Do it Yourself!

Not only have we had a few tenant challenges with our rental business this summer, we’ve also had a spike in maintenance problems! The cost of repairs and maintenance must be included in the calculus when operating a rental property business. However, it is not an exact science.

We budget a portion of our gross rental income monthly for anticipated repairs. Some years we will end up with a surplus. Some years (like this one) we end up in the hole! 2018 and 2020 were relatively worry free. 2019 was a nightmare!

This year is shaping up to be a big spending year on maintenance. We’ve had to replace three HVAC units, windows on one of our buildings and some other fairly significant repairs…and its only August!

Maintaining properties is part of the price of doing rental business and essential to keeping tenants safe and content. Major repairs such as windows or HVACs while costly in the near term help improve property value.

While I’ve done quite a bit of the repairs myself this year, many of the issues we’ve encountered were well beyond my abilities. We’ve had to call in professionals, a lot more than usual!  

A few weeks ago one of our properties had a leaking exterior hose bib. Normally I would just replace the faucet myself but this one was positioned where the water supply had to be accessed from the interior of the home by cutting through drywall. Additionally, the water supplies in the house are PEX not PVC. I just didn’t feel comfortable taking on the job. I called a plumber and about 30 minutes and $268 later it was fixed.

Here is where the do-it-yourself comes in. While the plumber was able to quickly identify where the drywall needed to be cut and replace the hose bib, plumbers don’t do drywall repair!

I patched, sanded and painted the roughly 12in square opening myself at a cost of about $20. I am sure a handyman would have charged at least $100 making the total cost of a relatively small repair well over $300!

My sons and I have cut grass, repaired drywall, rolled on paint, cleaned and generally fixed a lot this year.  If we had outsourced all that work, I shudder to think how much we’d be overrun on our maintenance budget this year!

These are just a few examples where we make our maintenance budget go further by doing it yourself.  Bottom line, it will be a challenge to remain profitable in rentals if one continually pays others to perform common repairs.

I am consistently amazed by the number of folks who are reluctant to perform the most basic home repairs and maintenance. Growing up I would help my family perform all but the most serious of home repairs. I guess you could say it is in my DNA to do it myself!

Plumbers, electricians, painters and other skilled workers charge an arm and a leg for their time. Rightfully so, they have the skills and tools to make the tough jobs quick and simple. When doing it yourself, it will likely be neither quick nor simple.

Calling plumbers to replace leaky toilet flush valves, lawn care folks to trim the shrubs or painters to roll on a coat of paint is simply throwing money away. Over time the money saved doing it yourself is substantial and critical to sustaining a rental property business.  The savings can be reinvested into new properties!

I am not mechanically inclined. I can’t even run a bead of caulk perfectly to save my life. But you know what, I can do it well enough! For all my concerns about today’s interconnected, digital world, one outstanding advantage it gives us is a means to learn quickly.

There are literally thousands of easy to follow, professionally produced, how-to videos on the internet with step by step instructions on how to perform most home repairs. Obvious implied task is possessing a smartphone good enough that, when wedged under a kitchen sink replacing a valve, you can see / hear the instructions!

Most of the common day to day home repair tasks are not analogous to brain surgery. With a 10 minute video, a few practice tries and the right safety measures in place, most common repairs can be performed safely and effectively by the layperson. 

When I do have to call in a professional for the tougher jobs, I always follow them closely and watch what they are doing. I always ask first before shadowing a plumber or electrician, but many are eager to show off their craft. I have learned more about plumbing and electrical repair this way and saved untold repair costs! 

As a side note, plumbers and electricians clearly recognize they will lose work if by watching them, a customer learns how to do it themselves. I’ve found many professionals prefer this. Skilled professionals rather spend time on the higher paying, big jobs rather than the smaller ones that suck up their time.

Home inspections when purchasing real estate are similar.  After watching about a half dozen home inspections, I realized the checks are not that difficult to perform and pretty intuitive. I found a good checklist and have done the inspections myself on smaller properties.

Experience is the best teacher and yes there is some risk involved with doing it yourself. A 110 volt live wire does get your attention when it arcs. Rest assured, you will only forget to turn off power at the breaker box once!

The key to doing it yourself is move slowly and deliberately. Calculate and understand each step.  Do it yourself repair jobs will take two or three times longer than a pro, but it will save so much money. Eventually, after performing a repair several times, the do it yourselfer may even go as fast as a pro!

Many people are unwilling to trade their Saturday afternoon for wallowing around in the floor to fix a leaky pipe. But I assert it is absolutely necessary in order to turn a profit with rentals. Yet another thing to consider before taking the plunge into real estate!

 Want to read more about investing and personal finance? Check out my book, Millionaire on a Worker’s Budget, Five Financial Truths to Build Wealth on sale now at Amazon!

The commentary provided in this blog is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a source of financial or investing advice.