Making the slow-growth leap

[Erik W.]

I am a mid-size land lord with fewer than 50 units. Mostly older, SFH in Class C hoods. I describe Class C as "nothing fancy, but it's clean, safe, everything works." All are within a 20 minute drive of my house.

I contract out almost all maintenance, which can get somewhat expensive since everything is "al la carte" instead of steady work.  I don't have enough volume yet to promise anyone 10-20 hours per week, thereby negotiating a volume discount.  I do my own books, marketing, screening, and property management tasks.  Maybe takes 3-4 hours per week.  Not a big deal yet.

To "scale up" to the next level would likely require that I get some help.  Day job and family won't react well to me sinking another 10+ hours per week into this business long-term.  At what point have those of you who grew beyond being able to do it all yourself bring on the following helpers, part-time or full-time?

1) maintenance

2) book keeping

3) property management tasks

When we talk of growing, I often see stories like "We went from 0 to 5,327 units in one year!!!!" but then don't tell you what milestones they hit along the way as they did it.  Perhaps there are some markets with so many eager, talented, cost-effective, and reliable workers it's easy to find them at exactly the moment some folks need them.  I haven't had much luck finding many of these types of folks in my area: most are expensive, they come and go frequently, so you have to keep a list 5+ deep to make sure timely service is achieved.

Anyway, those of you who've "been there, done that" in a slower growth mode like I am describing...what's your story of managing growth?

P.S.  I just tried to post this discussion and got a "subject is too short" error.  That's an interesting error to have.  I added two more words and it seems happier now.