Agency Tradies and their pricing?

Not necessarily a rant, but everytime there is an issue at my property, the agent gets a quote from their tradies while I organise my own.

everytime, I just get their one and roll my eyes and throw it out

im sure these guys do a great job, I know they want to make a living but

$88 call out fee,
$80 for 1 hour labour because the previous tenant has turned the water off and the new one didnt know how to

is ludicrous,

I put up a ad on hipages and its usually done very quickly and much cheaper, alas its a lot more hard work

are there that many time/knowledge poor people who simply say yes to all of these quotes?

 

PMs don't have the time to chase a different tradie/quote every time one of the many properties they look after has an issue.
It would be nice if the PMs could drop by the property and check its not something simple/similar to what you mention, but can't really expect them to do it after hours.

Tradies prefer dealing directly with owners, less time consuming, get paid quicker.

 

I would have bet my life that tradies prefer dealing with agencies because they always get paid, possibly quicker, no need with dealing with difficult owners, no money chasing, plus no negotiations on price

 

Its hard to tell, I don't know your situation. And yes some PM's will just go for the local guy and not know anything about pricing or what the job involves.

However a few points to consider -
- PM's trades give a legit invoice rather than a cash price
- PM's trades have liability insurance so if anything bad happens everyone's covered
- PM's trades have likely done a lot of jobs for them before, so know of their ability to liaise with tenants, do a quality job, actually show up, etc.

Obviously there's exceptions to every rule, in both directions, but I'm not confident your hipages guy has all 3 of those 3 traits.

I take it a step further than that and continually review our trades. If we find that one is pricey or unreliable etc then they stop getting work. Even though they're not staff, they contribute positively and negatively to the reputation of the agency.

 

Well said DT, all valid points from an agency side of the fence.
I'm sure you also emphasize the Tradies side, the amount of communication required between all parties, getting access to premises, especially with ~difficult tenants, depending agency can be waiting 30+ days for payment.

 

TMNT It is not unreasonable, I would say, that a PM make sure the place is habitable before a tenant take possession, so I would expect that they check the water, assist in making sure main power switch etc is on, and telling tenants where to get globes or that they must put them in.

I had one PM call me about 4 or so times about a globe being out *sigh*

Anyway, so no, I would not give ok for plumber call out fee if no one bothered to turn the water tap on.

There are some things though that we have to wear if the places are not local to you.

 

Not necessarily'. Years ago I did some work on a rental for an agency, around $2000 worth. Submitted my invoice and waited a couple of weeks but no payment. I called the agency and was told there was no money in the account so I would have to wait until a tenant moved in and money was paid in. Red rag to a bull, I still had the keys so told them I was going back to pull out everything I had done, and lo and behold I received payment direct from the owner a couple of days later. I am not there to finance the operations of landlords. Never did work for any RE agency again.

Tools

 

You should wait a reasonable amount of time tools, otherwise you would need to tell the agent your terms are COD only.

Trades do see some landlords as fools, but they won't be dealing with agencies to get paid quicker etc and near all of them have to speak to me, so they do not get out of speaking to the owner all the time, also, all those guys doing quotes for you, well that is a waste of time it seems TMNT

 

That isn't normal. For a vacant property I'd normally ask the owner to contribute funds to trust account or forward the invoice to them to pay directly.

 

Yeah, if no income from rent, then LL would be asked by most PMs, as with mos things, communications are the key....

 

Why? Most Tradies supply an invoice which states the terms, usually payment within 7 days.
Most Tradies don't have a book keeper, or a competent one anyway, usually a wife/partner, may eventually realise they haven't been paid and get peaved off, they've done the work, why should they have to spend valuable personal time chasing payment when the terms were clearly stated on the supplied invoice.
Would you treat the bank/loan payments the same way, PM won't let you, they take their cut before you get yours.

 

? Wiithout the Tradies knowledge the contracts been hand balled to someone else that didn't place the work order/request, leaving the Tradie where if the owner doesn't pay?
Having to contact the PM, PM contacting the owner, owner may get back to the PM, PM may get back to the Tradie, tradie thinking this is to time consuming, write it off, never doing work for them again.
Those prepared to put up with that arn't good Tradies, otherwise they'd be to busy to put up with that crap.
Get what you pay for.

 

Sorry I forgot to include the words "depending on what was prearranged"

 

Ok, so if you issue a work order and there's no funds in the trust, owner promises you he/she will deposit funds, Tradies completes requirements, owner doesn't deposit funds, where's the Tradie stand for payment?

 

Same place as if he did the job for them himself or any other customer who does not pay.

It is not as complex as is made out, I did plenty of work like this, and you need to know the terms up front, not when sending the invoice, it is also not likely to be such a casual arrangement, I would expect the PM to do checks on who is doing the work too, i.e they are a business and insured etc

 

So as a Tradies you wouldn't do work for them again would you?
So after the pool of good quality Tradies are "used up", the ones that turn up on time, do the job right the first time, clean up after themselves etc, what do you have left to get the jobs done?

 

Yes I would, because I would not throw away the agency relationship over one hiccup or even a few hiccups.

 

And as I said above, any Tradie who runs their business that way isn't a good business operator, the bottom of the pile, get what you pay for.
Which ultimately the good owners/tenants suffer from, get annoyed with their PM.

 

The tradesman that throws a hissy fit over one person not paying as quick as they like is highly strung I would suggest.

I have worked this from all sides.

Would you truly just dismiss all a PMs clients due to one bill you think was not paid quick enough ? I mean were not talking a refusal to pay & it seems in the above the terms were not clear from the get go.

 

Personally, yes when that kind of work is the bottom of the barrel, more suited to desperate Tradies who prob spend more time down the pub & smoking billies than being dedicated, or larger firms who employ them and charge big $'s to cover their overheads and still make a profit. What the OP was about.