Your Own Contractor or the Manager's Vendors? Who Should Work on Your Auburn Rental

A trusted handyman meets a new manager

Many Auburn owners have someone they have relied on for years: a handyman who knows the quirks of the well house, a cousin who does tile, a roofer from church. When you hire a property manager, a fair question comes up. Do you keep using your people, or let the manager send its vendors?

There is no single right answer, and the choice can differ by job. The useful way to decide is to check each option against the same four things: licensing, insurance, lead-safe certification in older homes, and who handles the tenant when something goes wrong.

Licensing sets the first boundary

California's minor work exemption (Business and Professions Code 7048) lets an unlicensed person take a job only if labor, materials and everything else total less than $1,000, the work needs no building permit, and the person has no employees helping. A bigger project cannot be split into small invoices to stay under that amount. Past any of those lines, the work needs a contractor licensed by the Contractors State License Board (CSLB).

CSLB also says contractor ads must show the licence number, and an unlicensed person who advertises minor work must say in the ad that they are not licensed. Before anyone starts, look the licence up on CSLB's website. The record shows whether it is active, the classification, the bond and any workers' compensation policy on file.

Classification matters as much as the licence itself. CSLB licenses contractors in 45 classifications, from general building to roofing, plumbing, electrical and tree service. A specialty contractor is usually hired for a single trade, while a "B" general building contractor can take on a project that involves more than two trades under one contract. A plumber's licence does not cover rewiring the panel, so match the licence to the job you are hiring for.

Insurance, bonds and an injured worker

This is where a casual arrangement can turn costly. CSLB says that in California a contractor with employees must carry workers' compensation, and if a worker is hurt on your property and the contractor has no insurance, you could be financially responsible. Your own landlord policy may or may not respond. Some trades must carry workers' compensation even with no employees, including roofing, tree service, heating and air conditioning, and concrete contractors.

• Ask for a certificate of insurance, or check the policy listed on the CSLB licence record.
• Commercial general liability coverage is not required by the state, so ask how property damage would be paid if there is none.
• Licensed contractors carry a $25,000 licence bond, which CSLB notes is often not enough to cover several claims.
• For home improvement work over $500, California requires a written contract, and the down payment should never exceed 10 percent of the price or $1,000, whichever is less.
• CSLB also advises that any change to the scope or price after signing be written up as a signed change order, which then becomes part of the contract.

Older homes add a certification check

In a home built before 1978, anyone paid to disturb painted surfaces beyond EPA's minor repair limits must work for an EPA lead-safe certified firm. That includes your long-time handyman. EPA's guidance for property managers is direct: a manager that does this work itself must be a certified firm, and otherwise it should hire only certified firms for maintenance, repair or painting that could disturb lead-based paint.

So whichever option you choose, ask for the firm certificate before sanding, window work or demolition starts. Our lead paint guide explains the thresholds and the pamphlet the firm must give you and your tenant.

The tenant still calls your number

Under Civil Code 1941, the duty to keep the home livable sits with the landlord. If a repair is late or done badly, the tenant's remedies under Civil Code 1942, including repair and deduct, run against you no matter whose contractor did the work. Entry rules apply to every contractor too: Civil Code 1954 calls for reasonable written notice before entering for repairs, with 24 hours presumed reasonable, except in an emergency.

Records matter later. If you ever deduct repair costs from a deposit, Civil Code 1950.5 requires receipts or invoices with the itemized statement. A contractor who sends clear invoices to the right person saves trouble at move-out and at tax time.

Warranty work is the other half. If a repair fails a month later, someone has to call the contractor back, let the tenant know, and arrange access again. With your own contractor, that someone is often you, or the manager acting on your instructions, so agree in advance on who chases callbacks.

Making a mixed setup work

Plenty of owners split the work: their own licensed contractor for planned projects, the manager's vendors for after-hours calls. If you go that way, put the arrangement in your management agreement. Most careful managers ask for each owner-supplied contractor's licence number, insurance certificate and, for pre-1978 homes, lead-safe certificate, and many decline to send unlicensed workers on jobs that need a licence.

Decide who schedules, who the tenant calls first, and what happens when your contractor cannot come quickly. Our repair approval guide covers emergency authority. SPMG's services page says repairs run through "a trusted network of contractors and vendors" and that owners are consulted on major repairs, so raise any owner-supplied contractor during your discovery call. The site's preventative maintenance post covers planned upkeep.