Leaving repairman alone while work is being done
What’s your thoughts on leaving a repairman alone in your tenants unit while they work? A big no no or is it acceptable?
@James Chun II
It all depends on if I trust their work or not. New contractors I never leave alone. Think of contractors like teenagers... they do the right thing in front of you but when you leave they slack off.
You can’t blame them though, It’s a great business model - do the least amount of work possible for the most money.
@James Chun II If it is a service pro you have experience with I would have no issue leaving them alone in a tenants apartment to complete work. Being there in person all the time is a major pain to deal with.
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Originally posted by @Nick Rutkowski:@James Chun II
It all depends on if I trust their work or not. New contractors I never leave alone. Think of contractors like teenagers... they do the right thing in front of you but when you leave they slack off.
You can’t blame them though, It’s a great business model - do the least amount of work possible for the most money.
Then you arent hiring contractors . Now if you have to be there why not just do it yourself and save the money .
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Originally posted by @Matthew Paul:Originally posted by @Nick Rutkowski:@James Chun II
It all depends on if I trust their work or not. New contractors I never leave alone. Think of contractors like teenagers... they do the right thing in front of you but when you leave they slack off.
You can’t blame them though, It’s a great business model - do the least amount of work possible for the most money.
Then you arent hiring contractors . Now if you have to be there why not just do it yourself and save the money .
People get really confused on the difference between contractors and day laborers around here. When you are standing there watching the guy doing the job YOU ARE now the contractor and that dude is your employee or sub. It all comes down to being a cheapo. Hire the right company to do the job right and move on folks. Trying to hire cheapest idiots off the street to attempt to save pennies on repairs is not how you'll make money in this business.
@James Wise is right- it might take a while to learn this lesson, but it's one of the best lessons you can learn. Trying to save $5 an hour today will cost you time and probably require you to hire a professional at a fair wage later anyhow. Do it right the first time, develop a good relationship with a great contractor and focus on growing your business.
@Matthew Paul
Yup, I GC my rehab work for my own rental properties. I figured I can do it myself cheaper. I only have one contractor, he’s for concrete and building structures (fire escapes, decks, stairways). The things you’ll learn to do if it saves you thousands...
@James Wise
Hard to say, even reputable companies mess up. The last expensive company I hired for a plumbing job ended up getting 3/4 of their septic lines thrown away because they didn’t have the correct pitch. They were the best plumber company with the highest reviews too.
So no, you don’t get what you pay for. Maybe it’s not fair to generalize all contractors. But as I said if you hire someone new, watch the guy or girl and see how the work is done. After that, it’s your discretion.
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Originally posted by @Nick Rutkowski:@James Wise
Hard to say, even reputable companies mess up. The last expensive company I hired for a plumbing job ended up getting 3/4 of their septic lines thrown away because they didn’t have the correct pitch. They were the best plumber company with the highest reviews too.
So no, you don’t get what you pay for. Maybe it’s not fair to generalize all contractors. But as I said if you hire someone new, watch the guy or girl and see how the work is done. After that, it’s your discretion.
You can also get struck by lighting. Point being, yes anything can happen to anyone at anytime. However when running a business it's best to play the odds. The odds that a reputable company screws you over are far lower than some random day laborer on craigslist. If we took 100 people who hired a highly reputable company and another 100 people who hired random Joe's I'd imagine the percentage of happy customers would be much hire in the group that hired reputable companies. Wouldn't you agree?
@Nick Rutkowski
Who paid for the mistake though? Did they make it right or did you have to pay for the job to be done twice? Usually the cheap bad guys are paid to do it and then change their number and you have to hire an new company to tear it out and redo it.
Sometimes it matters who you hire. I have hired plumbers, electricians and framers who have been clueless. All licensed and insured.
My wife today had a guy come out to paint the fascia on our house. He told me he was going to need scaffolding and it would be 3k. My wife turned to me and said “ for 3k give me a paintbrush”. I said, “that is why it do it myself”.
For how much labor is, I can honestly do it better and faster. Not trying to toot my own horn but it’s not that hard.
Originally posted by @James Chun II:What’s your thoughts on leaving a repairman alone in your tenants unit while they work? A big no no or is it acceptable?
What is the context of the original question? Not leaving a repairman alone because you want to make sure the job is done right and no short cut taken? Or not leave someone alone because he/she may walk away with your tenant's iPad or jewelry?
@Sam Leon
Hi Sam, the context was so the repairman doesn’t rob the unit. I’ve used this guy many times before and always satisfied with the work. I always make sure the tenant or myself is present. I trust him and didn’t want to sit in the unit while the work was being done today so thought I’d see what the BP community thought, come to find out it didn’t matter what the BP community thought, my wife wanted me to be there so that’s where I was :)
Thanks everyone for the thoughts and advice. I ended up staying in the unit while the work was done. I trust the repairman but thought what if the tenant losses something and thinks the repairman took it and everything blows up from there. I agree with both trains do thought, no real answer, it comes down to your comfort level. Thanks again.
@James Wise
Yes I do and I’d go with the more reputable person too. James, I agree with what you say 100% my only point was to watch these guys the first time and take it from there. OP ended up taking both of our ideas and ran with it anyways.
@Josh C.
Long story short, I had a contractor replace my sewage line from cast iron to pvc, they left before the inspector came. The inspector told me the pitch was off because it was too flat. Made me rip it all out and started over. Apparently in NYS you need to have a certain drop every 6 feet. Needless to say, it was a 10k fix when the contractor did it. I cost me an extra 1000, two days to get it done right.
However, after that mistake I learned how to create sewage lines, water lines, reroute pipes.
The last thing I ever want is someone to get duped like I did. I was naive thinking the most reputable company in my area would do a good job. They botched up completely, which is why I have a huge distrust for contractors except for my guy. Even with him I GC and work next to him though.
That’s why my only advise is to be right next to them the first time you meet a contractor and see how his work is done.
@James Chun II If you haven’t worked with them before then you may want to stick around until the job is done. One goal should be to eventually work with only people you trust and you won’t ever have to worry about issues like this.
As for leaving the repair man alone, I would unless it was the first time we worked together. As far as telling experience of the worker you can easily tell the first time you talk to them if you have any experience in construction.
I keep seeing people complaining about contractors on here. Saying that they have nothing but problems.
Fast & Cheap: low quality, fast & good is expensive. Good & Cheap takes forever. End of the day don't expect the cheapest contractor to be the best. Sometimes it's okay to pay more for professionalism.
@James Chun II
I generally connect my tenants to the vendor and allow them to schedule it amongst themselves.