Once you establish a routine and a few systems you will see it is very easy to self-manage.

So today, when contractors tell me bigger numbers for work that I know l can do it is hard to let it go.A lot of landlords do their own cleaning and maintenance to save money or to increase their knowledge/experience.

I'm looking through the spreadsheet and I think it's worth mentioning that it's possible to spend a lot less for certain material items as well as labor in many cases depending on how frugal you want to beinterior door with hardware: $5-10 used, $30-50 newwindow: $10-50 used, $100-200 newlight fixtures: $1-10 used, 6 pack flushmount at lowes for $44fan fixture: $24-60 new water heater: $250 newtoilet: $50-90 newsink: $40-200 new faucet: $10-30 newtile: 0.49-2/sqft newappliance: $20-200 each appliance usedmy last rehab was:60 elec permit cost + 300 elec repair (tenant destroyed meter box causing house to be condemned)1600 material + 1500 labor flooring for 1400 sqft500 material + 600 labor spray paint whole house semigloss and patch some large holes$30 for 4 interior doors which I put in$10 mirror for bathroom$100 paint porch, stairs, and stair rail brown$50 fridge, $10 burner plates for stoveI also spent at least a few hundred with help on cleaning and taking out the trash and some other expenses here and there which altogether added up to about 5 thousand.I spent maybe 30 hours over there in total on the weekends.

I spent about 6k to get rid of the smoke smell including painting, cleaning the vents, cleaning the furniture etc.  

Beyond the fact you need to know how to use it, know what you are looking at and and then have to clean it... it is ok to just punt that task to a professional.   

Inspections, renovations and touch-ups, and then cleanings to get the property ready for the next group.Student Housing ChallengesYearly Turnover - Every year you have tenant turnover.

It can be awkward having to tell them to keep it clean so you just set ground rules in advance.

I currently pay $15 per hour for contract labor for simple things like stripping a roof, cleaning up junk, mowing, etc. 

why I have to help them clean it when its their fault for not cleaning the fridge. next complaint is rodent dropping, I see in the backyard there is whole bunch of rice in the backyard which the tenant did and trying to lure the rodent to come, now that I know they trying to get me in trouble.

This is helpful, I've defintely been respectful, I've been helping her out with a lot of the tasks that are part of cleaning out the house and supporting her with additional information via Google as she is in her 70's.