yes, @Marcus Auerbach! What he said. so sad, but every time i've found someone fantastic and/or very reasonably priced and I give out their name to reward them, I've regretted it... they often get too busy AND the prices go up...
I would just add, that it can be a real 'trial and error' thing, with painful training! so be prepared for some frustration. whenever trying someone new, try to find a reason to 'happen' to be on site while they're working there. Try not to micromanage them, but just make sure they're not messing anything up: even if you don't have much experience in property repairs and maintenance, you can usually tell when someone is a bit of a hack, and with the way the labor market is today, there are a ****ton of hacks out there. So think of it as a learning experience, and you're playing the long game.
So refrain from paying for anything more than materials up front; I even tend to have them letme know quantities of what they need, and pay for it myself and get it delivered to the site, so you're not giving them money that might just walk away never to be seen again. At least until I trust them.
Everyone, even (and especially) the really good ones can become prima donnas in this market and leave a mess behind them; absolutely have that conversation at the beginning, that they need to shut down 15-30 min early for cleaning up, ON THEIR TIME, or as part of the bid... EVERY DAY. Especially if it's an occupied property: tenants can get very grumpy if messes are left behind, and rightfully so. Best to keep your tenant happy, but make sure YOU and your tenants are not the ones who ends up having to clean up after them, unless it's super important to save money for you, and you're willing to take it on.
Tradespeople are often not set up to demo things, and they don't feel like they should have to; they charge their normal rate like $160 an hour when it would save so much money and be quicker for you to have a laborer or yourself there to make the contractor's job easier. So it's important that you have someone much less expensive than the plumber tearing out sheetrock to chase down broken pipes. The plumber, in turn, also feels respected and tends to love the job, AND YOU, and is quick to respond to your call next time. And I try to be there to write them a check THAT DAY (after everything is well done and fully cleaned up), and they will love you for that too.
Anyway sorry for pontificating, you may already know this stuff; just thought i'd throw my 7 cents in there! (inflation)
