Why Focus on Pricing Additional Services?

Beyond your core management fee (typically a percentage of rent or a flat fee per unit), additional services represent key opportunities to increase your average revenue per client and provide greater value.

Strategically pricing these services allows you to:

• Increase Profitability: Add-ons often have higher margins than the base management fee.
• Enhance Client Value: Offering a range of services makes you a one-stop shop, solving more problems for property owners.
• Improve Client Retention: Clients are less likely to switch providers if you meet more of their needs.
• Differentiate Your Offering: A well-structured set of additional services can make your business stand out from competitors.
• Adapt to Specific Property Needs: Not all properties require the same services. Add-ons allow for customization.

Neglecting or poorly pricing these services means missed revenue and potentially providing services ‘for free’ that should be generating income.

Common Additional Services in Student Housing

Student housing presents unique challenges and opportunities, leading to a specific set of common additional services:

• Leasing & Marketing Fees: Fees associated with finding tenants, showings, application processing, and executing leases. Often a percentage of the first month’s rent or a flat fee per lease.
• Tenant Placement/Screening: In-depth background checks, credit checks, and verification processes beyond the basic application review.
• Maintenance Coordination Fees: While routine maintenance is often covered, coordinating significant repairs, renovations, or capital expenditures may incur an additional fee.
• Turnover Services: Cleaning, painting, minor repairs, and coordination needed to prepare a unit for the next tenant after move-out.
• Utility Management/Bill Backs: Setting up, managing, and billing back utilities (electricity, gas, internet, water) to tenants.
• Furniture Rental/Management: For furnished units, fees associated with furniture procurement, repair, or replacement.
• HOA/Condo Association Management: If managing individual units within an association, services related to dealing with the HOA.
• Project Management for CapEx: Managing larger renovation or construction projects.
• Legal/Eviction Coordination: Managing the legal process for evictions or lease violations (often pass-through costs plus a coordination fee).
• Reporting & Accounting Customization: Providing specialized reports or handling complex accounting requirements.

Calculating Costs: The Foundation for Pricing

Before you can price effectively, you must understand your costs. This isn’t just the direct cost (e.g., paying a cleaner for turnover) but also your indirect costs:

1. Direct Labor: The hourly cost of your staff’s time spent on the service.
2. Direct Materials/Expenses: Costs for supplies, subcontractor fees, software used specifically for that service.
3. Overhead Allocation: A portion of your fixed costs (rent, utilities, administrative salaries, software like your core property management software, etc.) that should be allocated to the time spent delivering this service.
4. Opportunity Cost: What else could your staff (or you) be doing with that time that would generate revenue?

Track the time and resources spent on delivering these additional services for a few months. Tools like time-tracking software (e.g., Toggle Track - https://toggl.com, Clockify - https://clockify.me) can be invaluable here. Once you have a clear picture of your true costs, you can add your desired profit margin to arrive at a profitable price.

Pricing Models for Add-On Services

Several models can be used for pricing additional services property management companies offer:

Packaging and Bundling Services

Instead of offering every service à la carte, consider packaging related services or creating tiered add-on bundles.

• Bundling Benefits: Simplifies decision-making for clients, can increase the average transaction value, and positions your services as comprehensive solutions.
• Examples:
  • Lease-Up Package: Includes marketing, showings, screening, and lease execution for a single fee.
  • Premium Turnover Bundle: Includes enhanced cleaning, minor repairs, painting, and professional photos for the next listing.
  • Management Plus Bundle: Includes base management, utility management, and standard maintenance coordination fees.

Offering different tiers (e.g., ‘Standard’, ‘Premium’, ‘All-Inclusive’ add-on packages) allows owners to choose the level of service that fits their property and budget. This is where presenting complex options clearly becomes critical. Static PDFs or spreadsheets can be confusing and overwhelming.

This is a prime example where a tool like PricingLink (https://pricinglink.com) shines. It allows you to create interactive pricing links where clients can select their base management plan, then add on different service packages or individual services, seeing the total price update instantly. This simplifies the client experience and helps them visualize the value of the add-ons.

Presenting and Communicating Value

Simply listing prices isn’t enough. You need to clearly articulate the value each additional service provides.

• Focus on Benefits: Instead of saying ‘Tenant Screening: $50’, say ‘Comprehensive Tenant Screening: Reduces risk of non-payment and property damage through thorough background, credit, and rental history checks ($50 per applicant).’
• Use Case Studies/Examples: Share stories of how these services have benefited other owners (e.g., ‘Our expedited turnover service reduced vacancy days by 50% for similar properties’).
• Make Pricing Easy to Understand: Avoid jargon. Clearly define what is included in each service or bundle.
• Interactive Pricing Presentation: As mentioned earlier, using a tool that allows clients to configure their services and see costs dynamically can significantly improve understanding and perceived transparency. While comprehensive proposal software like PandaDoc (https://www.pandadoc.com) or Proposify (https://www.proposify.com) offers end-to-end solutions including e-signatures and full contracts, if your primary need is a modern, interactive way to present complex pricing options and add-ons without the overhead of a full proposal suite, PricingLink (https://pricinglink.com) offers a focused and affordable alternative that excels specifically at the pricing presentation step.

By clearly communicating the ROI and convenience of your additional services, you justify the price and increase the likelihood of clients opting in.

Reviewing and Adjusting Your Pricing

The market for student housing property management services is constantly evolving. Your costs change, competitor pricing shifts, and the value you provide grows as you gain experience.

Regularly review the pricing additional services property management team offers, ideally annually. Consider:

• Cost Increases: Have your labor, materials, or overhead costs gone up?
• Market Rates: What are competitors charging for similar services?
• Client Feedback: Are clients asking for services you don’t offer? Are they hesitant about certain prices?
• Profitability: Are your add-on services as profitable as they should be?
• Value Delivered: Have you improved the efficiency or effectiveness of a service, increasing its value to the owner?

Don’t be afraid to adjust your prices. Communicate changes clearly to existing clients with advance notice, explaining the continued value you provide. For new clients, present your updated pricing confidently.