Recently I had a great conversation with a client who is faced with a tough decision – allow another Service Provider to build to her property and go through a major construction project on-site or continue allowing the same single Service Provider to serve and therefore earn above-market revenue.

We often help our clients navigate these types of decisions. Revenue is obviously important, but more important is our Clients ability to rent apartments and to offer enhances resident services. Lack of available Internet and TV options could diminish the ability to attract and retain residents.

So, when a client can’t have both choice and revenue – I personally land firmly on the side of choice. Providing a choice to residents ensures your property stays technologically competitive with newer buildings, and that pricing for residents remains competitive. In addition, risk to an Owner is mitigated if one of the Service Providers is not delivering optimal services or isn’t able to upgrade their facilities and stay competitive.

Usually when one of our clients is in this situation, it comes down to one of these factors:

  • Your existing contracts grant another Service Provider exclusive use of wire in your building (or worse the Service Provider owns the wiring)
  • The property wasn’t built with two Service Providers in mind and thus requires significant capex to install new wiring systems which the Service Provider may be unwilling to pay for, or may be problematic aesthetically for the Owner
  • Older infrastructure simply can’t deliver better products and upgrading networks is too costly
  • Your existing contracts are paying above market revenue, and by adding another Service Provider you may reduce the anticipated revenue share
  • Your existing Service Provider is under a Bulk agreement, and a second Service Provider may not be willing to invest in the property until it’s terminated

When faced with these obstacles we want to quickly address the property’s pain points by speaking with the site team about the pros and cons of adding another service.  We then seek out proposal options that will be amenable to our client, preferably without our client having to pay out of pocket for any expenses to upgrade wiring. Revenue is not a primary objective when trying to resolve an urgent service need.

If you have a property you feel is underserved or experiencing issues, we’d love to hear from you and come up with a plan to improve the resident experience. You may contact your Client Account Manager or email info@realtycompartners.com to discuss directly.