When you find yourself researching the best property management companies in the area, one of the most important questions to ask is whether maintenance is performed in-house or contracted out to local vendors and contractors. This is important, especially if you’ve never worked with a property manager before, and you don’t know what to expect.
Most property professionals will do one or the other. Either they’ll have their own maintenance division in-house, or they will not have any type of maintenance team, and they’ll subcontract the work out.
Occasionally, you may come across a hybrid version, where the management company will perform limited maintenance and subcontract out the bigger or more specialty items to professionals like electricians or plumbers.
At Rental Homes USA, we have a team of highly skilled technicians who remain available to take care of emergency needs around the clock. Our team also provides routine maintenance including plumbing, electrical, and sheet rock repairs. We handle the painting, carpet and vinyl installation, landscaping, mowing and snow removal. Whatever the maintenance task, requiring interior or exterior attention, we can handle it. This is a huge benefit to our owners.
We want to give you a look at how in-house maintenance measures up to outsourced maintenance so you can make up your own mind as you choose a property manager.
Contracting Out Rental Home Repairs in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach
When a property management company outsources out all maintenance, the property manager or the maintenance coordinator takes care of organizing routine and emergency maintenance needs between the vendors and your tenants who are reporting repair needs. The vendor employs the workers and assumes all liability for those employees.
You will want to make sure your property manager has verified the vendor’s professional license and insurance. If employees are involved, they need to have worker’s compensation insurance. The point of checking for licensure and insurance is protection. If a worker gets hurt at a property, the vendor makes any claim against their own insurance, not the property owner’s insurance.
When a management company uses a vendor on a regular basis, they should be able to negotiate competitive rates. These discounts should be passed on to you, the owner. A good management company will also review and pay invoices on your behalf.
How Landlords Can Benefit from In-House Maintenance
That’s generally how things work when your property manager outsources maintenance.
There is an argument to be made in favor of in-house maintenance.
When your property manager has their own maintenance team, they can control the scheduling, the pricing, and the experience. Your vendors will be well-screened.
You won’t have to worry about waiting for a plumber to be available of an electrician to get back to you. The maintenance personnel employed by your property manager are readily available to be scheduled for work.
Coordinating repairs is often more efficient.
Many of us in property management believe this approach to rental property maintenance is more cost-effective for the property owner and that repairs are made in a timelier manner. We can hold our maintenance team accountable, and we are also accountable to our owners and tenants.
Maintenance is one of the most complicated parts of renting out an investment property. If you don’t already have a preferred list of vendors and contractors in place, you could spend a lot of time and money trying to get repairs made at your rental property.
Professional property management can help. Even better is professional property management with an in-house maintenance team. Here’s how you’ll find you might benefit from in-house maintenance:
You Know You’re Working with Licensed and Insured Contractors
Having access to licensed and insured contractors is critical. You don’t want to hire anyone off the street or off the internet to make important repairs. This only increases your liability and risk. You also don’t want to make the repairs yourself. Who knows when you’ll have the time? Our background and experience allow us to properly screen the maintenance team we send to the rental properties we manage. With our maintenance experts, you’ll know you’re getting licensed and insured professionals who can be counted on to do good work.
Repairs and Maintenance are Cost-Effective
Maintenance can be expensive, and if you’re not sure what things should cost, you can end up paying more than you need to even for minor repairs. With access to an in-house maintenance team, you won’t have to worry about overpaying. Your property managers understand the repair and maintenance needs of your property. We work closely with handymen and maintenance crews to make sure your needs are met affordably. You won’t have to waste time collecting bids from competing contractors.
Responsive Emergency Repairs
When there’s an emergency at the property, time is of the essence. You don’t want to waste time looking for someone who can respond. With our team, we can immediately dispatch a professional to diagnose the problem and make a plan for resolving it. This is good for you because any further damage will be mitigated. It’s good for your tenants because their issue will be responded to immediately.
Flexibility with Outsourcing When Repairs are Extensive
While our own maintenance team is excellent at taking care of the general repairs that are needed at your property, we’re quick to understand when a more nuanced professional is required. When there’s extensive renovation work that’s needed or a repair we run into that we just haven’t had the opportunity to address before, we have relationships in place with outside contractors who can help us. There’s never any concern that we won’t be able to respond to a repair or a problem that’s happening at your property. We’re confident in what our team can do, and we’re well-connected enough to ask for help if the need arises.
Most importantly, in-house maintenance means that vendors are readily available to respond to problems as they occur. This means better protection for your property and your profitability.
Let’s talk about the best maintenance scenario for you and your investment. Contact us at Rental Homes USA.
We have great communication with our tenants. This means a lot to them, especially when we are quick to respond to their needs. We’re particularly proactive when it comes to maintenance and repair requests, but we’ll tell you more about repairs in a later blog.
