All Forum Posts by: Will Gordon

Rent Manager I personally think is a good option to look into. Appfolio and other companies are closed systems so if any other software comes out in the future that would integrate Rent Manager has the best chance of making it available to its users.

Appfolio and Buildium are closed systems so you will only be able to use the tools they offer, which are phenomenal but it's personal preference really!

Originally posted by @Thomas S.:

This system would require a landlord to turn over some management of their property to the tenants. This would require a landlord to partner with and trust their tenants with the responsibility of maintaining their property.

I have no reason to trust tenants with that much responsibility.

 I'm curious why you would think that?

You could always have a quarterly or biannual inspection with pictures and notes to make sure your property is fine. The only responsibility the tenants have is to submit a work order, which has always been the same procedure. As far as tenants are involved they just have to give their schedule (unless vendors have permission to enter)and leave a review if they want.

Originally posted by @David Zheng:

I really like this idea if it can be implemented. I'm one of those guys who likes to take care of the financials, collecting rents, showing properties, etc. side

but Im not a huge fan of getting stupid calls for small fixes so this would be beneficial

 Sure, I have friends who like to mix music but don't like to produce it and vice versa. You can love an industry and not enjoy certain aspects of it. 

I know from personal experience that I don't like dealing with maintenance at all! I decided that it would be more enjoyable to create a maintenance solution for companies like my grandfathers and so far I have the data to back up that what we're doing is absolutely working to make people's lives easier.

What I'm most excited about is its ability to translate to your everyday landlord who simply isn't interested in maintenance. With technology, you can have a virtual accountant, and there are companies out there that will find you tenants for a one-time flat fee. So as long as you're willing to learn your property laws at your rental homes the only difficult part is really maintenance.

Some people aren't willing and Property Managers are perfect for them, for the rest, we would like to become an option to make passive income even less passive and creating less overhead. Personally, I know 30$ is much more worth all the time it would take for me to complete a work order from Italy while I'm on vacation.

Originally posted by @Linda S.:

I feel like for this to be profitable, it'd have to be heavily scaled.     Would you get a % of rent, or a flat fee each time?   It seems like to schedule and pay a maintenance call, as what if the tenants wouldn't be there, you'd still have the stress just not the contact and scheduling with the companies. 

From the tenants perspective, they'd probably like it and feel empowered to call and organize it, and I'd assume it'd be processed faster than the landlord or PM who might want to verify it.     I think it's an interesting idea, but most are either hiring a PM because they don't want to deal with anything, or not hiring so they don't have to pay extra and are willing to take on extra stress..  not sure how big of the market in the middle is?

 100% that's what my company is building. Our mentality is 100% about being able to scale to keep costs as low as possible for anyone we help, or else whats the point? It seems that as far as maintenance professionality goes if landlords are struggling with maintenance they only have 2 options.

-Use a generic call center to whom you provide direction and hope they can accomplish the job

-Use a property manager

Please add to my list so I can weigh more options if you have more!

I'm just creating another option that isn't ludicrously expensive so as for price, we haven't really decided but it definitely wouldn't be a %, in my opinion, it's not fair to charge people for more than the value of the job being performed. I'm thinking of setting a couple payment methods

-Monthly/yearly no contract subscription with a flat fee that includes X amount of work orders based on number of properties
-by the work order (never be more than 30 a work order) which includes the A-Z of the job including finding the vendor and daily updates.

When you send work order it should have tenant info so we can do all the communication and keep you up to date. So if they aren't there, we will reschedule just like you would. There haven't been many situations so far we haven't been able to handle for Property Managers as far as completing a work order so it should translate well to Landlords and Investors.

Originally posted by @Ryan Murdock:

@Will Gordon I've used basic answering services before and simply had a list of my vendors for them to call for each situation: plumber, heating tech, electrician, handy man, etc. I also set levels for things that warranted a direct call to me. Every call - even the non-emergency ones - were followed up with a summary e-mail to me. That worked pretty well. 

What that company would never do, and sounds like yours does, is think somewhat like a landlord and actually try and coach a tenant through a problem if it was something simple - tripped breaker etc. A good number of calls can be dealt with over the phone if the person answering is competent enough to handle it. Very interested in watching your business evolve here. 

 I did quite a bit of research before starting this. To give you some background info, I actually helped lead the team that developed Amazon's 2-hour and 2-day shipping systems. A big thing behind that is simply creating a more positive experience for your day to day people. There are people who sell things on Amazon who would never have had the chance to be good at running their own store, nor even have the chance to do so. Your everyday Joe can sell #2 pencils and turn a profit with all the options Amazon has presented to consumers.

I'm hoping that with the mentality that helped Amazon become who they did even without my help that I can create a maintenance experience that owners can present to their tenants without having to feel bogged down by all the research into vendors, paying them, making sure work is done, etc, etc. So for those who actually enjoy being landlords but aren't maintenance professionals, I would love to help.  

I'm sure you and everyone else knows how it goes no need to preach to the choir. But I'm 100% open to criticism and suggestions. 

Also what company did you use previously? Would love to do my own research.

Originally posted by @Ryan Murdock:

@Will Gordon How are you ensuring you get paid? Are you floating payments to vendors in the hopes that the property owner will agrees you made the right call and be willing to pay you back? Or are you collecting an upfront retainer? Or will your subs be agreeable to having their bills go right to the owner and hope they get paid? Let a few of those owners burn your vendors and you will quickly see your vendors lose motivation to respond to your requests. 

Sounds like you are straddling the line between PM and simple handyman service. It's going to be tough to stay centered.

 Well, we can set base budget limits and we do basic troubleshooting. So for clogs, circuit breakers, or garbage disposals, we will walk tenants through it. As you become more confident with the company you could set automatic budget limits. 

I'm thinking there would be 2 types of customer set ups Landlords are customers not the tenants, so we won't just work on stuff a tenant submits without owner consent.

Monthly subscription- People who don't want to deal with maintenance period and want to use our call center and are willing to give a blanket budget limit approval of 100-200 dollars for casual repairs (leaking faucet, fan repairs, etc) or for scheduling preventative and restorative maintenance (landscaping, drain cleaning, etc). We can track the quantity of work orders submitted and assist with troubleshooting anything a tenant submits to avoid any unnecessary repairs.

By the work order- You submit a work order and put down a deposit for the job (varies by job). You set budget limits and as long as everything is within budget limits you can pay the rest automatically through our system directly to the vendor if it's over budget we have contracts with our vendors that say they are not to begin work if it's over budget because they won't get paid for it. We reach out to you and see if you wanna keep moving ahead or find someone else. You are also refunded the difference if the job is under the deposit limit.

I agree owners burning vendors would definitely be unfortunate. Hopefully, with a deposit and the level of communication we provide, we can avoid this as much as possible. That being said it would be the same as if an owner burned a vendor regardless of our involvement. The owners are still 100% responsible for paying and if they don't we will pass on any pieces of information necessary for vendors to begin a collections process on nonpaying owners. We essentially just seek out vendors that want work, they are not OUR vendors and we do not hold any financial responsibility in the process.

I don't think we are worried about being centered, this company is 100% a maintenance-focused business. Everything we do will be to improve that experience. Whether it be for property managers or tenants that is the goal of my company. Any suggestions or questions you all have will help that process!

Originally posted by @Andrew Johnson:

Will Gordon This is what I pay a property manager for, all of the way down to the PDF monthly summary with scanned receipts. And the value isn't in processing the transaction or documenting it, it's finding the right contractor and ensuring the work is done properly.

That said, I'll play ball. Here's what I don't get: before and after pictures. I trust my property manager so it doesn't matter me to. Come to think of it, I've never asked for them. However, I know forums here are flooded with people worried about being scammed by their PM around fake repairs. I don't know how your platform would "prove" that repairs were needed or performed well but that (for many) I think would add value.

 Sure in the company I run to help Property Managers with their work orders we do require pictures and reviews. So tenants and vendors can confirm for your record that they completed the job and vendors know they won't get paid until photos are submitted. We can translate that on a landlord level just fine.

Originally posted by @Michele Fischer:

Love this idea, as we can and enjoy doing all of the landlording components except the handyman/maintenance.  To me it is partial PM'ing.  The part that many independent/smaller landlords struggle with.

I like the communication ice, that is big.  And ease of payment for landlords.  I assume you would be charging the actual costs incurred plus some sort of up-charge for you.  I guess the other components are - 

- How can you ensure that the trades/handymen will come through quickly and reliably?  Ensure folks are licensed?

- How to deal with tenants who can't or won't follow a standard work order process

- How handle periodic maintenance inspections and if the tenant is causing harm to the unit/causing the issue?

- Would this just be for maintenance, or improvements as well?  How about landscaping?  General mowing, periodic trimming, tree removal?

- Would your company have boots on the ground, or try to do it centrally/long distance?

Interesting concept...

 Yeah, which is the type of people who we are looking to help. I actually already am running a company called Latchel which is being used by property managers. I'm just working really hard on making it accessible to landlords who simply don't want a property manager for whatever reasons they have. We have been testing different methods to make work orders an easier process for everyone. I'll share some findings that answer your questions!

- How can you ensure that the trades/handymen will come through quickly and reliably? Ensure folks are licensed?

Our other co-founder Ethan helped develop Contractors.com so with his knowledge in vendor sourcing and bidding we have been able to effectively source a vendor for any job within 24 hours 90% of the time, the other 10% within 48 hours. Since we have a system that automatically aggregates reviews from all professional contractor sites we can source vendors with 4.5 to 5-star reviews in your community over several websites. Within minutes we reach out to several vendors with the job in question and with the tenant's availability so that vendors can dismiss or receive the job.

- How to deal with tenants who can't or won't follow a standard work order process

We actually reach out to tenants first to get their availability, so there shouldn't be any issues moving forward unless their missing multiple appointments, which is difficult considering we send a 24hour reminder to them as well.  I haven't had any issues with my company in regards to tenants wanting their problems fixed ASAP. Usual issues are just them being on vacation or just entirely gone from the property. Other than that we can usually get a response from tenants within 24 hours since we use text, e-mail, and call if necessary.

- How handle periodic maintenance inspections and if the tenant is causing harm to the unit/causing the issue?

If you ever wanted to submit a work order for a property inspection (which we do a lot) we will just treat it as a normal work order which works as so,
-Contact the tenant for availability
-Search for vendors, schedule
-Follow up for completion
-Get a rating of the vendor from the tenant
-Then get the invoice with photos of the completed job sent to you ASAP.

- Would this just be for maintenance, or improvements as well? How about landscaping? General mowing, periodic trimming, tree removal?

Sure we can manage all of these, I'm looking into being able to schedule preventative/ quarterly or biannually. So as long as landlords preapprove budget limits it would be like any subscription. You'd be charged beforehand, the job completed, then you would get photos, an invoice, and a pdf of all communications with time stamps

- Would your company have boots on the ground, or try to do it centrally/long distance

Our company would not have people on the ground, we would be doing the follow ups and check ups, and if anyone becomes unresponsive or if the job is above budget we would be doing the chasing and follow ups with all parties including landlords for approvals. We make very strict contracts with vendors in regards to their ability to communicate and also require photos at the end of jobs. So far it's working perfectly fine for property managers, I couldn't see this being an issue on the landlord end as well.

Also, I'm sure PRICE is a huge factor and I understand. Since we've already been operating for a little over a year we have gotten that much times worth of data on the average cost for jobs. So we are able to get market prices for any jobs and easily spot when someone is overcharging!

Please, any more questions or suggestions will just help me help you guys!

@Brent Coombs Sure, I don't actually want to discredit property managers. The ones that perform well do a great service. I used to help my grandfather with his company and when he got ill I had to step in so I know the work a good team puts in when they want to deliver quality service. That being said if you own only a few properties, have some decent tenants, and can do the leasing and accounting on your own maintenance can be a huge bummer if you're 2000 miles away in a different time zone. Trust is absolutely a huge factor and I hope to build a positive reputation as I move ahead Thanks for the welcome!

Hey guys, I'm currently working on a project to help tenants be able to submit work orders for individual landlords who don't want to deal with maintenance It would have a call center that they can refer their tenants to (I would staff it) so that work can begin immediately within budget limits also, people could just pay their vendors directly through us just like PayPal making it easy. Recently I've working on being able to submit a PDF of all interactions between all parties for the sake of documentation. Everyone at the end of a job can be kept up to date without tenants waiting or landlords worrying about delaying on a work order Really want to know what else you guys would like from something like this?