STR On-Call Rates for Local Backup Person

Stacy Edwards · 2022-03-29T21:46:27-07:00

TLDR: What is the best way to charge for an backup/on call person for your vacation rental in case of emergency? (Not full property mangement) Long version: I do virtual vacation rental assistance for a property about an hour from my home and have really been enjoying it, so I was hoping to expand and take on some clients in the area where I live, which is very STR-heavy. I'd rather not dive into full-on property management, as there are several companies here who already do that and I'm not sure I want to take on that much yet. I'm finding there's an "in-between" need: people who do a lot of management themselves, but need a local backup person for emergencies and on call and potentially some other various tasks. I'm struggling to figure out how to charge for this. My thoughts: charge a rate of $100-$300 per month as a base and then have separate rates for when I need to actually do work. However, with this, I worry about the times where I would go out of town for a weekend and would need to hire someone to cover - if I was at $100, it would eat up a bunch of my rate to hire someone (I can't imagine paying someone less than $25 a day to be on call for a short period of time) but if it were $300 I think it would be too expensive for people. I was thinking $175 would be a sweet spot, but not sure if that would be worth it for people. I'd obviously charge more if additional tasks were added. Does anyone have any thoughts for how to charge for this? Thanks - I appreciate it!

Jake Wiley

Investor · Charleston, SC · Member since 2022 · 234 posts · 198 votes

4y

It sounds interesting. My guess is you are going to have to see what the market will bear in terms of how many will take you up on that.

Why don't you offer it up as a potential option to your clients on the higher end and see how many take you up on the offer. For those that don't, you can go back and ask them why not and see if this problem is fixable. Ultimately, you'll want to have a critical mass of clients to make it worthwhile, and before you get committed it would be great to see if you can get to that.

I would put it out there as a potential option and see your response rate.

Good luck.

1 Reply

Nancy Bachety

Rental Property Investor · North Fork, NY · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 631 votes

4y

So you’d charge $175/mo to be a virtual vacation rental assistant plus more $ when you actually do work? I agree you’ll have to see what the market will bare. Plus I don’t really know what a vvra does.

0 Reply

Stacy Edwards

OP

Virtual Assistant · Langley, WA · Member since 2022 · 43 posts · 23 votes

4y

Quote from @Nancy Bachety:

So you’d charge $175/mo to be a virtual vacation rental assistant plus more $ when you actually do work? I agree you’ll have to see what the market will bare. Plus I don’t really know what a vvra does.

Hi Nancy - the base rate (which I've decided to set at $300) only covers being a back-up/on call person to call in case of emergencies.

Though I've done lots of virtual assisting so far, I'm finding that in my area there's not as much of a need for virtual assistant stuff, but there is a need for someone to be local for "back up" in case there is an issue in person, as many owners live too far away to respond.

$300 is a base rate for strictly being on call, and if I get called in or do other tasks, I will charge hourly.

The reason that I set the base rate at $300 is because I need to be able to pay someone to cover me if I go out of town. If I set it at $175 and go out of town for three days, I'd assume the person covering me would want to be paid $25 per day or more, so I need to at least be able to cover that cost and make some income overall for being available.

So far I have one client and one more who may be interested, so I take it as a good sign!

1 Reply

Michael HaasBusiness Member

Real Estate Agent · Sammamish, 🌧️ Seattle Investor-Agent | 🤑 Helped 400+ Clients Invest in Real Estate | 🏘️ Owns 23 WA Rentals & Airbnbs | 🏗️ Built 5 DADU's | 📈 You Can Do It Too · Member since 2016 · 725 posts · 3k+ votes

4y

Sounds like a good business idea @Stacy Edwards - A lot of municipalities are requiring that a local person be withing 30 min - an hour away for emergencies. For out of state or out of county investors even just being able to put your name down as the "local person" on their permit holds value.

[email protected]408-439-7873

HouseHack Seattle | Michael Haas & Team572 Reviews

Website View Page

5 Reply

Stacy Edwards

OP

Virtual Assistant · Langley, WA · Member since 2022 · 43 posts · 23 votes

4y

Quote from @Michael Haas:

Sounds like a good business idea @Stacy Edwards - A lot of municipalities are requiring that a local person be withing 30 min - an hour away for emergencies. For out of state or out of county investors even just being able to put your name down as the "local person" on their permit holds value.

This is so good to know, Michael! I have one client so far and it's been a learning process, but so far so good! I know LOTS of people who own Whidbey properties live in Seattle, so they definitely wouldn't be able to get here within an hour with the ferry instability lately. I think I need to start advertising in Seattle - I lived there for many many years, so luckily I'm a little familiar with how to market there!

0 Reply

Ryan MoyerBusiness Member

Property Manager · Orlando Kissimmee Davenport Salt Lake City, Park City · Member since 2019 · 996 posts · 1k+ votes

4y

I don't mean to throw the kabosh on anything, because if you can charge it and people will pay it then more power to ya! But $300/mo is essentially a retainer and any actual work gets charged on top? And that's just for late nights, where anything that needs to be handled late night is typically something major like HVAC, plumbing, etc. Can you repair those things or would you just be calling a plumber/HVAC person? Why couldn't the host just do that remotely like the rest of us do?

Again, if people are willing to pay it, go for it that sounds like a great deal. In one of my markets someone charges $300/mo but they give the guest their contact info, handle all communication during the guest's stay, and handle all basic maintenance requests (not just emergencies) at no additional cost. Granted, I think he is crazy underpriced for what he offers, and he's a loonnnnnngggg ways from you (literally across the country in Florida).

Like @Michael Haas said there are places that require an "onsite contact" but in most of those markets there are people willing to put their name on that for $25/year or so.

Again, if people will sign on, go for it! Just adding my perspective as a purely remote host in terms of what the value add would be. I only have 150 stays or so under my belt but I can't think of a single time where I needed an on-site emergency person. Anything late-night was either something that could wait until morning and the guest understood that, or something major enough it required a specialist (HVAC repair, plumber, etc) which I can call just as easily here in Utah as I could if I were standing in the house.

Now if you were charging $300/mo and were interacting directly with guests and fixing small items (towel rack fell off the wall, etc) then that would be more enticing.

Cosmic Vacations4.9177 Reviews

Website View Page

0 Reply

Stacy Edwards

OP

Virtual Assistant · Langley, WA · Member since 2022 · 43 posts · 23 votes

4y

Quote from @Ryan Moyer:

I don't mean to throw the kabosh on anything, because if you can charge it and people will pay it then more power to ya! But $300/mo is essentially a retainer and any actual work gets charged on top? And that's just for late nights, where anything that needs to be handled late night is typically something major like HVAC, plumbing, etc. Can you repair those things or would you just be calling a plumber/HVAC person? Why couldn't the host just do that remotely like the rest of us do?

Again, if people are willing to pay it, go for it that sounds like a great deal. In one of my markets someone charges $300/mo but they give the guest their contact info, handle all communication during the guest's stay, and handle all basic maintenance requests (not just emergencies) at no additional cost. Granted, I think he is crazy underpriced for what he offers, and he's a loonnnnnngggg ways from you (literally across the country in Florida).

Like @Michael Haas said there are places that require an "onsite contact" but in most of those markets there are people willing to put their name on that for $25/year or so.

Again, if people will sign on, go for it! Just adding my perspective as a purely remote host in terms of what the value add would be. I only have 150 stays or so under my belt but I can't think of a single time where I needed an on-site emergency person. Anything late-night was either something that could wait until morning and the guest understood that, or something major enough it required a specialist (HVAC repair, plumber, etc) which I can call just as easily here in Utah as I could if I were standing in the house.

Now if you were charging $300/mo and were interacting directly with guests and fixing small items (towel rack fell off the wall, etc) then that would be more enticing.

I totally understand what you're saying! I only have one client so far, but it's actually been really helpful for me to be available.

While this client could probably do it on her own, she doesn't really have the time/energy/knowledge to manage remotely. Lots of people don't, or are scared to do it in the case that something happens that they can't address.

For example, we had our first booking last week. Yay! But as soon as they checked in, the fire alarm was beeping/out of batteries (even though she had just changed it!) I was able to quickly run out there with my ladder and get new batteries in. So yes, I am interacting with guests for little things, can answer questions via text, etc - but that does come with an extra charge on top of the $300. I live in the Pacific Northwest where everything is expensive :)

Could she have hired a handyman to do this? Probably. But it would've taken her more time to nail down, probably have been more expensive in the long run, etc. And getting a handyman out here isn't exactly easy.

There is also a TON of stuff that comes up just because the property is new - figuring out cleaners, laundry, etc etc etc.

I think once things calm down a bit she could probably manage remotely if she wanted to, however, I don't think it's something she's interested in doing.

0 Reply

STR On-Call Rates for Local Backup Person

STR On-Call Rates for Local Backup Person

Most Popular Reply

7 Replies