The unit had to be treated twice for pests.Property Manager gave me an invoice (pretty weak one without much detail and it was their own, not from the company they used) that said the dumpster fee was about $425 (reasonable including haul-away), but then the labor fee for the trash out was over $4,000, and with a few other things thrown in, it was nearly $5,000.

Ideas:- Request itemized invoices that outline the supplies, subcontractors, workers on the project, and materials purchased?

I received notices and a ticket for code violations (never received the ticket just code violations and invoices for the city contractors that "cleaned" the property).

You have to have the general contractor write up an invoice for services to be rendered and pre-pay for the service at the closing.

Make sure you are overseeing his work and seeing invoices for material he is purchasing.

Other than the obvious down fall where the investor doesn’t pay the contractors invoice, is there something else I’m missing?

Dang I have been doing this wrong! 

Dang, this stinks. 

I would send the Tenant an invoice for the repair and give them 15 days to pay.

Either way, I also discuss with the Owner at this time what the market suggests the new asking rent should be, and confirm his strategy for the foreseeable future regarding hold, sell, or whatever in order to (hopefully) not spring any surprises on new tenants.Owners are welcome to provide us with contact info for their preferred vendors, but we let them know that standards must be met with regard to timeliness of repairs, interaction with tenants, and, if we will be paying the invoice out of their income, they will need to be properly licensed and insured.