Why Do Contractors Charge More to Go to Condo Buildings?

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As a prospective home buyer or a new condo home owner, it's important for you to understand why contractors are generally more hesitant to visit condo buildings, the hassles they face, and why they might quote more for service calls at condo buildings vs at a detached house.

The main reason to be aware of is the fact that your condo building might not have anywhere for the contractor to park his or her often oversized vehicle. If the condo building is in a very urban location, street parking can be extremely difficult to find. The condo building itself might not allow the vehicle to be valeted even if you could offer free guest valet to the contractor because it might be an oversized van.

Furthermore, the loading dock might be full, and often times the parking area in the loading dock often needs to be reserved in advance. Often times, reservations are full because people reserve them for multi-hour jobs like big move-ins or move-outs. Also, there's always the risk that if the delivery truck or contractor's truck is too tall that it might not fit in the loading dock (i.e. if your loading dock has a maximum gate height of 12 ft).

Additionally, contractors also can dislike going to condo buildings because of the bureaucracy involved in having to deal with the loading dock staff, or Receiving office, or front desk or the valet staff who may not be very nice to them. The building staff may send them back and forth from the front desk to the Receiving office and waste the contractor's time, and also humiliate them in the process.

This isn't something you want to visit upon your contractor, especially since you're probably trying to get on their good side and make sure you have them do a good job and give you a fair quote.

Keep in mind some buildings can be strict regarding needing contractors to all sign-in and show IDs, proof of insurance etc. to the loading dock or Receiving office. Imagine how terrible it might be if they get turned away after traveling all this way to see you!

Of course, it's not always this dire. We simply present some of the more scary situations you might encounter with a building staff that doesn't understand that discouraging contractors is not in the best interest of the building's residents.

You can mitigate all of this by simply being more present. For example, make sure the contractor calls you before they arrive and tell them that you will meet them downstairs, or to call you if they have any issues whatsoever. It makes a world of difference if the owner is present and can sweet-talk the building staff, who will often be more more lenient and nicer to the owner. Perhaps they will let your contractor park their van in the loading dock "for just 30 minutes" even though you didn't make a reservation.

Please leave us a comment and let us know your thoughts, and any tips of your own!

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Hauseit Group LLC, Licensed Real Estate Broker
Tel: (888) 494-8258 | https://www.hauseit.com
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