Managing your rental property can become a full-time job. You are the point of contact for your tenants and their first call when they have a home maintenance issue. While you could personally respond to each of these calls, there’s a better way. Contractor relationships give you a team of professionals to call on to service your rental property. Locating these vendors and developing relationships before you need them ensures a faster response time when an issue arises.
Consider having these five vendors on your speed dial as a rental property owner.
1. HVAC
Texas tenant/landlord law requires repair problems that materially affect the physical health and safety of an ordinary tenant to be addressed immediately. In some cases, this could be applied to a lack of heating or air conditioning. Having a contractor on call that can handle HVAC issues keeps your tenants happy and ensures you stay in compliance with the law.
Maintaining an ongoing relationship is also smart because you should have your contractor make regular checks. A routine maintenance check in the spring for the AC system and another for the heating system in the fall helps catch issues early and prevent breakdowns.
2. Electrician and Plumber
It always happens at the worst time, like the middle of the night or a holiday weekend. The toilet clogs, or a light stops working. Having an established vendor relationship with an electrician and plumber ensures you get these issues addressed as quickly as possible. That way, you don’t spend hours calling around and hoping you find someone available. These issues must be addressed immediately, or you risk greater damage and even more expensive repairs.
3. General Contractor
Instead of developing and maintaining multiple vendor relationships, you can look for a single general contractor. This is ideal for rental property owners that only own one or two properties. You probably won’t need specific contractors very often. However, with a general contractor relationship, you can call them for your needs. General contractors manage the 1,000-foot view of projects by managing timelines and specialized contractors. This simplifies the maintenance and repair process.
4. Landscaper
One of the most important contractor relationships you can have is a trusted landscaper. While you could put the responsibility on the tenant, they likely won’t maintain it to the level that you desire. Instead, you can frame landscaping services as a perk of your lease and hire a professional. Maintaining the landscaping ensures your property complies with any HOA or municipal codes. It also retains your rental property’s curb appeal and value. Consider the landscaping needs of your property. Perhaps you need weekly mowing in the summer, but only every couple of weeks in the winter. Maybe your property has trees that need trimming each spring.
5. Property Management
While many people do not consider a property manager a contractor, it is a relationship worth considering. A property manager will have several contractor relationships and typically secure a lower rate than a rental property owner can negotiate. Because they manage multiple properties, they have a greater need, which results in volume discounts. Hiring a property manager to oversee your property’s day-to-day oversight streamlines the contractor hiring process.
Develop Your Vendor Relationships
While some rental property owners attempt to do everything themselves, this isn’t feasible for everyone. It can quickly become a full-time job or require skills that are beyond the owner’s knowledge. Developing relationships with contractors and vendors take the workload off your plate and allows you to leverage their expertise and skills to ensure your rental property and tenants are well taken care of.
Schedule a call with one of our experienced property managers and find out how our contractor relationships can make maintaining your rental property easier.
