Start a Rental Repair business?
I’m a landlord and I self manage my portfolio. Most of my properties are an hour away from my house. Ive been doing it so long (15 years) that I have my own crew in the area an hour away from my house doing repairs, turn overs, collect rent when it’s cash for that month / tenant. No office, although some of the properties do have their own “warehouse” where we store some of the bigger and less used tools.
I’m at the point where I’ve fixed everything and seen everything. Usually I just use the cheapest and fastest way to repair something, because even if you use quality materials in my market they will still be destroyed just as fast.
Anyways, I love when we do property turn overs or when I’m the one actually doing the repairs. But recently I’ve been very hands off because the crew is working pretty much on auto-pilot.
I’m thinking of starting a Rental Property Maintenance and Repair business and offer the most reasonable rates in the area such as:
- change outlet $50
- change garbage disposal $75
- fix sagging door $30
- install door knobs $30
- replace condensate pump on furnace $40
- replace toilet $100
- replace toilet seat - $20
- replace internal tank parts - $20
- repair window screen $20-75
- drywall patch and paint up to 4inches - $30
- replace damaged LVP plank $30
- fix loose cabinets or drawers $20
- Change diverter in sink or shower $20-40
- replace trim …
- cut branches or overgrown trees up to 6inch diameter - $50
- repair gate / fence…
- fix stuck sliding door screen - $40
- wait for the permit / rental certificate inspection on the landlords behalf - $200 (only for houses I’ve worked at before)
You get the idea. I will be doing all the work and will only take rentals near my house to start and it will be a nice easy to use scheduling that can be done by the tenant or landlord. Once the landlord has done at least one job with me then he will have the ability to give the tenant access and allow the tenant to submit a request to fix something that will be sent to the landlord and myself. If it’s something simple like a leaking faucet then the landlord does not need to even talk to the tenant about it, I will handle that. It would still be approved by the landlord.
For the tenant side there will be a link they can click to see the information of the tech (that would be me) and my ETA until I arrive.
The landlord will also have a link to check the before, during and after photos along with the invoice. Once the job is complete the card on file will be charged.
Why rentals and not a handyman service for all houses? Well because I know rentals and they typically aren’t the nicest houses on the block. I might also offer to buy the properties I like if I feel the landlord wants to sell.
So my question is. If there was a professional rental maintenance and repair service that does proper repairs who also has all the tools would you use it? Not the cheapest, but everything will be reasonable. I will not act as a property manager or get into leases or tenant relations but instead be catering more to self managing landlords like myself who don’t pay the butchers but are always happy to pay a reasonable price.
I would systematize this process and should it work I would implement the same system in the area most of my rentals are.
The biggest reasons why I want to start this business is:
- the love of the game
- I’m bored and basically retired
- possibly adding new rentals to my portfolio
This business will not use AI in any way shape or form. It’s not a SaaS or App, it’s literally just me in a jump suit going to fix things.
What do you think? Would you use this service as a LandLord? I probably would not take jobs from homeowners or property management companys (because I wouldn’t be able to stomach the markup they would charge the landlord). I would also not go into dangerous cities.
Btw I have a remote day job, this would be a lunch time, nights and weekends thing.
Or am I just crazy?