Before you hire a maintenance team, double-check the contract
By: Shamontiel L. Vaughn
Tags: Hiring, Maintenance, Contracts, Condominiums, Condo Board Association

Before you hire a maintenance team, double-check the contract

Snow removal, handyman, plumber, painter, gardener: Don’t hire a contractor until you’re sure of the pros, cons and what-ifs

The phrase “I don’t do windows” has been used for umpteen years. Granted, several decades ago, it made sense considering windows didn’t always have the kind of hinges that could easily be cleaned without physically hanging off the window sill. But times have changed even when people’s work behavior has not. That means condo board associations still run into contractors who sound like Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” rap — they “can’t do this” and they “don’t do that.” But if you sign the wrong contract, you can’t “get a refund” or “bring that back.”

Photo credit: Jeriden Villegas/Unsplash

Prior to our current maintenance team, which I cannot say enough nice things about, two prior maintenance crews created more headaches than cleanliness. One worked in partnership with our prior property management company. But odd things started happening, like the maintenance company charging questionable purchases on our open hardware store account. While the prior property management company would pay the bill, sketchy purchases weren’t challenged. For example, seven keys were copied for what was supposed to be “the basement.” But anyone living in our building knew that we used Mul-T-Lock keys, which can only be copied by licensed locksmiths. When asking about the key copies, our board was told all of the keys “‘didn’t work” so they were “thrown away.” But on the next couple of bills, copied keys from the same hardware store were on there again. Who goes back to a hardware store that made seven faulty keys to get more keys copied? Along with a slew of other supplies that couldn’t be traced to our building— and the maintenance team never confirming a consistent schedule or cleaning tasks — the board ultimately decided to get rid of this company within a matter of months.

The next maintenance company looked promising, with a detailed list of weekly tasks, and a specified arrival day and time. Oddly, even though their contract listed tasks like “changing dead light bulbs,” “removing cobwebs” and “mopping the basement floor,” the company never changed any lightbulbs even after being asked to, ignored cobwebs altogether and would only mop the “main” basement floor. According to them, the “storage part was different; we only mop the washer-dryer area.” They wouldn’t change lightbulbs because they didn’t want to shop for them (regardless of reimbursement). And even after pointing out that the storage area was in the same basement, half of the basement remained untouched. They lasted two months.

When Company Number 3 offered their services for a strict yearlong contract and no cancellation or trial period, I opted out immediately. No one needs to learn the same lesson three times. Condo boards learn fairly quickly that anytime you team up with (independent) contractors, there needs to be a “what if?” conversation that takes place before any signatures are marked on contract pages.

Why job tasks should be reviewed line-by-line

From that point on, our board became very specific before anymore signatures were marked on contract pages.

Do you actually do everything on your contract?

How often do you do ____________, which is on the contract?

Do you charge extra to do ______________?

Do you handle repairs? What repairs are you qualified and previously did?

Are you comfortable with reimbursement after purchasing items for repairs, or would you need to have the items supplied ahead of time?

Photo credit: jarmoluk/Pixabay

Don’t assume that everything in the contract, even if the contractor wrote and released it, is covered. Oddly, sometimes contractors will print out templates and not pay much attention to what’s on the page until the association points to it. Read all contracts line-by-line, making sure that no one suddenly has amnesia when it comes to getting the job done.

The weather isn’t always on your side

If you live in a city where weather tends to be different every day, you definitely need to have wording in your contract to accommodate that. For example, if you hire painters or gardeners, know what the cancellation time is on a rainy day. If you’re getting deck repairs but the weather is too cool for the staining and sealing to properly dry within a predicted amount of time, make sure the deck team will still be available the day after.

And if you live in a place like Chicago where you can spend winter days at the beach or in a snowsuit, you definitely need to understand your snow removal contract. For example, can your maintenance specialist handle snow removal under a certain number of inches of snow? What about over a certain amount of inches of snow? Is there a different fee for both or one flat rate?

Photo credit: Josh Wilburne/Unsplash

If you have a larger snow removal team who does charge a monthly flat rate, do you still owe this amount even if you have an unseasonably warm winter? Is there room for negotiation? These may all seem to be odd questions to ask when there’s a snowflake nowhere in sight, but the last thing you want to do is wait until you’re wearing two pairs of gloves, a knitted hat and a down feather coat to start worrying about who will clear the parking lot.

Should you call/email references of contractors ahead of time?

This is one area of Corporate America that I’ll never quite understand. If someone puts a work reference or personal reference down, you already know that they’re going to have a glowing review of the person in order to get the job. Who in their right mind would put down a terrible reference? On the other hand, I do not agree with allowing hiring managers to call every past supervisor and/or manager. (There are a mountain of online articles about horrendous higher-ups. Supervisors are as likely to be horrendous as the employee is amazing, and vice versa.)

Calling a contractors’ past references could result in more of the same. So who should you rely on? I’m a stickler for reading Better Business Bureau complaints and checking grades; reading Yelp, Angie’s List and Google reviews; and reviewing the company’s website. If their website is a mess and contact information is shaky, chances are that the company is, too. (I’ve only been proven wrong one time. The company was amazing but definitely needed a web manager.) Just like every supervisor isn’t someone you want to have a whiskey sour with (I don’t drink beer), sometimes you can tell an annoying customer on review sites, too.

The bigger goal is to just look for patterns, not opinions. Does the contractor arrive on time? Does the contractor do the actual job? Does the contractor honor the contract and warranty policy? If there is a hiccup, does the contractor try to fix the dispute or have a reasonable reason for walking away? What is the tone in the replies from an unhappy customer? Does the contractor only respond to unhappy customers but ignores glowing reviews altogether? (Doth protest too much, methinks.) Are people suspiciously angry in the one-star reviews and overly happy in the five-star reviews?