Hiring a contractor for a rental is a different job than hiring one for your own house. You aren’t buying a dream kitchen. You’re buying predictability: a unit that comes back rent-ready, on a date you can commit to an owner, with paperwork that survives an audit.
Here is what to verify before anyone touches a unit. It’s written as a checklist because that’s how it should be used.
1. Active CSLB license — verified, not claimed
Every California contractor’s license can be checked in under a minute on the Contractors State License Board website. Confirm the license is active, that the classification matches the work, and that the name on the license matches the name on the proposal and the invoice. A license number in an email signature is a claim, not a verification. Ours is #812248 — check it, and check everyone’s.
Also look at the bond status and any disciplinary history while you’re there. It’s on the same page.
2. Certificate of general liability insurance — naming you
Ask for a COI, and read it. Three things matter: that the coverage is current, that the limits are appropriate to the work, and that your management company and the ownership entity are listed as additional insureds where your agreements require it. A competent contractor for multi-family property maintenance produces this in a day, because they’re asked constantly.
3. Scope of work in writing, before mobilization
“Turn unit 14” is not a scope. A real scope names the rooms, the surfaces, the fixtures, and the finishes: which walls get patched versus repainted, whether the flooring is repaired or replaced, which appliances are swapped, what the cleaning standard is at the end.
Vague scopes are how turns run long and how invoices arrive with numbers nobody recognizes. Write it down first.
4. Line-item proposals, not lump sums
Insist on a transparent, line-item estimate. Each element priced on its own line. This matters for three reasons that are specific to portfolio work:
- You can compare across vendors on something other than the bottom line.
- You can cut scope intelligently when an owner balks — drop the line, not the whole job.
- You can build reliable per-unit budgets over time, because you have historical unit costs rather than a pile of lump sums.
A single number with “unit turnover” next to it gives you none of that.
5. References from other property managers
Homeowner references tell you whether someone builds a nice bathroom. That is not the question. Ask specifically for property management references, and when you call them, ask operational questions:
- How many units have they turned for you, and over how long?
- Do they hit committed dates?
- What happens when they find something unexpected mid-turn?
- Do the invoices match the proposals?
A contractor who works with portfolios will have these references ready. One who doesn’t will offer you a homeowner instead.
6. Photo documentation standards
Agree in advance on what gets photographed and when. At minimum: pre-existing condition before work starts, any concealed condition discovered during the work, and the completed condition at the end.
This protects everyone. It settles security-deposit disputes, it substantiates change orders, and it gives you something to send an owner who wants to know what their money bought. Ask what format you’ll receive them in and whether they’ll be organized by unit.
7. Invoice format and billing cycle
Sort this out before the first job, not during the first billing dispute. Settle:
- One invoice per unit, or one per period? Per-unit is usually cleaner for chargebacks to owners.
- Does the invoice reference the proposal line items? It should map one to one, so reconciliation is a comparison and not an investigation.
- What identifiers appear on it — property name, unit number, work order number, your PO format?
- What are the payment terms, and does the contractor’s cash position actually support them?
A contractor who can invoice the way your accounting system wants to receive it saves your team hours every month.
8. Response time expectations, in writing
Define the tiers explicitly in the agreement. Something like: make-safe response for active leaks and electrical faults within a stated number of hours; standard work orders acknowledged within one business day and scheduled within a stated window; scheduled turns confirmed against a committed completion date.
The specific numbers matter less than the fact that they’re written down and agreed to. Verbal expectations are the most common source of friction between managers and vendors, and they’re entirely avoidable.
9. How they handle unexpected conditions
This is the question that separates a multi-family contractor in Contra Costa County from a residential remodeler who takes the occasional unit.
Open a wall in a 1970s building and you find things: failed cast iron, aluminum branch wiring, water damage nobody reported, materials that need testing before disturbance. The right process is: stop, photograph, document, price, get written approval, then proceed. Not: keep working and explain it on the invoice.
Ask them to walk you through the last time it happened. The specificity of the answer tells you everything.
10. What a standing maintenance agreement should include
If you’re running volume, a standing agreement beats one-off engagements — you stop renegotiating basics every time. A good one specifies:
- A rate schedule: hourly rates by trade, standard markup on materials, and unit pricing for repeat items like a standard one-bedroom repaint.
- Response tiers, per point 8.
- Standard scopes for common jobs — the “standard turn” defined once so it doesn’t get re-litigated per unit.
- Documentation deliverables: photo standards, invoice format, and reporting cadence.
- Insurance and license maintenance obligations, with automatic notice on any lapse.
- A term and an exit, so neither party is trapped.
- A named point of contact on both sides, with a backup.
That last one gets underrated. Portfolio work runs on somebody picking up the phone.
Pagac & Co Construction runs unit turnarounds and standing maintenance programs for multi-family portfolios across Contra Costa County and the wider SF Bay Area, including RG Hill Property Management. If you’re evaluating vendors, we’ll answer all ten of these in writing before you commit to anything.