Every rental property is going to need maintenance work at some point, no matter how new it is and no matter how excellent its condition is today. You have to be prepared for preventative maintenance and you have to know how you’ll respond to emergency repairs.
At TCS Management, we work with in-house maintenance personnel who can respond to general handyman-types of issues. But for most of our work, we contract with outside vendors. Our preferred list of vendors ensures our owners get the best work for the most competitive prices.
If you don’t already have a network of preferred vendors and contractors in place, it’s time to put one together.
Avoid Liability: Work with Licensed and Insured Professionals
It’s tempting to ask your friend to fix a sink or to call a freelance painter who you met at the hardware store. It might seem like you’re saving money, but it actually has the potential to cost you more because it opens you up to a lot of liability and risk. It can end up being more expensive than you imagine.
We recommend that you only hire licensed and insured professionals. It ensures a high standard of workmanship, and it allows you to hold your vendors accountable for the repairs they make. Most importantly, it protects you against liability. You want them to be licensed and insured. You want them to be reputable and reliable.
Screening Philadelphia Contractors and Vendors
You screen your tenants carefully because you want to protect your property. This is the same reason to screen your vendors and contractors. These professionals represent you when they’re dealing with your tenants, so if they’re rude or dangerous or unpleasant, your tenants will have an unfavorable impression of how you handle maintenance and repairs.
Talk to current and former customers and investigate their online reviews. Visit their website and see if they have any guarantees. Take your time getting to know your potential vendors and make sure you and your property will be a priority for them, whether you have a routine repair or an emergency.
Consider Professional Philadelphia Property Management
Working with a professional Philadelphia property management company comes with a number of benefits, including access to high quality vendors. Management companies have a lot of advantages over individual landlords. We provide a larger volume of business to vendors and contractors, so we can usually negotiate lower rates, which we pass onto our owners. We also know that our needs come first; when we need a plumber or an electrician or a cleaner or a landscaper, we don’t have to wait in line or compete with other customers for their time. We work with vendors who are responsive, great at what they do, and fairly priced. We do all the license and insurance checking for you.
Currently, there are 500 vendors and contractors in our preferred network. That gives us a lot of options and a lot of resources when work is needed at your property. We closely monitor their work and we make sure they’re well-suited for the asset we send them to when a repair is needed.
These are just some of the good reasons to work with a preferred list of vendors and contractors. If you can’t put together your own network, contact us at TCS Management and take advantage of the relationships we already have in place.
TCS Management is a full service property management company headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also serving Cherry Hill, NJ, Wilmington, Delaware and the surrounding areas. We focus on single-family and multifamily residential property management of homes, condos, townhomes, and apartment buildings.
