Today we are talking about vendors and emergency maintenance.
If you are a do-it-yourselfer, that’s great. You can save yourself a lot of money. You can paint, take care of cleaning, and maybe do any small repairs that are easy to manage.
That’s assuming you have the time to do it.
There are professionals out there who can do that work for you, but if you’re interested in saving money, you can do it yourself.
If you’re like me and a lot of other landlords, you need help to make your property ready and to keep up with repairs.
I strongly suggest you make connections.
Talk to other landlords you know and find out who they use.
Conduct a search on Google to find professional vendors with good online reputations.
Ensure Vendors have Proper Licensing and Insurance
It’s very important that every single person you allow in your home has the proper insurance. Make sure you see proof of insurance on anyone you allow into your home for work. In many cases, these maintenance personnel will need to be licensed as well.
I always recommend avoiding Joe down the street when it comes to plumbing work. Unless he’s a licensed plumber who carries insurance, you don’t want him working on your rental property.
A lot of people think they are plumbers, but if your plumbing fails and results in water damage or mold, Joe will probably not be able to take care of that damage. You’ll have larger problems than the initial plumbing fix.
Specialized work like electrical and HVAC systems need professionals with property licensing. The liability in those situations is just too great.
Emergency Maintenance
Emergency maintenance vendors have to be in place. Hopefully, you won’t need to use them very often, but you have to know who to call.
When your tenant calls you at 4:00 a.m. and the basement is filled with three feet of water, do you know who to call in that moment? You need to have someone who can get out there quick and take care of the problem. You can’t wait around on something like that.
As a professional property manager, we have established great relationships with local vendors who carry the licenses and insurance that is required.
It’s great to have those relationships because we’re right there at the top of their list. We are often our vendors’ largest customer, so when we call them, they react very quickly.
They also provide extra eyes and ears on our rental homes. They let us know right away if something doesn’t look right.
