What is the best thing to do if I think the expenses on my unit IP are too high. Every month there seems to be a new expense for plumbing or minor maintenace at the moment. Though I did have a previous tenant who went through 6 months with no claims. The unit is 20 years old approx; though is solidly built and I’m sure I’m paying way too much for expenses. The plumber must be driving a new car by now based on my unit
My property is managed by a RE agency, I guess the first step is to talk to them. Anyone with some useful advice or experience?
You could always do the stuff yourself or source your own handymen or trades.
I know my parents always complained about these types of expenses.
But I see the bigger picture and am prepared for these expenses. I dont have the time to source handymen and I have trouble banging a nail so I let the PM handle it.
Most of the time I dont have too many problems. Sometimes a new tenant moves in and whats a,b,c and d fixed. If reasonable I get it done and if the tenant is fussy then they tend to look after the place.
Could try changing plumber – or making it obvious you are shopping around to encourage him to lower his price. Sometimes PM can be a little too quick to send in the tradies also. I suggest discussing it with your PM.
Regards,
SiPlumbers are dear i understand how you feel.
Recently i bought a gas hot water service and payed $80 for it, it was only 90 litres but needed to be small for the application i’m using it for! It was from a town gas, so it had to be changed over to run on normal gas.
Once i got the quote from the plumber, he said $80 i said i think it’s a little dear and he came down to 55.
Another you could do is what i did, i bought all the plumbing pipes etc and some very cheap second hand and garage sales for etc same things second hand much cheaper. Didn’t sacrife quality for price for some things.
I went to the plumbers store and chatted to the bloke for a while and sorted out everything with him and how to do it exceterra exceterra. Then waiting on a plumber to check it over and do a couple of the main gas connections.
You can save a lot of dollars on tracking down things and setting up things for yourself, it deppends on how much time you have got too.
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Online Positive Cashflow Financial Analysis Calculator.Hi Waysolid,
I would also recommend you phone the plumber and see what he says – and then get a second opinion.
Don’t forget a 20 year old property is going to need more maintenance than something a little younger – one of the traps of older properties.
Derek
[email protected]Read my comments? Think I can help you? PM or email welcome.
Hey Waysolid,
I think you need to pay close attention to the work being done, ask to be present, and give firm instructions to your agent that u must be called before any work is to be done at all, as long as its non urgent of course.
Ask for 2 quotes, offer to take care of the payment yourself, better still organise the quotes yourself, offer to pay cash, haggle, take a long pause after the initial price given… plumbers charge through the roof, and they just take a gamble most time that u will say yes to the first price (im speaking from experience here lol)
If the problems are caused by the renters seek advice about getting them to pay. also, if there are problems with plumbing or electrical, some of these should / could be taken care of by the strata, seeing as its a unit.
Dont say yes to every request the agent put fwd to u, question it at length, ask about specific details, let them know that u are taking notice of where the money is going…
And again, make sure that its well known that u dont want anything EXTRA in the invoice other then the damage to be repaired… i got a call saying that the washer in the bath was leaking (older shower above bath setup).. so i told em to get the tap fixed so the tennent can use the shower. when i got the invoice i noticed the plumber also changed all the washers in the bath and kitchen…. i was VERY peeved off, seeing as i did them 3 months earlier , even using the new fangled anti hammer washers….
why did he change em “caus he thought it was a good idea at the time seeing as he was there”
Keep on their back… its your money they will be in the end after all…
Jason
Do consider trying a different plumber. We had a plumber out every second month at one of our IP’s as the toilet kept backing up. Then it happened one evening and when I couldn’t get the normal plumber I rang a different one, and guess what, we’ve never needed a plumber since (6 months later). Whether it means this one fixed the actaul problem or whether it was just a conincidence I don’t know but it’s worth trying someone different, sometimes different people have different levels of expertise or had experience in different areas.
I had a plumber once who wanted 950 dollars for changing a hot water sistem and a washing machine from the old laundry to the new one. I had trusted him with numerous repairs in different IP and slipped badly when this particular time I did not aks for a quote.
Yet the problem was solved when I asked for an itemised bill, the 950 turned into 450 like magic.May God bless you
and prosper you.
MarcI guess i have much the same advice as every one else that has posted. I have a few older properties require more maintenance than the new properties and here is what i have done.
1) I have asked the Real Estate Agency to never organise a trades person to fix something. They usually have a set number of people that are prepared to do what ever work quickly and for a very HANDSOME price.. I found it better Use my own set of resources.
Find 3 or 4 tasks you can use a benchmark for pricing. Ring around to a few plumbers/electricians/carpenters etc in your area and ask how much those tasks will cost. Choose the cheapest. Alway ask what the price will be for cash and how much will it be if you were able to source the parts required. eg pipes wires etc.
2) Go to a cheap printing machine andget some cards. Get some overalls and then open an account at a few hardware stored. I am not a builder or anything of that nature but i have an account with Reece Plumbing supplies and get everything at trade prices. This is usually 10 to 15% cheaper than normal. Ask what the trades person needs and ensure you have that prior to them turning up.
3) Once you have an idea of how much it will cost. eg if iyou think it will cost $100 then you call a plumber and say i have allocated $80 to the task etc. Bargaining always helps.
4) Use Things like eBay and the trading post to get items if possible. I managed to save $500 on an unsused still packaged air conditioning unit.Krish
Hi Waysolid,
It depends whether you live near the property or not.
A little of my own experience as a warning for you tho’…
I have a unit in Darwin but live in Tassie. I recently had new tenants go in, so had a new condition report done. It was noted that one of the kitchen windows stick when closing. The request for maintenance was to have the windows (plural) fixed. Owing to a change of property manager within the same office, the request was forwarded to me again for the kitchen windows to be replaced !!! [bigeyes]
Had I not been at the unit a few months earlier and aware of the extent of the problem, I would have said go ahead – having faith in the property managers.[angry2] However, arranging for a bit of planing and paint touch-up costing a grand total of $45.00, I managed to save a potential $800.
So, if you can view the property yourself, DO!
You need to get yourself a Dad like mine who is a plumber!!! MATES RATES!!!
Blondie[cowboy]
You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go!
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