Guides
Vendors for short-term rental repairs deserve a real checklist
A short-term rental repair vendor checklist: what to verify before anyone holds a key, what to agree in writing, and what to check after each job.
What to take away
- You are not hiring a tradesperson. You are giving someone access to a building you may not own, sometimes while a guest is inside it.
- Verify before the first job, not during the first emergency. Vendors chosen under pressure are chosen badly.
- Two vendors per trade, minimum. One vendor is a single point of failure on exactly the day you cannot afford one.
- Ask for what they found, not just what they fixed. The finding is what feeds next season's maintenance plan.
Before the first job
- Confirm they are licensed for the work in this jurisdiction, and hold a copy of the credential with its expiry.
- Confirm they carry their own liability cover, and hold a certificate rather than an assurance.
- Confirm who will actually attendthe person you are speaking to, an employee, or a subcontractor you have not met.
- Confirm whether their own people are employees or subcontractors, because it changes who is responsible when something goes wrong.
- Ask what their response time is out of hours, and what it costs.
- Ask whether they will enter a property with a guest present, and on what terms.
- Agree how access is given and returned, and never hand over a permanent code without a review date.
- Agree a spending limit above which they call before proceeding.
- Agree what a written job report contains, including what they found and did not fix.
- Confirm the property owner permits this vendor to attend, where you manage rather than own.
The last box is the one managers skip. A vendor attending someone else's property on your instruction is your decision to justify, and the time to establish that is before rather than after.
Before the first job
- Licence copy held with expiry date
- Liability certificate, not an assurance
- Who actually attendsemployee or subcontractor
- Out-of-hours response time and cost
- Access given and returned, code review date
- Spending limit above which they call
- Owner permits this vendor to attend
Agree in writing, once
- [Rateshourly or per call](/how-to-price-short-term-rental-services-for-a-fair-margin), and what a call-out includes before work starts.
- Out-of-hours definition and rate, stated as times rather than as a feeling.
- Partsat cost, at cost plus a stated margin, or at their price, and which.
- The spending limit above which they must ask.
- How long they will hold a slot for you in peak season, if at all.
- What happens if the fix failswho returns, and at whose cost.
- How the invoice ties to the job report, so a charge can be checked against a finding.
- Data and accesswho at their end holds codes, and how those are withdrawn.
The failed-fix row settles a surprising amount of friction. A vendor who returns free within a stated period behaves differently from one who bills each visit, and both are legitimate as long as it was agreed before the first failure rather than after it.
Agree in writing, once
- Rateshourly or per call, call-out included
- Out-of-hours defined as times, not feelings
- Partsat cost, plus margin, or their price
- Spending limit above which they must ask
- Peak-season slot held, if at all
- Failed fixwho returns, at whose cost
- Invoice ties to the job report
Safety, and who carries it
Where a vendor's people work on equipment that can start unexpectedly or hold stored energy, there is an established framework behind that work, set out in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's standard on the control of hazardous energy.
Whether and how it applies depends on the work, the equipment, and how the people doing it are engaged. Ask a vendor one simple question: do they have their own procedures, and can they describe them?
A vendor who has thought about it answers in a sentence. One who has not changes the subject. That is information.
Where you employ maintenance people directly rather than contracting, the obligation is yours rather than theirs, and it is worth qualified advice rather than an assumption. That decision belongs with the wider staffing question in the hiring and training guide.
After each job
- A written report saying what was found, what was done, and what was left.
- Any part replaced, named, so a second failure can be recognized as a second failure.
- Photographs where the work is not visible afterward.
- The job logged against the property, with class and cost including any night blocked.
- Access confirmed returned or the code changed.
- The invoice checked against the report before it is paid.
The second box is the one that pays for itself. Without the part named, a repeat failure looks like bad luck. With it, the second failure is visible as a replacement decision, which is the argument in how to build a short-term rental maintenance plan.
After each job
- Written reportfound, done, left
- Any part replaced, named
- Photographs where work is hidden
- Job logged with class and cost
- Access returned or code changed
- Invoice checked against report before payment
Keeping these records is not only operational. It broadly matches what a business is generally expected to hold, which the Internal Revenue Service sets out in its guide to what records a business should keep, so one file does two jobs.
Reading a vendor over the first year
| Signal | What it tells you | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Arrives inside the window they gave | They run a schedule rather than a queue | Give them more work |
| Reports what they found and did not fix | They are thinking about the property, not the ticket | Ask them to walk a property annually |
| Quotes before proceeding past the limit | The agreement is real to them | Raise the limit, carefully |
| Sends a different person each time | Continuity is not part of their model | Fine for simple work, poor for anything diagnostic |
| Cannot produce a certificate on request | Either disorganized or uninsured | Do not send them to an occupied property |
| Bills for a return after a failed fix | You never agreed the failed-fix rule | Agree it now, in writing |
The second row is the strongest single indicator in this trade. A vendor who volunteers what is about to fail is worth more than one who is cheaper per call, because the fault they mention in passing is the class one fault you did not have.
Reading a vendor over the first year
Signal
- Arrives inside window
- Runs a schedule
- Reports what they did not fix
- Thinking about property
- Quotes before limit
- Agreement is real
- Sends different person
- No continuity
- No certificate on request
- Disorganized or uninsured
- Bills for failed-fix return
- Rule never agreed
What it tells you
- Arrives inside window
- Give more work
- Reports what they did not fix
- Ask annual walk
- Quotes before limit
- Raise limit carefully
- Sends different person
- Poor for diagnostics
- No certificate on request
- Not to occupied property
- Bills for failed-fix return
- Agree it now, in writing
What to do
- Arrives inside window
- Reports what they did not fix
- Quotes before limit
- Sends different person
- No certificate on request
- Bills for failed-fix return
Entering an occupied property
This deserves its own rule, agreed with the vendor and with the guest.
Entering an occupied property
- Agree the rule with vendor and guest
- Decide who notifies the guest
- Decide how much notice they get
- Decide who accompanies the vendor
- Keep guest-related responses consistent and recorded
Decide who notifies the guest, how much notice they get, and who accompanies the vendor if anyone does. A repair carried out well but announced badly generates a complaint about privacy rather than gratitude about the fix.
Where a request concerns the guest rather than the property, keep the response consistent and recorded. Anti-discrimination protections reach housing-related transactions and vary by state and locality above the federal position, summarized by the Department of Housing and Urban Development in its statement of fair housing rights and obligations.
Depth, not just breadth
Two vendors per trade is the minimum, and the second one has to be genuinely available rather than theoretically listed. Test them on a class four job in a quiet month, so their first visit is not an emergency.
As the portfolio grows this list has to be maintained per market rather than per business, because a vendor bench does not travel. That is one of the costs weighed honestly in the expansion and market guide, and the classification of faults that decides which vendor you call is set out in the repairs and maintenance guide.
Common questions
How many vendors do I actually need?
Two per trade you rely on, and one general handyman who can look at anything. The general one is the most valuable relationship in this business.
Should I put a vendor on retainer?
Only if it buys you a response time in season. A retainer that buys goodwill and no priority is a subscription to a feeling.
Is the cheapest quote ever the right one?
For class four work, often. For anything that could stop a stay, response time is worth more than rate, because the blocked nights cost more than the difference.
What if a vendor damages something?
That is what the certificate is for, which is why you hold it before the first job rather than looking for it afterward.
Can I let a vendor hold a permanent access code?
Only with a review date and a named person at their end. Codes handed out and never withdrawn are the most common access failure in this trade.
