How a Handyman Service Can Help Landlords
If you are a rental property owner and manager and have been purchasing more rental properties, you may start feeling a bit overwhelmed at how much manual work is involved in maintaining the rental properties, particularly if you have a regular job and your rental properties are investment income. Often, new landlords handle their own manual tasks, such as painting and repairing leaky faucets.
With more properties, you may not have time to answer every call and fix up the rentals in between tenants. Some landlords contract these types of jobs to handyman services. Here are a few ways a handyman service can help a busy landlord.
1. Remove Carpeting in New Units
One of the big challenges of having carpeting in a rental unit is the damage that could go undiscovered until at some point in the future. For example, a cup of water was spilled and allowed to permeate through the flooring to the padding and onto the subflooring. That moisture could lead to a problem with mold or wood rot in the future. Instead of taking that chance, rip out any carpeting in your new units and replace it with tiled flooring that is easy to replace in sections, just in case. Set these extra tiles aside for future purposes.
2. Freshen Rental Units in Between Tenants
New tenants prefer to move into rental properties that are nice and clean. Have the handyman give the apartments a fresh coat of paint in between tenants and repair any damaged drywall by either filling in holes or replacing the drywall altogether. The paint should be a neutral color so tenants with distinct colors in their furnishings and decorations aren't put off by a wall color that would clash with their tastes.
The flooring should be cleaned and repaired in between tenants as well, particularly if the previous tenants had a pet or small children as they are prone to spilling and creating messes. Any scratches and obvious damage in the flooring can be repaired by removing those particular tiles and replacing them with the leftover stash of tiles from the installation.
3. Handle or Repair Basic Problems
The handyman can take care of any basic problems in the apartments, such as replacing a washer in a leaky kitchen faucet or replacing the batteries in the thermostat for the heating and air conditioning system. However, in some states, handymen are limited in what they can do when it comes to certain aspects of structures, such as plumbing, electricity, and HVAC systems. Be sure you and your handyman are fully aware of these limitations and include them in an addendum of the contract that they will not be able to perform such tasks. You can find out more about these limitations by contacting the building code authority where your rentals are located.
4. Be the On-Call Person for Emergencies
Most tenants appreciate having the ability to call someone 24/7 when something breaks or there's a significant problem with the apartment they're renting. For landlords who have jobs such as yourself, it can be challenging to answer calls of distress from tenants on a 24/7 basis. Fortunately, this is something you can have your handyman do! The handyman can be like an answering service and respond to the call for help. They can assess whether or not the emergency needs to be taken care of immediately and by which type of contractor if they are unable to do the work themselves.
To learn more, work with a handyman service in your area to help you manage your growing number of rental homes.