Hiring my own maintenance man

[Glenn]

One of my collegues has suggested to me that I should employ a permanent maintenance person. I have been wondering and thinking that would be a good idea as I scuttled between cleaning chimneys to changing light switches and replacing taps with a bit of rubbish removal and washing machine repairs thown in along the way. Do any of you investors / property managers employ your own maintenance person. How does it work. Any comments ?

[dksnz]

Once you get into the hiring game you have all sorts of compliance costs to consider - acc, annual leave, employment laws etc. I would consider a odd job man as a contractor who you could keep on a sort of retainer to be at your beck and call.

[Cassandra]

I use a local Hire-A-Hubby @ $45.00 per hour tax deductible labour expense. (and he discounts his rate for my own properties;-). Terrific chap; does all-sorts of odd-jobs & small build projects. My "other -hubby" (as i affectionately call him) is an ex-cop and has proven to be worth his weight in gold as he will phone me if he sees anything un-toward at a property. He was an asset to have attend & secure a property after a break-in & vandalism, (16 windows smashed....coinciding after an eviction) not to mention he was called apon to give testimonial when the Insurance Assessor tried to negate the claim. I find it a great advantage to have such a good rapport with a tradesperson be it a grey-skills/ Hire -hubby or other contractor as another "set of eyes" on a property.

[artemis]

My PM also does maintenance. He is on a 2 day a week retainer to me (mainly to cover maintenance) plus receives a monthly fee for each property. He likes the maintenance side so that suits him well.

Although there is only a handful of properties, 'maintenance' covers some gardening plus painting and decorating.

Makes life very simple. (Plus I get to be in business with my lovely son!)

[artemis]

Cassandra, is $45 ph the going rate for H-A-H now? Is that an all-up rate, or are there extras on top (vehicle etc)?

[hawkeye]

We pay $40 an hour labour + materials (No additional costs) for Home Handyman services which are excellent.

The quality varies quite considerably as sometimes our prefered supplier can't meet our timeframes and his competition hasn't thrown up any contenders to his crown as yet. Usually more expensive too.

Quite often a franchised operator wil be charging more because the franchise holder gets a cut.

A tip: Pay them as soon as they have done the job satisfactorily if you want to be a prefered customer when they are busy. The trouble is, if they are good even this might not help if you need something done yesterday.

[Jazza]

I've required the odd bit of maintenance in West Auckland, but a lot of the time the jobs are too small for even a home handyman to be interested (and if it can't be fixed with a hammer I can't fix it). Unfortunately there isn't a H-A-H franchise operating out west. Does anyone know of another franchise or home handymen that are reputable?