Expectation of property management getting multiple bids on HVAC?

[Michael Zagorsky]

I got a call my from property manager about the rental I current own long distance in Birmingham, AL.  They got a call from the tenants that the HVAC system stopped working and the service company they brought out concluded that the HVAC system needed to be replaced.

We expected this, it was on it's last legs an we were planning on replacing in fall.

The property manager came back to let me know that the replacement would be $4,600 but that the quote was not in writing (and it took them a day to get me a written quote to my inbox). I asked how many bids they got:  one. 

I protested and they got me a second bid for $3,500.  

All this took about a week from when the unit went out to getting the new unit installed.  

Overall, I know that it is unreasonable for a management company to spend a lot of time shopping for every repair, but to single bid a major CapEx seems to not reasonable.

Just wondering what everyone's else experiences with similar situations is.