Rental Property Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2019 · 212 posts · 149 votes
How do I find out the costs of lawn care/snow removal/garbage collection? Do you recommend paying the tenant $10/hour to take care of lawn care/snow removal as part of the lease agreement? I already have a property manager in mind to manage the duplex in College Hill, Cincinnati, OH. I know property managers probably do not do lawn care/snow removal. Worst case, I may end up posting a Craiglist ad to find lawn care & snow removal folks.
Hey Su-Su! Ask your PM for a company to use. That's why they are there to assist and use their resources. If that PM can't assist then open up the yellow pages and let your fingers do the walking.
Hey Su-Su! Ask your PM for a company to use. That's why they are there to assist and use their resources. If that PM can't assist then open up the yellow pages and let your fingers do the walking.
I agree with Lamont. Have the PM find a service. I've had varied luck with tenant's picking up maintenance. They either pay themselves too much or do not do a good enough job... or both. In this area though I do think you could push snow removal to the tenants and just make it part of their lease. Heavy snows are infrequent and it's almost impossible to get to it quickly before people walk and drive on it so it's in the best interest for the tenants to just take care of it. I provide good shovels and salt and they take care of it if they want.
@Susan Tan make it part of the lease that you do not provide show removal. I would not provide shovels or salt as then it appears, legally, that you you know it is an issue and are doing nothing about it. You don't want to get sued even though you are trying to be nice. As for mowing - shop around. Your pm may kinda help but often do whatever is easiest. Hope that helps!
@Susan Tan I'm with @Account Closed on this one. If you're planning to hire a professional property manager for this duplex, it's the PM's responsibility to get the landscaping taken care of. They should already have vendors in place for this and they can let you know in advance what the costs will be.
You also shouldn't need to contact the tenants directly if you have a PM. If you need PM recommendations, let me know.
I would go on a local Facebook group (most cities have a jobs/for hire page), use the phone book as well as Craigslist and get a few quotes. Then see what the PM quotes you. If your best quote is lower for lawn care (which it likely will be) tell your new PM you want to go with your choice for lawn care.
As mentioned above by other posters, snow removal is the responsibility of the tenant(s).