Best questions for tenants survey about maintenance response time

Here are some of the best questions for a tenants survey about maintenance response time, plus quick tips on how to build them. You can instantly generate these surveys using Specific—just create your own and start collecting actionable insights.

Best open-ended questions for tenants survey about maintenance response time

Open-ended questions are key for understanding tenants’ true experiences. They let people express what mattered, how things really felt, and what you can improve—without forcing responses into boxes. We use them most when we want new stories, deeper explanations, or perspective on individual needs. Rapid, clear communication directly drives tenant satisfaction; in fact, properties that respond fast to maintenance see a 20% increase in overall tenant satisfaction [1].

1. How would you describe the speed of maintenance response in your building?

2. Can you share an example of a time when maintenance responded faster (or slower) than expected?

3. What factors made a recent repair experience positive or negative for you?

4. How do you usually report a maintenance issue, and is that process easy for you?

5. Have there been times when you didn’t report an issue? Why?

6. What could we do to make maintenance response better for you and other tenants?

7. Were you kept informed throughout the repair process? How did that affect your experience?

8. How does our repair completion time compare with your expectations or previous homes?

9. Are there suggestions you wish you could give our maintenance team directly?

10. If you could change one thing about the maintenance process, what would it be?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for tenants survey about maintenance response time

Single-select multiple-choice questions are ideal when you want quantifiable feedback or need to kickstart deeper conversation. It’s easier for tenants to quickly pick an answer, especially when they’re short on time. You can always pair these with open text for context, or add smart followups later. Structured options make it much simpler to spot broad trends in satisfaction or highlight outliers for further inquiry—think of it as getting big-picture clarity quickly before drilling deeper.

Question: How satisfied were you with the speed of your most recent maintenance request?

• Very satisfied

• Satisfied

• Neutral

• Dissatisfied

• Very dissatisfied

Question: On average, how long do maintenance issues take to resolve after you report them?

• Less than 24 hours

• 1-2 days

• 3-5 days

• More than 5 days

• Other

Question: How well were you kept informed about your maintenance request’s progress?

• Always kept informed

• Sometimes informed

• Rarely informed

• Not kept informed at all

When to follow-up with "why?" Whenever a tenant selects a negative or unexpected answer—like “Dissatisfied” or “Not kept informed at all”—we recommend asking, “Why do you feel that way?” Open up the conversation so you can understand the context behind their choice; often, that's where actionable insights hide.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always use “Other” when it’s possible your list of answers doesn’t fit every situation. This lets tenants surface scenarios or feedback you haven’t anticipated—followup questions here can uncover new problems or creative solutions you didn’t know existed.

NPS question: Would Net Promoter Score make sense for tenants maintenance response surveys?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks tenants, “How likely are you to recommend our property to others?” It’s the gold standard for measuring loyalty—and it works surprisingly well with maintenance topics, too. If maintenance fixes are prompt and communication is clear, NPS scores shoot up, reflecting higher satisfaction and retention. In fact, 87% of tenants report satisfaction with repair times, which typically correlates with strong NPS scores [2]. Try building a targeted NPS survey for tenants about maintenance response time to track loyalty and word-of-mouth growth.

The power of follow-up questions

If you want to move from generic survey data to real insight, automated follow-up questions change everything. Instead of guessing at what a comment means, Specific's AI interview engine asks clarifying questions in real time, right after a tenant shares feedback. The AI explores their first response, checks for details, and uncovers the “why” so you never have to chase answers over email. The result: richer, clearer feedback—every single time.

• Tenant: “Maintenance was slow last time.”

• AI follow-up: “Can you tell me how long it took to resolve, and if there was any communication during the wait?”

How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2-3 focused followup questions are perfect for digging deep without wearing out your respondents. And if someone’s already clear, enable a “skip to next” option—Specific lets you configure this easily for smooth survey flow.

This makes it a conversational survey: Followups transform a static list of questions into an engaging, chat-like conversation. Tenants feel heard, not interrogated.

AI survey response analysis: Don’t worry about parsing a mountain of open text—our AI survey response analysis makes it trivial. Just ask the AI to summarize themes, pull key quotes, or flag urgent issues—even across hundreds of answers.

These new approaches are fast becoming the norm. If you haven’t tried an AI-powered survey with smart followups, generate a survey and see how different the experience feels.

How to prompt AI (like ChatGPT) to create questions for tenants survey about maintenance response time

Want to draft survey questions fast? Write a prompt for ChatGPT or any GPT-based tool. The simplest way is:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for tenants survey about maintenance response time.

You’ll get better results if you add context. For example, let the AI know more about your property, tenant demographics, or your goal:

I manage a 200-unit apartment complex and want feedback on our maintenance response time. Most tenants are young professionals. Generate 10 open-ended questions that help us understand what matters most to them when repairs are needed.

After getting your questions, use another prompt to organize them:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Once you see the categories, you can focus deeper. Let’s say “communication” matters most:

Generate 10 questions for the “communication” category about maintenance response for tenants.

Adding context always helps AI give you higher-quality, more relevant survey questions, and building surveys this way takes minutes instead of hours. For a faster way, try the Specific survey generator.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey feels like a real exchange with an expert interviewer, not a dull online form. With AI, these surveys become fluid, personalized, and responsive—each answer from your tenant might spark a clarifying followup or a new line of inquiry. It’s the reason so many property managers are switching from static forms to chat-driven surveys for more honest tenant insights.

Let’s compare:

Why use AI for tenants surveys? Eighty-seven percent of tenants care about speed—but it’s the experience that wins trust. Using an AI survey example, you tap into conversational probing and response analysis, surfacing actionable themes effortlessly. Plus, you can test, tweak, and launch in minutes using an AI survey builder—not days.

Specific has put a huge focus on making conversational surveys feel natural for both the person running the survey and every tenant responding. We combine best-in-class conversational AI with instant summaries, flexible editing, and deep analytics for the smoothest survey experience around.

See this maintenance response time survey example now

Try a survey designed for tenants about maintenance response time—discover smarter, deeper feedback with conversational AI and actionable insights from the first response. Start building better surveys today with Specific’s smart conversational engine.