A topic that often keeps rental property investors up at night is maintenance costs.
These can feel like a “roll of the dice” where you’re never quite sure when they’re coming, who is making the decisions, or if the work is being done right.
But what if maintenance didn’t have to be a surprise?
On last week’s Not Your Average Investor Show, we sat down with a true construction expert: JWB’s Senior Superintendent of Construction, Tom Leon. Tom is celebrating his 10-year anniversary with us this August, and just last year, he oversaw nearly $70 million in construction volume.
We pulled back the curtain on how we’ve turned maintenance from a headache into a driver of long-term returns.
The Power of Operational Scale
Maintenance cost control isn’t about finding the cheapest handyman on Craigslist; it’s about creating operational scale that allows for precision and repetition.
In 2025, Tom’s team managed a staggering volume of work to optimize every dollar spent:
| Metric | 2025 Performance Data |
| New Construction Homes Built | 337 homes |
| Average Build Time | 144 days |
| Property Turns Completed | 1,431 turns |
| Average Turn Time | 10 days |
| Total Construction Volume | Nearly $70 Million |
| Monthly Construction Spend | ~$6 Million |
This volume allows JWB to move beyond guesswork.
By spending $6 million a month, the team has the leverage to negotiate “bulk pricing” that individual investors simply can’t access (like high-quality Sherwin-Williams paint for $20 per gallon instead of the retail price of $80).
This systematic approach yields a 20% to 30% discount compared to retail construction costs.
The fact that we also ensure preferential treatment for our investors during high demand (like after a hurricane) is an added bonus!
Three Teams in One System
Lower costs aren’t the result of one-off bargains; they come from the synergy between three connected functions: New Construction, Renovations/Turns, and Maintenance.
👉 Inside JWB’s 3-Department Construction Engine
Tom uses a brilliant analogy to explain how these teams protect your return:
The Renovation/New Construction (The Team Building the Race Car)
- The goal is to build a “performing asset” designed for an endurance race.
- JWB addresses major issues upfront so they don’t “kick the can down the road” for the owner to deal with later.
The Property Turn (The Pit Crew)
- When a resident moves out, the “pit crew” steps in to get the car back on the track as fast as possible.
- This team focuses on speed and necessity, asking if a repair is truly required for the house to rent or if it can last another lease term to protect the investor’s immediate cash flow.
By treating every property as a high-performance machine rather than a one-off project, we eliminate the friction and vacancy that typically drain an investor’s bank account.
The “JWB Standard” for Durability
👉 What is the “JWB Standard” for Rentals?
To ensure the “race car” lasts, JWB adheres to strict standards before a property ever reaches an investor:
- Major Mechanicals: The major components – roof, A/C, plumbing, and electrical – are repaired / replaced according to objective standards. For example, roofs must have at least 10 years of life remaining when a home is initially renovated, or JWB replaces them at their own expense.
- Plumbing Integrity: When necessary, houses are re-piped with the correct materials. As a precaution, when warning signs present themselves, drain lines are inspected with cameras to prevent collapsed pipes under the slab.
- Standardization: Almost every JWB home uses the same paint colors, flooring, and hardware. This eliminates “decision fatigue” and ensures maintenance techs always have the right materials on hand for quick repairs.
- Maximum “Useability”: Finishes for JWB rental properties are selected based on cost, how durable they are, how easy they are to maintain, and how easy they are to replace. These houses are meant to be lived in.
Standardizing the “guts” of the home ensures that maintenance is never a matter of chance, but a predictable outcome of smart preparation.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE INSIGHT: You Should Never Be the Project Manager
👉 Why Your “Passive” Investment is Becoming Active
Managing a renovation typically requires coordinating 16 different trades, while a simple property turn requires 5 to 6.
That alone is a full-time job, and you shouldn’t handle it.
It can be incredibly costly if an outside contractor looks at your property as a one-time job, which leads to a mindset where repairs are random, reactive, and hard to control.
That’s why JWB does pricing, planning, and execution all inside one aligned internal team.
That single-team alignment is what turns maintenance from something random and reactive into something predictable and controlled.
It’s not a roll of the dice. It never has to be.