Almost every owner who hires us has a guy. Sometimes it is a brother-in-law. Sometimes it is a handyman who has done every repair on the property for a decade and charges less than anybody else. And one of the first uncomfortable conversations we have is about whether we are going to use him.
Owners hear that as us protecting our own vendors. It is not that. It is that one guy per trade is not a plan, and I have the scars to prove it.
What twenty years of contractors looks like
- A contractor who got about $70,000 of work from us every year simply stopped answering the phone. No fight, no falling out, he just stopped. Ghosted!
- One decided he could only be reached on Fridays. We sent an email on a Thursday so Friday would go smoothly, and he came into our office screaming about it.
- A roofer gave us a written guarantee. The roof leaked, he ghosted us, and he blocked every number in our office. We only got paid because we had collected his insurance information before he ever started, so we could file a claim.
- One we had used hundreds of times over twelve years took a $9,000 deposit on a $20,000 job and never did the work. It took the state police to get that money back.
And underneath the big stories is the everyday stuff. No written estimate. No callback. An invoice with one line on it and a big number at the bottom. No show, no text, no reason.
Most owners think it works like ordering a pizza
You call, they come when they say they will, they fix it right the first time, they charge you what you agreed to pay, you pay, and you go back to your life. It has never worked like that.
Here is what actually happens when you are dependent on one guy. He retires. He blows the engine in his truck. He gets a steady contract with a home builder and stops taking small jobs. He gets sick. He falls off the wagon. And you find that out on the coldest night of the year, with a tenant calling about no heat and a phone that rings and rings.
What a bench is, and why we keep one
We keep at least two vendors for every trade in every market we serve. That is on purpose, and it costs us something. It means we cannot give any one contractor all of our work, and it means we are always trying out somebody new even when we are not desperate.
We do it because of one thing I believe all the way down: you can only hold a standard if you are willing to let somebody go. And you will only let somebody go if you have someone else to call.
Without a bench, every owner and every manager quietly lowers their standards, one excuse at a time.
To be fair to the trades
Good contractors are not sitting by the phone. They already have work lined up. When they take on a new customer they are taking a risk too, because plenty of customers do not pay, do not decide, and do not respect their time.
So be a good consumer. Be clear about scope, approve work quickly, pay fast, and do not call every job an emergency. That is how you become the customer a good contractor answers first.
Where your guy fits
We are not saying your contractor is bad. Plenty of them are excellent, and we are glad to look at them. What we need before they touch a unit is simple:
- Current liability insurance, and workers compensation if they have employees
- Written estimates before the work, not an invoice after
- Willingness to be scheduled through us, so the tenant is not calling them directly
- Willingness to sign our vendor agreement, which sets our standards for communication and for work on site
If they clear that bar, great, they go on the bench with the others. What we will not do is make them the only option, because that is not a plan that works.
This is only part of the job
Vendor management is one of the least visible and most valuable things a manager does. It is relationships built over years, a list of people who answer and do great work at a fair price, and the willingness to stop calling someone who isn’t meeting that standard.
If you are tired of chasing contractors for your rentals, that is a big part of what One Focus Property Management does across North Central Pennsylvania. More protection, less work, NO DRAMA. Give us a call.
