Peter Lohmann asks property managers: should owners pay commercial rates or retail rates for services? He warns that without clear pricing policies, managers might mark up vendor invoices, but all sides agree owners shouldn't pay more than they would calling a plumber themselves.
The question that property management business owners need to be thinking about is what is the property owner entitled to? Is the property owner entitled to commercial pricing on every job? Is it okay for the property manager to charge retail pricing like the same price they would pay if they called a random plumber, or are they entitled to like somewhere in between? So this is like a question that every property manager needs to decide for themselves. If you believe that property owners are not entitled to commercial pricing, Then maybe you take some of the vendor invoices and you mark them up. But I think whatever the case is, everyone should agree that property owners should not be paying inflated pricing above what they would pay if they, if they are the ones that, you know, called in the job.
