Property Management - Worth looking into?

Ay Watz up window nation…What is your take on working for property managers and on charging a lot less for your services but gaining consistent work? Is it worth it or do they get u by the B@lls?

We’ve worked with a few property managers over the years and have had some success with them, but nothing truly special. We’ve also done more pressure washing for them than window cleaning. Just a few weeks ago we did a soft wash on a large club house for a high end neighborhood and even though the windows were in terrible shape, they didn’t want the work done. The PM said he’d been there 7 years and they’ve never been cleaned. Even though I proposed a price break in the window cleaning since we were going to be doing all the PW, they still didn’t bite.

We’ve also worked with some PM who were really demanding about working around their schedule. I’ve learned over the years to not necessarily break my back for these people, cause in the end, they don’t seem to appreciate it anyway. But then again, maybe I’ve just haven’t found that golden goose property manager yet.

I look at my business kind of like I look at investing. You need to diversify. I have commercial accounts I got on my own, I have commercial accounts that I got from national service providers and I have commercial accounts from property managers. Some are good, some are not.

The big thing to remember is not to depend too much on national service providers or property managers. One day, they could just decide to go with another company.

My experience is much the same. Diversity is important. Property managers generally don’t spend money as regularly on maintenance as say a home owner. The work required to get the location up to speed can some times be more than they are really interested in purchasing. This can be a challenge when you know there are issues that should be addressed but aren’t being paid for. On the other hand there are several accounts we service that I am glad we manage. There are no silver bullet solutions. Diversification of your customer base, not necessarily your services, is a safe principle to follow.

Property managers want work done for less but every property manager I work with signs contracts and is very consistent w pay. It is worth the lower prices. Like everyone else said diversify your portfolio and property management is great to fit in your route. Join BOMA I just joined last week. BOMA is a great way to meet property managers from what I have heard. I’ll let you know if it’s worth $1400 a year!