Do property managers only provide one quote for works

I have one investment property in Brisbane and in the few years I have owned it, have had various works completed. Regardless of the cost of works, my property manager only provides one quote. This is made worse by the fact that I have observed their go-to trades are not always priced competitively and at times, inferior when compared to the broader market.

Examples
Smoke alarm upgrade: I was provided a quote with their existing provider (at the time I had an annual subscription with them). I contacted two other installers and all things being equal (number of alarms, brand, warranty), the quote from the existing provider (which presumably most of the rent roll uses) was at least $50 higher. Evidently, a bulk discount was not provided/negotiated.

Termite barrier: Their existing provider who conducted the initial inspection did not use Termidor (which I understood to be the market leading treatment chemical). I had to shop around, pay for a second inspection with another inspector who used Termidor and installed the barrier.

Air con replacement: Their existing provider only provided a 2 year installation warranty. I shopped around and noted that most installers provided a 5 year installation warranty.

So each time there is a maintenance works, I will unfortunately spend my own time to ring around for quotes. I have become increasingly frustrated over the years and am starting to wonder what I am paying for. FYI, I pay 9.35% + an admin fee which I understand to be higher than the average.

Is it the norm that property managers only provide one quote?

 

Have you asked the property manager to get more quotes?

 

I have - they say they only have the one contact for the relevant works.

 

Most PM's just want to get the job done. They are not paying, so why would they care? From experience, they also don't understand what a quality job is. To them, white paint is all the same. Most also assume that a landlord just wants the cheapest job who also doesn't care about quality as most landlords they deal with are like this. Furthermore, most landlords want maximum $ out of their properties (even ignoring the long term benefits of a quality job).

If you really want your PM to understand that you favour quality over price, you have to remind them with each job!!!

 

Tough to find a PM that goes above and beyond. Id suggest u ask for at least 2 quotes for all maintenance quotes moving fowards. PM's arent payed that well, long working hours. The middleman that deals with complaints from both sides, landlord / tenant. I wouldn't want to do that job long term. I think for many, its a foot in the door in the real estate realm were they look to progress into other endevaours after a period of time.

You have to look after your best interests , as its your property, and your $, and be forever the one that needs to show initiative as to what you want from them / best course of action.

 

I get my PM to obtain two quotes as a minimum. Never had a problem so far.

 

You don’t want to be continuing with a PM who is making you do the work to getting a better rate/quote for the works needed.

 

I would never accept one quote for a job unless it's a very minor job.

 

Are you happy to pay for quotes? Like rental supply, tradies are in huge demand with LOTS of working out there post-floods etc and covid buying & reno' boom, and charging a premium because they can, most aren't wasting their time on free quotes and penny pinchers, it's also taking weeks to get quotes and jobs booked in due to the back log of work they've got on. If you go with a bigger business that has dedicated estimators/quote people, then you're you'll be paying a higher price for the work of course, if you go with a sole trader, it might be 2-4 weeks before they get round to quote your job, then another 2-4 weeks to book it in once approved, and you've got a sooking tenant the whole time (in most cases rightly so) wanting the repairs/maintenance attended to. Tough gig at the moment, especially for some PM's on $12/hr lol.

 

Is $500 a minor job?

 

Based on call out rates for an electrician who could invoice in 15 min increments, I'd say yes.

 

I agree I would deem this a minor job.I would request another quote for something like a new HWS.

 

This ^

Its tough at the moment in Sydney balancing leaking roofs & damp with a limited number of roofers around, relatively higher value roof repairs and tenants who are experiencing mould while we wait for multiple quotes.

And where we don't have a relationship with the roofer, the quote often comes back higher than expected because they have so much work and then refuse to quote on the next job.

 

Sounds lazy to me. I'd look into changing agents if this is the way it is.

 

Me too! Most of my PM's have no issue with this.

 

Mine gives me one quote, but I often ask for two.

 

Depends on issue and cost. If its a basic "call out" style fix job eg plumber, sparkie it going to make little difference esp if its sits in the normal range based on their experience. The second quote etc could be wasting time. Some trades charge for quotes or may just ballpark it subject to materials etc. If its a more signifciant issue I would expect two.

HWS is often a market price and little variation if its model for model changeover. One quote may be based on say a quote for $1450. For a gas 250L model that may seem accurate. Or may be a urgent call out anyway. A 2pm a call out will be cheaper than wasting another hour or two with quotes and then its after hours and $2K or more.

$400 doesnt buy what it used to. And the PM time is money too. They dont just sit there waiting for defects to make endless enquiries for pricing.

 

Agree! I don't bother with quotes for HWS. Just get it done.

 

This goes hand in hand with the 180 properties in a portfolio for 1 PM to handle. With those stats as a benchmark, getting around to doing the twice yearly routine inspections of each property - that's on average 30 inspections a month - typically a during 20 working day month. On top of that the maintenance issues across the 180 properties - if say 5% required some maintenance issue to attend to, that's 9 properties they're having to chase up tradies and quotes for. Times that by 2 or 3 if each property owner wants multiple quotes - and all this is for quotes only. Let alone project managing the commencement and completion of repairs as tradies on the whole tend to be unreliable and do a sloppy job unsupervised. Hence why PMs tend to have a go to person/company for each of the commonly used trades. When they have that established relationship it's easier to just call up the company - relay the info/address/issue and it's taken care of. Not making work orders and/or complying with different policies and procedures and billing methods of all different companies if they're dealing with a myriad of companies for the same services.

 

laundry trough replacement -:expensive or acceptable for Perth?

To me the labour cost seems bit high but pC users ate right if tradies charging to quote then that can be expensive.