Maintenance Request Response Time Benchmarks: What's Normal?
"How fast is fast enough?"
It's a question property managers ask constantly. If you respond in 2 hours, is that good? If it takes 2 days, is that a problem?
Without benchmarks, you're just guessing at your performance. Here is what "normal" looks like in the property management industry, and where you should be aiming.
The Three Stages of Response
To measure speed accurately, you have to break it down into three distinct phases:
1. Time to Acknowledgment
- Industry Average: 4 - 8 hours
- High Performance: < 1 hour
- The Standard: Every tenant should receive a response (even if it's automated) within 60 minutes of their request during business hours.
2. Time to Triage/Dispatch
- Industry Average: 12 - 24 hours
- High Performance: < 4 hours
- The Standard: Requests should be categorized, scored for severity, and sent to a vendor by the end of the business day they were received.
3. Time to Resolution
- Industry Average: 3 - 5 days
- High Performance: < 48 hours (for non-emergencies)
- The Standard: This varies by trade, but 72 hours is the threshold where tenant frustration begins to spike significantly.
Benchmarks by Severity
Not all requests are created equal. Your benchmarks should reflect the urgency of the issue:
| Severity | Target Acknowledgment | Target Dispatch | Target Resolution | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | 5 (Emergency) | Immediate | < 15 Minutes | < 4 Hours | | 4 (Urgent) | < 30 Minutes | < 1 Hour | < 24 Hours | | 3 (Moderate) | < 1 Hour | < 4 Hours | < 3 Days | | 2 (Minor) | < 4 Hours | < 24 Hours | < 7 Days | | 1 (Low) | < 8 Hours | < 48 Hours | < 14 Days |
Why Benchmarks Matter
- Staff Accountability: If you have a maintenance coordinator, benchmarks give them a clear goal to hit.
- Tenant Marketing: "We resolve 90% of maintenance requests within 48 hours" is a powerful selling point for new tenants.
- Owner Reporting: Professional reports showing you're outperforming industry averages justify your management fees.
How to Improve Your Times
Most delays aren't caused by vendors; they're caused by the "inbox lag." The time it takes for a human to read an email, decide what it is, find the right vendor, and send the dispatch.
If you can automate the triage and drafting process, you can shave hours (or days) off your total resolution time.
OpsPilot Note: OpsPilot tracks these benchmarks for you automatically. Our dashboard shows you exactly how much time you're saving and how your response times are trending, giving you the data you need to prove your value to owners.