Multifamily Technicians Are Failing Because Owners Are Failing Them

Mark Cukro returns to Masters of Maintenance for a deep dive into the first national maintenance survey ever conducted at this scale — over 1,000 respondents across 22 companies. The numbers don't lie, and some of them are uncomfortable. Access the survey results here: https://swiftbunny.com/wp-content/upl... Adrian and Mark unpack what maintenance technicians are really saying about training, tools, technology, and how they're being treated — and why the industry keeps getting it wrong. Topics covered: • Why 2/3 of technicians get less than one hour of training per month • The $11,000/year cost of interrupting your techs 5x a day • Why learning management systems alone don't work • The #1 tool technicians say they're missing (hint: it costs $30) • How A2L refrigerant changes are blindsiding operators and techs alike • Why 60–90% turnover is hiding in plain sight • What Arbor Properties did to drop their turnover below 15% • Why operators buy software without asking the people who use it 00:00 Intro 01:44 About the Survey 04:22 Leaders Who Resist Change 05:18 Maintenance as a Profit Center 08:44 The Real Cost of Interrupting Technicians 10:30 Training: Teams That Don't Train Don't Win 16:14 LMS Don't Teach You Anything 19:00 AI and Preserving Legacy Knowledge 25:32 Technicians Are Not Being Asked About Technology 29:00 The Multimeter Problem: Tools and Turnover 33:54 A2L Refrigerant Changes 45:50 Office Staff and Maintenance Cross-Training 49:26 Final Takeaways