16 Aug The Importance of Choosing the Right Vendor

It is inevitable – many things in your home are going to eventually break and need repair, no matter how much care you take of your home.  When this time comes, the homeowner is responsible for determining if the repair is done right the first time.  If it is, you can expect to not  worry about it again for as long as you still own the home.  If it is not, you could be dealing with more cost and frustration than you can even imagine.

First, we would always recommend that any vendor chosen would carry the appropriate type and amount of insurance for the specific business they are in.  Second, when dealing with specialized repairs like installing a water heater, or fixing a burst pipe for example, you want to select a vendor that has specialized training and/or certifications.  Third, you want to make sure that any necessary permits and inspections are complied with depending on the type of work being done.

If you want to fix a problem correctly the first time, you need to choose the right vendor THE FIRST TIME.  Use the resources at your disposal on the internet to research quality companies that have a proven track record of doing good work.  Price is always a factor, but more often than not in our experience, you will get the type of work that you pay for.  Selecting a vendor with poor reviews just because he is cheaper than the vendor with great reviews is likely going to cost you much more than you think you are saving the first time you hire the cheaper vendor.  This becomes especially true when you are dealing with either a plumbing or electrical repair.  If not done properly, you can end up having serious flooding or even a fire.  Accidents do happen, and that is what insurance is for.  But if you choose the right vendor from the beginning, your changes of dealing with major disasters like this decrease dramatically.

Additionally, when you factor in that a tenant is paying rent to live in a functional home, the pressure to get a repair done promptly and efficiently increases.  The tenant doesn’t usually have any responsibility to make repairs to things not caused by their neglect.  And they will often not care for the home the same way you would do as a homeowner.  So to protect your investment, you should choose proactive vendors who have the mentality that they are fixing your problem like it is their own home, and if possible, fixing it forever.  They would also be sure to let you know about any other issues they encounter while fixing your initial problem.

For example, one plumber recently installed a new hot water heater in a rental property.  They made note that the home did not have a pressure regulator and that without one installed, the manufacturer’s warranty on the water heater would not be honored.  This information was then presented to the homeowner who was more than willing to spend the extra money for the pressure regulator to protect their investment.  Without doing so, they would likely be replacing the water heater again in a short time which would cost substantially more than the extra money it costed to install the pressure regulator right away.  But because they did so at the vendor’s suggestion, they’ll like get a much longer life out of the appliance, have a happy tenant, and have peace of mind that if something else does fail with the water heater, that it should be covered under warranty.  These are the types of vendor that you want to keep on speed dial for when you have those inevitable repairs with home ownership.