RedPeak's Maintenance Training Center: Leading the Way in the Industry

A long career in maintenance is oftentimes launched from a first time or entry level position.  Historically upon hire, many employees have previously been “handed their keys” and expected to know exactly the skills required to perform all maintenance practices around their communities. This is how it was when Patrick Beck, RedPeak Manager of Maintenance Services, started in the industry over 24 years ago.

Early on in his career, Beck started to notice a gap between the ever-evolving industry of maintenance technology and the amount of time spent training individuals in these new skills. He found himself traveling to multiple properties every day of the week to assist fellow technicians on a specific project or concept that would arise. Although he was happy to share his expertise, he knew there had to be a more efficient way to provide training for his team.

Upon RedPeak acquiring the Colorado Station community in 2018, Beck found a large basement, unusable as an amenity to residents, and recognized an opportunity for the space. That’s when the idea for the Maintenance Training Center (MTC) was born- a revolutionary, centralized hub where all RedPeak maintenance technicians could go for weekly training consisting of practical hands-on practice with experienced professionals in their industry.

With the help of his Fire and Life Safety Coordinator, Daniel Peterson, Beck presented his idea to the RedPeak team and was given the green light to bring his vision to life. The two got to work on the space, cleaning and gutting nearly 20 years’ worth of storage and buildup. All the while, Beck and Peterson wasted no time on their true mission of providing education to their team members and started hosting some of the very first sessions in the basement, setting up spotlights to make the best of their environment. When they weren’t leading trainings, they were hard at work building the walls of what would be the classroom of the training center- setting the frames, walls, and electricity from scratch. By January 2023, class was official in session.

Since the start of the MTC, Beck and Peterson have been able to provide their team members with hands-on training sessions on topics ranging from drywall and texturing, asbestos safety, working with three-way switches plus other electrical classes, and electronic lock systems and programming. They have been able to set their team up with significant career advancement opportunities, including offering education credits and certification courses to help them promote to new job tiers within RedPeak. As technology continues to advance and new tactics become available, Beck and Peterson are the first to learn or bring in industry experts to their classes to give their teams the best education available.

“The support RedPeak offered was unlike anything I had experienced in my previous 24 years in the industry” states Beck. “RedPeak helped us bring our vision to life and invested in us every step of the way. You could tell they believed in us and believed in offering great growth opportunity to their RedPeak team.” The MTC is one of the first of its kind in the multifamily industry and is leading the way for great change, growth and success for RedPeak.

The two have lots of plans for the MTC’s future. “Our goal is to continue to expand the curriculum available and add more classes,” says Peterson. “We are always open to feedback from our team and use surveys to see what our techs are wanting to learn or need to know to perform daily tasks on the job. It’s all about asking the right questions, like what they need from us and how we can make their jobs easier and set them up for success.” A few class topics in the works for the future include makeready classes where their teams can work on practical situations in a kitchen, bathroom, sinks, etc. They plan to provide courses such as sewer snaking, water mitigation, fire and life safety, HVAC training, overall repair and maintenance IQ classes in the upcoming months.

RedPeak is grateful to have leaders like Beck and Peterson who exemplify RedPeak’s mission to Energize Communities & Bring People Together. Their investment in the growth of others is undeniable as they continue to go forward and make a difference in the industry… and this is just the beginning.

Watch the full interview with Beck and Peterson HERE.