You need: 1) a solid, foolproof way to estimate so you actually make money, 2) a comprehensive and exhaustive Scope Of Work, 3) a good looking Proposal, 4) a legal Contract for your state that protects both you and the customer, 5) Change orders that document both cost and time increases, 6) professional invoices and receipts, 7) all the appropriate lien releases etc.Actually knowing to be the perfect carpenter comes a distant second......

He's licensed and has his own company on the side, with invoices and everything, but he can't generate enough work on his own and thus has to work for a larger company most of the time.The technicians working for these companies are often licensed, but don't have the people skills or marketing skills necessary to operate on their own. 

I think it is only fair to get our tenants a working stove and refrigerator as fast as we can without worrying about trying to save money and every time we call an appliance repair man they want almost as much as an appliance costs to repair one.As you see in the WDC invoice.

If you feel there's a chance the tenant will fight you, I recommend you hire a professional company so you have an invoice and a third-party witness.

I paid less than $1000 for a similar repair, about a year ago.Did you get some detail on the invoice, or just the bottom line?

We could look at 2, maybe 3 companies, but bundle the payments into 1 invoice to achieve both beat pricing and easy of business.

I am using Quickbooks Payments, it's $.50/transaction and they pay off an invoice, so they either pay the amount due or not at all- no partial payments.  

(We change locks every time, but have had tenants leave apartments unlocked or locked with keys in the mailbox- I'd rather they take the keys with them or turn them into me).With the last rent invoice, I remind them of what is expected at move out time, and see if they have any questions or want to schedule an inspection.Where I went to school, leases ended at noon and the new ones started at noon on the same day, so there wasn't any cleaning or repairs happening in between, and that seems to still be in practice in some buildings, at least from what my inherited tenants have reported.  

We asked for a detailed invoice, which came in the form of "materials and labor = $9500, Permit costs = $300".

From there, if you have a cam expense, you would first break down how much each tenant needs to pay for a particular invoice and then code to the correct job.