San Jose Property Management: Maintenance and Vendors

Choosing the right vendors to work on your rental property is extremely important. We have a lot of clients ask us why we will only work with vendors who are licensed and bonded. We do this to protect our property owners. If there is an injury on your property and the contractor doing the work isn’t licensed or insured, you can be liable for any worker’s compensation. That’s not an expense most property owners plan for, and that’s why it’s important to make sure your vendors are properly bonded.

We also have clients ask if they can do the repairs themselves. Absolutely, if you have the skills and the expertise and the time, you can make any necessary repairs or take care of maintenance issues that you’re familiar with. The one thing we stress is that you have to make sure you are able to make those repairs in a timely manner. The work has to get done right away and it has to be the highest quality of work. If you or someone you know is able to fix something or perform routine maintenance, do it. Just make sure you do it immediately. You cannot keep your tenants waiting. If you wait three weeks to make even a minor repair, your relationship with that tenant will suffer.

At Aborn Properties, we recommend you find a small contractor who runs a smaller company and does good, reliable and affordable work. The best contractors will easily understand what you want and be willing to go out there and get the job done. Finding a reliable contractor will save you money and time in the long term.

You don’t want to go straight to the biggest ad in the yellow pages. That company has to pay for those big ads, and you might find yourself having to help cover the cost by paying higher rates. People often ask us about the low bid process and for most small jobs, going through a bidding process can actually cost you money. Most people don’t want to pay for just the bidding process. Choosing the lowest bid can also be detrimental. That low bid often won’t be there when you have to have the contractor come back and do the work that wasn’t completed correctly the first time.

Try to find vendors whose quality is in the top third, for prices that are in the bottom third. Maintenance will eat you up as a property owner if you don’t do it well and it affects your bottom line. You need to develop an efficient maintenance process for your rental home.

If you have any questions about maintenance, or you need help finding vendors, please contact us at Aborn Properties.