Qualifications of a maintenance person

Started by MS9 • 3 replies • 2224 views

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MS9 (California)
Posts: 13

Posted:

We are looking to hire somebody to do day to day maintenance work. e.g. sheet-rock repairs, wood repair, sidewalk repair etc.
For more serious jobs like balcony rebuild, we plan to use contractors.

should we be hiring a licensed person, or a handyman.

Any suggestions on what are the typical qualifications of maintenance man in HOA communities.

Any suggestions on how much should they be paid.

Thanks.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

They should not only be licensed but they should be insured.

Here is a link to
Contractor License info from davis-stirling.com's web site.

That site also states that anyone who is doing a contracting job costing $500 or more in materials and labor must have a license.

JonD1
Posts: 2,350

Posted:

Are you planning to hire this person as an employee of the property or as a contractor to perfrom work?

We used to hire a contractor to do minor repairs and the cost got to be way out of control for simple routine repairs.

Do you have enough work to hire someone full time? Part time?

My guess you would need to sit down and determine what your needs are and how much use you have to determine whetehr you should hire someone as an employee of the property and my guess you could find someone to work at an hourly rate much lower than hiring a private contractor.

You would have to do payroll, provide insurnace coverage do you have any other employees. And of course you will need someone at least in the beginning to direct this person as to what needs to be done, why and how. And as you suggest depending on their skill level and the project to be done either they could handle it or they can determine an outside contractor should be called in.

We have hired a handyman/maintanence for the last 8 years and in the end we have gotten more work done, the property's appearcne has improved and we have saved money.

Good luck..........

MelissaP1 (Alabama)
Posts: 13,836

Posted:

A good suggestion I'd recommend. There are now popping up professional chain handyman services companies out there. These companies offer a basic rate and then hourly. They also show up in uniform and are covered insurance wise by their employer. It's good idea to interview a few of them to understand how their services and charges work. The one I like charges $200 for 2 hours and $100 after that. They do ANYTHING for that 2 hours without separately charging for painting or repairing a banister. I've interviewed other companies and they charge differently. So hire the company your comfortable with on how they work. I believe the company I used is called "Mr. Handyman" and they offer coupons as well.

If you go the route of hiring an actual dedicated handyman, follow the other poster's advice. The HOA can hire a member/resident of their HOA if they choose. However, do NOT let them do the job for DUES reduction/non-payment. This would be a long term mistake in the end. It's best if your dues are $200 a month to pay them $200 instead of skipping the dues. Your NOT guaranteed if they got the $200 they are going to use it to pay their dues...

I've tried different handyman scenerios and found hiring the professionals through a company as the best option. May NOT be the cheapest option, but it does eliminate many issues.

Former HOA President

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