Rental Property Vendor Management: Contractors and Service Providers
Estavo’s vendor list is a private database of every contractor and service provider you work with across your rental portfolio — plumbers, HVAC technicians, electricians, cleaners, landscapers, pool technicians, handymen. Build it once and assign vendors to maintenance requests in seconds. Track every job they’ve done, every invoice, and total spend over time.
This is not a marketplace and not a shared contractor directory. Your vendor list is entirely private to your organization. The relationships you build with reliable contractors are a genuine competitive advantage as a self-managing landlord — Estavo helps you track and leverage them, not commoditize them.
Adding a Vendor
Go to Work → Vendors → Add vendor.
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | Person’s name or company name: “Mike’s HVAC” or “Michael Chen” |
| Trade / specialty | HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, General Contractor, Cleaning, Landscaping, Pool Service, Appliance Repair, etc. |
| Phone | Primary contact number |
| Optional — useful for sending scopes or invoices | |
| Address | Optional — for your records |
| Notes | Internal notes: hourly rate, preferred payment method, availability, any limitations to remember |
Click Save. The vendor is now available to assign from any maintenance request.
Vendor Work History
Each vendor profile shows a complete history of every maintenance request they’ve been assigned to:
- All requests, sorted by date
- Completion status of each request
- Total amount paid (sum of all linked expenses)
- Average days to completion
Use this when deciding whether to use a vendor again, negotiating rates, or checking if they handled a specific type of repair before.
Your vendor list is your portfolio. Reliable contractors who respond quickly, charge fair rates, and do quality work are genuinely hard to find. Estavo helps you remember who you trust and what they’ve done for you.
Assigning a Vendor to a Maintenance Request
From any Open or In Progress maintenance request:
- Click Assign vendor
- Start typing the vendor name to search
- Select from your list
- Optionally add a note: “Scheduled Thursday 2pm, quoted $300 + parts”
The request status moves to In Progress when a vendor is assigned. The vendor’s profile records the request in their history immediately.
Vendor Notes: What to Track
The vendor notes field is freeform — use it to capture anything useful for future jobs:
- Rate/pricing: “Charges $125/hr labor. $75 trip charge waived if work exceeds 1hr.”
- Availability: “Only works Mon–Fri. No evenings. Responds to texts.”
- Specialties: “Excellent with older HVAC systems. Not comfortable with mini-splits.”
- History note: “Has done 3 roof inspections for us — reliable, responsive.”
- Payment preference: “Prefers Zelle. Will accept check.”
This knowledge lives with the vendor record, not just in someone’s memory.
Editing a Vendor
Open the vendor → click Edit. All fields are editable. Updates apply immediately — existing maintenance requests linked to them are not affected.
Archiving a Vendor
When a vendor is no longer active (retired, out of business, or someone you won’t use again):
Open the vendor → click Archive.
Archived vendors don’t appear in the vendor picker for new requests but their work history is retained. You can un-archive at any time. This keeps your active list clean without losing historical records.
Filtering and Searching Your Vendor List
Use the Work → Vendors search and filter to find vendors quickly:
- Search by name — start typing to find any vendor
- Filter by specialty — show only Plumbers, or only HVAC, etc.
- Filter by recent activity — vendors who did work in the last 30/90/180 days
Frequently Asked Questions
How is Estavo’s vendor list different from Angi or Thumbtack?
Estavo’s vendor list is entirely private — it’s the people you’ve already found and worked with. It’s not a discovery tool or marketplace. You add vendors yourself; there are no reviews from other landlords or ratings from strangers. The value is in tracking your own relationships and work history, not finding new contractors. (Phase 2 will add Google Places API integration to help discover new vendors when needed.)
Can I track vendor costs over time to compare?
Yes — each vendor’s profile shows total spend (sum of all linked expenses) and a full work history. You can see at a glance that Vendor A has done $4,800 in work over 3 years vs. Vendor B who did $1,200 in work over 6 months. This is useful when negotiating rates with a long-term contractor relationship.
Can I share my vendor list with my property manager?
Your property manager (added with the Manager or Maintenance role) can see and use your full vendor list. Team members with appropriate roles share the same vendor database — it’s organization-wide, not per-user.
What if I work with the same vendor across multiple properties?
One vendor record covers all properties. Their work history shows all maintenance requests regardless of which property they were at. Filter the work history by property if you want to see per-property activity.
Can a vendor log into Estavo to update their own work orders?
Currently, vendors don’t have Estavo accounts — all updates are made by your team members. Vendor-facing portals (where a contractor can log in to view their assigned requests) are on the roadmap.