Managing Tenants Repairs

[Jason Rector]

I currently have 7 rentals in a centralized area for around 2 years with no tenant turnover. I do all the property management myself (10% is outrageous) and I am finding that working with tenant request for repairs to be a little challenging.

Say I have 2 tenants which report an issue. One reports the breaker keeps flipping and another reports the garbage disposal stopped working. Typically I will contact my electrician for the first issue and contact my plumber for the second issue. I will call each profession, whom I work with on a regular basis, and give them the tenant's contact information to schedule a time to work on the repair. Because I'm not involved with the actual repair, I have to rely on both the professional telling me what was replaced/fixed, and the tenant confirming that their issue was fixed appropriately.

What can I do to help improve communication between myself, the professional, and the tenant? How do property managers typically manage repair requests from many tenants to make sure everything is done in a timely manner?