Guide
How commercial property managers actually choose a contractor
The decision is usually made months before the emergency, by one person, on grounds that have little to do with price.
A commercial property manager runs buildings they do not own. Their job is to keep them working, keep the owner informed, and never be the reason a tenant leaves. When a pipe fails at 2 am, a manager is not shopping. They are calling the name they already trust.
That name got there earlier, in a quiet moment, usually through a short conversation. This is what they are weighing in it.
Will you pick up at 2 am, and will someone competent arrive
Response time is the whole product. Every manager has been let down by a firm that answered at 8 am, and they remember it. Tell them your real answer time, at night, at the weekend, in a storm week when everyone is busy. A modest honest number beats an impressive one they cannot verify.
Will your paperwork survive the owner and the carrier
They have to justify every invoice to an owner, and often to an insurance carrier. A contractor who documents moisture readings, photographs the work, and bills the carrier directly saves them days of argument. A contractor who hands them a one-line invoice costs them those days.
Are you insured, licensed and safe on their site
General liability, workers compensation, and a licence number they can check. If your crew works around tenants, they also want to know your people are uniformed and quiet. None of this wins the job on its own, and any gap in it loses the job immediately.
Do you understand that these buildings are not houses
Commercial work has tenants, leases, after-hours access, elevators and a chain of approval. A contractor who has only done residential restoration will not know why the loading dock hours matter. Say plainly which building types you have worked in.
What this means if you are the contractor
- —The meeting is worth more than the estimate. They are choosing a person they can call, not a price.
- —Twenty minutes is enough. Response time, documentation, insurance, and two building types you know.
- —Ask what went wrong with their last contractor. They will tell you, and it is your brief.
- —Do not pitch a portfolio of houses. Bring one commercial job and its paperwork.
- —Follow up once with something useful, then leave them alone until they call.
The hard part is not the conversation. It is finding out who that person is, and getting twenty minutes before the emergency rather than during it. That is the part GoFlo sells.
The scan is free and takes a few seconds. One confirmed 20 minute meeting is $249, once.
Read next
- Who decides, by building typeThe title that can hire you changes with the building. Writing to the wrong one is why most outreach goes nowhere.
- What a 20 minute introduction should coverYou are not there to win the job. You are there to be the name they remember at 2 am, and twenty minutes is enough for that.
- Working commercial accounts through your BOMA, IREM or IFMA chapterThe people who hire commercial contractors have their own professional associations, with local chapters that meet in your city. Most contractors have never looked at one.