Knowledge Base
MRO (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations)
MRO (maintenance, repair, and operations) is the category of purchased goods — parts, supplies, and tools — consumed in keeping a property running, as distinct from materials capitalized into construction or capital projects.
What counts as MRO at an apartment property
MRO covers the physical goods consumed keeping units and common areas functional: HVAC parts like capacitors, fan motors, and refrigerant; appliance parts; plumbing fittings and water heaters; electrical supplies; paint and drywall materials; air filters; janitorial supplies; hand tools. It excludes capital purchases like a roof replacement, which are budgeted and approved differently. In multifamily, MRO is dominated by many small, urgent purchases — a failed igniter, a leaking fill valve — bought one repair at a time. Niche categories such as HVAC and appliance parts carry the widest price spreads between suppliers, which makes them the most rewarding to source deliberately.
Why MRO spend is hard to control
MRO has a high transaction count and a low value per transaction. A property can post hundreds of parts purchases in a year, none individually worth a manager's review, while the total carries real money — the National Apartment Association's 2024 Income/Expense IQ data puts repairs and maintenance at $1,098 per unit. The same part can carry different prices at different suppliers, and the buyer is usually a technician solving an urgent problem, not a purchasing agent comparing quotes. Control mechanisms built for large purchases — approvals, bids, purchase orders — do not fit a small part needed today.
How to measure MRO performance
Measure MRO the way the money is spent: at the line level. Track maintenance cost per unit to compare properties and periods, then go a layer deeper and check what individual items cost against other verified suppliers. Per-unit numbers tell you whether spend is high; only item-level pricing tells you why. That second check is the one most operators never run, because it requires reading every invoice line — which is exactly what The Benchmark was built to do quarterly.
Related terms
Start with one property and one quarter
Send us a quarter of invoices and we will show you what it should have cost. If there is nothing there, we will tell you that too.
