offers the flexibility of bulk ordering or they can streamline the ordering process and deliver by unit utilizing the Lowes Pro Supply Project Pak service. Their Project Pak service includes all the materials needed to turn each unit in one box and labeled by unit number for easy delivery. This simplifies the billing process and helps on site crews track, organize, and manage the inventory for each unit. Lowes Pro Supply also offers a suite of services including custom fabrication for special cut blinds, custom countertops, and installation services for key product categories including appliances.
Demonstrating flexibility
No matter how diligent the planning, there often are timeline and product changes that occur during a renovation project and Lowe’s Pro Supply Project Managers are adept at quickly finding solutions for both. Providing additional option for goods that might not arrive on time due to supply chain disruptions or helping management develop additional product and pricing options to secure different rent levels are just a few examples. During the pandemic, Lowe’s Pro Supply also ramped up to meet demand for PPE items so that site visits, unit walks and projects could safely be completed on time.
Whatever the impetus, the priority remains the same: to avoid missing a multifamily building’s timeline.
"We have a dedicated project support team that works closely with property management to ensure that we meet their timelines so they can safely plan ahead as soon as they receive a resident's move-out notification," says Brown. "The Project Pak, Project Managers, our dedicated call center and the timing of our unit walks ar all designed with that end goal in mind. It’s truly where we add value to each project that we manage for our customers.”