Challenge
A fast-growing portfolio outgrew a local, manual approach to maintenance
Managing thousands of single-family rental homes across diverse markets, Second Avenue needed a more consistent, scalable way to deliver high-quality repair and maintenance services. Relying on local vendors and manual processes made it difficult to control costs, ensure quality, and maintain a great resident experience.
As one of the nation's leading SFR operators, Second Avenue needed a partner that could bring the same consistency to R&M that it was building into the rest of its operations, without the overhead of standing up its own nationwide vendor network.
Solution
A structured, tech-enabled R&M program built for scale
Second Avenue partnered with Lessen to streamline operations, improve first-time fix rates, and reduce R&M costs while gaining full visibility into maintenance spend across its portfolio. Lessen's structured intake shortcuts unnecessary back-and-forth with residents and captures clean, complete information up front, including photos that help diagnose common issues like leaking toilets or discolored pools, and guides residents through simple self-fixes, such as resetting a circuit breaker, before a truck is ever rolled.
From there, structured data and automated decision rules route the large majority of work orders to an in-house technician or vendor without manual handling, and dynamic scheduling bundles less-urgent work to cut down on windshield time. A 24/7/365 call center backs up every work order, and Lessen's vendor management holds technicians accountable with before/after photos, geo-fencing, and performance tracking across dozens of metrics, all built on a national vendor network with the scale to deliver competitive pricing in Second Avenue's markets.
Results
With Lessen managing intake, triage, dispatch, and vendor oversight, Second Avenue saw measurable gains across cost, speed, and resident experience:
- $516 median cost per work order across all trades (25th–75th percentile: $493–$533)
- $1,752 median total cost to maintain per home annually (25th–75th percentile: $1,360–$2,612)
- 9.6-day median time to complete a work order
- 10–20% of work orders avoided entirely through resident self-fix guidance, cutting unnecessary truck rolls and supporting faster first-time fixes
- 4.72–4.83 resident satisfaction rating maintained across work order categories
- Up to 40% savings vs. retail pricing in markets where Lessen manages 10,000+ homes
Together, these improvements gave Second Avenue the consistency and control it needed to manage R&M as a strategic lever rather than a reactive cost center, with full visibility into spend across its entire portfolio.
Want the full benchmarking data, including the per-trade cost and speed breakdowns, market-by-market comparisons, and the complete savings model? Click here to download the full case study.
