Small Multifamily - Maintenance/Expense Project

[Jason Dubon]

Hey everyone, what tools/method do you use for estimating the cost of maintenance and repairs of a multi-family home (2-4 units) ?

[Anderson Banegas Cerrato]

Hey Jason, great question! I’m not in the game yet, but I’ve been diving into this to prepare for my first multi-family deal. From what I’ve learned, investors often use a percentage of gross rental income as a baseline—usually around 10-15%—to estimate maintenance and repairs.

Others recommend tools like Stessa or Buildium to track actual costs and project future expenses.

How do you usually approach unexpected repairs or big-ticket items? I’d love to learn from your experience!