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If you're a do-it-yourself landlord, having trade skills is a vital and necessary asset for the repair, maintenance and upgrade of your property. This is especially true for landlords who purchase older properties that require substantial maintenance and repair work.
Developing your skills in the construction trades is not impossible. It will literally allow you to nail down your finacial future by giving you the capability to effectively build substantial "sweat equity".
With the high cost of hiring trades people today, doing repair and maintenance work yourself is certainly becoming a no-brainer. It can save you significant sums of money that will directly improve your property's cash flow and bottom line.
The first order of business before attempting any work on your property is to learn the basics of safe work practices . Working properly and safely is the key to preventing accidents and getting the job successfully completed.
On that note, let's take a look at the trade skills that are needed to perform some of the most common repair and maintenance tasks that occur with rental properties…
1. Carpentry Skills- These skills are needed for the repair or replacement of doors, windows, sheet rock or paneled walls, etc. This includes the proper operation of both power and hand tools. Getting comfortable with using power tools is half the battle with doing carpentry work.
2. Plumbing Skills- The ability to repair or replace defective plumbing fixtures and water supply lines is an extremely valuable skill for diy landlords. The repair or replacement of faucets, toilets, water supply and drainage piping, and water heaters can save diy landlords plenty of money over the long term.
3. Electrical Skills- DIY landlords who can perform electrical work possess a very important set of skills. The most common types of electrical work encountered in rental properties are replacing switches, receptacles, light fixtures, and circuit breakers. The hazards involved with this work require extreme caution and knowledge of safe work practices.
4. Painting and Wallpapering- A fresh coat of paint or new wallpaper can really spruce up the interior of a rental unit to help attract good tenants. The same holds true with a freshly painted exterior. But from a practical standpoint, my preference on the interior is to forego wallpapering and instead use paint. This is because wallpapering takes too much time to put up, is more expensive and requires more maintenance than painted surfaces. However, the use of "border paper" can really add a great look to a room and is relatively inexpensive and fast to put up.
5. Gutter and Roof Repair- This work requires basic knowledge of shingle and roof flashing installation and repair. It also requires knowledge of how to repair defective gutters and downspouts. But take note, the hazards of working on ladders and roofs require safe work methods and extreme caution.
6. Landscaping- If your property's landscaping is neglected, then the entire exterior of the property will suffer from "blight". In this condition, it would be difficult for you to attract decent tenants. The regular upkeep of your property's landscaping will keep it attractive and neat. This includes routine cutting and trimming of the grass, trimming the shrubs and trees, installing new mulch, and planting new shrubs and trees if needed.
So those are some of the basic skills that diy landlords will need to maintain and improve their properties over the long term. Developing trade skills is a sound investment that can really pay off handsomely for landlords and property owners.
For more in-depth information about trade skills and how to perform various rental property repair and maintenance tasks, please visit The Landlord's Library book collection. It's a terrific, one-stop source for practical, comprehensive information on the entire subject of residential landlording.
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