Never agree to trade work for rent. Tenants are 100% unreliable and will usually do a terrible job. They will take advantage, over charge and probably never finish the work. If the guy is a qualified and licenced contractor consider hiring him to do the work but never agree to trade work for rent. Hire him before you rent the unit to him not after. Always keep your tenants and contractors separate.
I could go both ways but,,, If i had a " Hands on knowledge of all aspects in new home construction & highly skilled" person like myself that does it all and i had many houses where i could flip these houses every 6 to nine months & that person doesnt mind moving & does qualified pro work???
Its a no brainer! Even if the market slows & i have to let him sit in a home when its done having realtors come show the home until it sells
Thats IF i had the properties
And IF i had a Pro like me.
The last 10 years it is exactly what i have done in trade for rent lol with my girlfriend on 2 homes & for a longtime friends moms home recently.
What ya'll are saying is you are worried about
The work not getting done
The work being subpar
And here is what i say about that ,,,, If i am flipping a home for you there would be a contract with a timeline included would be the quality workmanship you would find in a model home & trust me i worked for 5 new home builders in Dfw as a construction manager i do know the same flaws & imperfections on the models exist so that folks dont crazy on textures or gaps at the top of crown molding on a tray ceiling,,, lol Right is right & quality work is satisfying the customer but a 3rd.party can come see the work & say yea or ney.
But for me if i am installing Travertine in 4 different sizes called The Versailles pattern. Not standard 12 x 12 ceramic tile & laying stranded bamboo hardwood flooring & not basic laminate floating floor system wood...We are now talking about Tools & Skill level ...
As does Changing out plumbing fixtures & Trim work & quality of drywall repairs. & any exterior repairs from siding to fence, brick, concrete ,gutters, & landscaping all the way to a damn good paint job no matter what cplor the paint & lets not forget ,,,, The clean up of the job from day one to the final walk through...
If you have starter homes or custom homes if you can fond a guy like me get to know that person because I make deals all the time & it has worked for the owners because i have brought lasting value to these properties & even got a few great referrals. But im just saying more than anything this post. is negative & A network of Handy people like me are out here needing great connections that last . Word of mouth for many years was great but illegals & the internet hurt the once relationships i had with folks that had rental houses i would do make readies on because a the market or b lets face it everybody loves cheap labor .
But that us another story.
But here is my background. From 1980 to present. & i have also been in residential apartment maintenance & commercial facilities maintenance As the Sr. Maintenance manager for Cinemark Theaters. lol & in The Rock & Roll Biz as a Pro Musician since 1978. & Here are the Builders i have learned many great skills from teams of awesome people
* Fox & Jacobs * K B homes *Ashton Woods * Grand homes * & The Toll Bros.homes.
currently since 2003 est.Hot Shot Handyman Service
in Dallas Texas
NETWORKING IS EVERYTHING
Dont just collect business cards on job sites
Find out what else people do
Odd Job Specialist i am ...
(=🔨🌪™={<=×=×=×=:::<~
🖖
Not your common tenant but we have a live-in maintenance guy (also has his own lic/ins contracting gig) & he pays rent that's probably $100/month less than what we could get & he does get an annual rent increases. I 'installed' him in our multi-unit several years ago when the old guy who had been there 24 years left. He completely rehabbed the disgusting 1960's era apartment we assigned him & plants an amazing Italian summer garden in the back 5 acres. He has since worked with me on a number of other properties & several major rehabs.
I now have another aging contractor I've known for 20+ years renting from us (@ full price) & he has also done a lot of rehab/upgrades for us so we compensate him on a per job basis. He also took it upon himself to repair some old equipment for us (parts procured on Amazon) that we were ready to dump as useless & worn out. These guys have valuable skills & it has been a significant time saving addition for us to have them on tap. Imagine having a multi-unit building full of retired contractors!!!
We can spend the summer away at our Lakehouse or take off for a couple of months to our home in Florida & these guys will be there.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo don't do it.
The only understanding you need is how much the jobs are worth but one at a time..
How long they are to take one at a time
And the quality has to be at todays standards & tolerence of minimal mistakes.
Such as in tile flooring you dont want to see uneven tiles or grout lines but a room might not be square and the edges may show it with a gradule difference but most Pro installers will find it and hide very well in the way they lay at the room .
Drywall repairs of any kind you dont want to huge humps of bedding and or texture that does not match AT ALL !
Texture can be tough to match but not matching at all or it looks bad in different times of the day is unfortunatly as we say a patch is a patch but an ugly patch is one that needs more work!
Trim carpentry like door casing or base boards you want to see mitered corners meet proper and all nail heads have been puddied proper & caulking is done so that paint shows a good job was done period by the trim carpenter...
Floating floor systems or laminate flooring should be connected joint to jount proper & heads up find the dips in the floor first and float them out so you dont have it show in the end.
Be it glue down or vapor barrier flooring if you have areas that need leveled with float do it!
If you have faucets that need replaced
Or valves at the cut offs need replaced i recommend a licensed plumber
Same with any switches or breakers giving you problems its just smart to be safe in those two areas using licensed pros!
But one project at a time & get it in a written signed by all parties contract.
1 . When the work is done
on the timeline agreed apon its time to go.So that you can proceed with renting it out
They have to be looking & finding their place to live & have it done & not put the burden apon you to sit in the house until they do find a place to go to.
If you go to a website called homewyse.com you can put in each project they are going to do & the zipcode it will line out the cost of labor you live in & materials & more !
Its a website i use to give people bids for my work
Of course there are alot of people out there that are fly by night & illegals that will do labor dirt chea! but here is the trick with working with anyone,,,,, DO NOT HAVE ALL MATERIALS AT THE JOB FOR THEM TO WALK OFF WITHAND DO NOT HAND OVER MONEY TO ANYONE UP FRONT MONEY FOR MATERIALS OR LABOR BECAUSE THEY ARE SO BROKE THEY NEED TO EAT THAT DAY. YOU CAN PAY OR PAY IN RENT BUT WATCH OUT FOR BEING TOO NICE TO SOMEONE THAT ONLY ENDS VERY BADLY!
🙏NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED🌪
RULE OF THUMB IN ORDERING MATERIALS ORDER 10% EXTRA TO ALLOW FOR CUTS & THE OCCASIONAL MISTAKES.
IF YOU HAVE SHEETROCK THAT NEEDS REPLACED THEN MEASURE THE AREA AND ADD 10% MORE ON TOP SO THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH TO COMPLETE THE WORK THIS APPLIES TO ALL MATERIALS FROM TILE TO FLOORING TRIM LIKE BASE BOARDS TO CROWN MOLDING ADD 10% EXTRA PER FOOT OR SQUARE FOOT AND YOURE BEST BET IS TO HAVE IT ALL AT THE JOB READY TO GO.
MAKE SURE YOU DO YOURE PART & THAT YOU HAVE THEM CHECKED OUT WITH AT LEAST 3 REFERALS AND YOU HAVE LOOKED AT THE QUALITY OF THEIR WORK PERIOD OR YOU WILL BE SORRY!
CHECK OUT THEIR NAME ON BBB & FOR GRINS GOOGLE THEIR NAME & OR COMPANY NAME.
TALK IS TALK !
BUT DO ONE JOB AT A TIME
AND A COMPLETE AGREEMENT ON TIME VS THE PAY AND AT A QUALITY OF WORKMANSHIP EXPECTED IN TODAYS STANDARDS WHICH MEANS IT AINT DONE UNTIL YOU SAY ITS DONE & IF THEY SCREW UP THEY CAN GO BUY THE MATERIALS TO GET IT RIGHT OR IT KILLS THE CONTRACT!
THERE ARE SOME GOOD SOULS ON BOTH SIDES THAT WILL FOLLOW A CONTRACT AND IT ALL GOES WELL
SO SEEING THEIR WORK WITH YOUR OWN EYES BEFORE THEY START & THE REFERALS YOU TALK TO BACK IT UP THAT THEY ARE LEGIT IS A MUST FOR YOU TO DO.
I hope this helps you out
but youre first impression of people is to be smart !
I live by the honesty rules in contracting and its so i get repeat customers with above & beyond great referals
I respect you,youre property & listen to you before i begin to outline any contract.
And that contract will show step by step youre concernes and that i have followed them !
Chris Jarvis
Hot Shot Handyman Service Dallas Texas
(=🔨°={××××××××××:::<
Aubrey, my suggestion would be to steer clear of trading work for rent for a few reasons. Mostly because it just adds more complexity to two separate and sometimes complex issues, renting and hiring a contractor. Very few handymen or jacks-of-all-trades possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to carry out all the repairs if many are needed. They may do 2 or 3 well. But the others are generally done wrong or in a substandard manner. As a longtime contractor in two states, I can't tell you how many times I've hired guys that claim to know it all, only to find that they only know 2 or 3 things well.
The other issue is renting. Once they move in they are protected by all the standard Texas tenant laws. So if they screw up and don't want to move out, you have to evict them. Also, if they decide what they are doing is worth more, or you decide it's worth less than the rent discount, things just start to get ugly.
In a perfect world it could probably work well. But I'd avoid the sticky situation if possible.
Good luck.
Patrick
I think we still have the right guy love to speak with you and my situation I know this is going wrong post for a long time ago so please get back in contact with me