LLC Member as Contractor - Legal Implications for Liability

[Toni Guerrero]

Hello all. My husband and I are equal members in an LLC that holds 4 houses, and another LLC that holds one house and one 4plex. We have a property manager who controls all of the properties and historically arranged all of the contract work for repairs and maintenance (R/M) as we were out of the country.

Now that we're back Stateside permanently, we wanted to start doing our own R/M, most specifically the heavy work between tenants as this seems to be the most costly time suck of the entire operation. 

However, we have been advised that if we do ANY R/M work on any of our properties, we will lose the liability protection of the LLC and may be sued in our personal capacity. We have full hazard protection on all our properties and a separate umbrella coverage for general liability. If we take out General Contractor's liability insurance, it will cost about $2,200 per year extra.

Now, we accept using a contractor to do repairs while a tenant is in the property for two reasons: (1) we live 4 hours away from the properties and tenants usually want a job done quickly; and (2) the tenant sees the contractor and sues HIM if that is necessary. Kinda mercenary, but honest. 

What I'd like to know is if we can do the make ready between tenants without getting into any liability issues and without needing the expensive contractor insurance? By make ready, I'm referring to non-licensed work such as painting, redoing floors, replacing blinds, etc. Stuff like electrical, plumbing, etc. that requires a licensed professional will still be contracted out. 

Thanks in advance for any advice.