[Ken]

Hi
To cut a longish story short I have worked for a local property management company for the last 10 years. In that time they have grown and are now part of a national chain of PM companies.
I recently had an email from them explaining they were putting in place a centralised contractor database. To be on that I would need to supply copies of my insurances and an H&S policy. Oh, and £200 (+vat).
This seemed odd. I have never paid any of my commercial clients a fee for them to do their job.
I queried it with the local branch that I deal with and it's "legit".  They have to charge a fee to manage the records apparently, although I did point out my records will consist of 3 small PDF files, so I'm not quite sure why it costs so much. I have haggled the price down a tiny amount.
It feels like a cash grab to me. I have no choice to pay it, otherwise I'll lose the work but I'm a  small business and it just seems like another kick in the tenders at the minute.
So today I'll be putting all the prices up on the jobs I do for this company to cover this new cost. I'm going to invoice them for the time it takes...
Anyone else had to pay their clients?

[Richard iSparkle]

I only have about 20 commercial clients but no, never been asked to pay a jot

If its worth biting the bullet and paying because you get enough work from them, i guess you'll have to do so like you say.

Who knows, it could work out well as some other small companies may refuse so you get end up getting more work as a result. Trying to think positive here!

it doesnt feel fair and reasonable though

[Ken]

They're trying to pitch that it will control the number of specific trades in each area but that's never been a problem. It's run out of a local office so they know who they're using!

[Slacky]

Control the number of trades?

Thats balls. Its up to them who they have on their books. Money isnt required to use or not use specific companies. Theyre trying a fast one.

If their costs increase they increase their charges. Its quite simple, do the same to them, they have to expect it. All costs go down the line, end of the day the tenants will be the ones paying for it.

[Kev Martin]

Hi
To cut a longish story short I have worked for a local property management company for the last 10 years. In that time they have grown and are now part of a national chain of PM companies.
I recently had an email from them explaining they were putting in place a centralised contractor database. To be on that I would need to supply copies of my insurances and an H&S policy. Oh, and £200 (+vat).
This seemed odd. I have never paid any of my commercial clients a fee for them to do their job.
I queried it with the local branch that I deal with and it's "legit".  They have to charge a fee to manage the records apparently, although I did point out my records will consist of 3 small PDF files, so I'm not quite sure why it costs so much. I have haggled the price down a tiny amount.
It feels like a cash grab to me. I have no choice to pay it, otherwise I'll lose the work but I'm a  small business and it just seems like another kick in the tenders at the minute.
So today I'll be putting all the prices up on the jobs I do for this company to cover this new cost. I'm going to invoice them for the time it takes...
Anyone else had to pay their clients?

It's a win win situation for you!  Calculate the cost as a % against the overall work they send your way in a year then increase the cost of all work for them by that %.  Then write the fees they charge you off against gross profit in your books.  Win Win!!!

[Nick Day]

Lots of these management companies find it hard to make money, they always look as though they are, but usually rely on past books and records to keep borrowing money to keep going, That is why so many sell out when they can borrow no more money. This might be the end of the line for your present ones and are desperately coming up with ideas of how to raise money that doesn't have to be paid back. This might not be the case, but whatever you decide I wouldn't let them run up any debts.

[Ken]

Debt-wise, all the blocks they manage are separate limited companies. So I don't think that's a problem.

[DrewHastings]

We do work for several property management companies. Most are big nationals. Not for window cleaning I should say, but another cleaning area of the business.

Never, not once, have we been asked to pay, to supply them with a service. If any did, I would tell them to sod off. Any legit company won't ask you for this. Its a bit like the talent agencies asking for 'commissions' to add people to the books (isn't that now illegal?).

The only ones you expect to pay for are the likes of trust a trader, who are nothing more than a glorified directory.

Personally, I would walk away and look for work elsewhere.

[TomCrowther]

I've got one who introduced a 5% fee for every job done to "pay for being on their approved list". Like previous comments, it's just a quick buck for them for no effort.

[cgh window cleaning]

I do work for around 6-7 management companies and have never paid a so called admin fee.I have had to be accredited so to speak to carry out the work for them but no fee was charged or given.
I have heard of one company like the post above has mentioned that charge a percent per turnover of annual work they give you.

Not for me.It personally sounds like their way of getting a legal back hander from you.To be honest you wouldn't pay much more than the fee they want to get an accreditation like safe contractor and that alone should be enough to give any of the management companies you work for.

[Splash & dash]

We do work for a lot of management companies of all sizes never paid a bean , I think if they tried that with us I would put up the price off all the jobs I did for them to cover the cost of there charges to me or walk away , they shouldn’t have a problem making money as what ever price you are charging them to do the job they add a % to that price when they charge the building owner .

[S.A.J]

Been asked twice and refused twice!

Still got both clients and both still ask us to quote work!

Letting agents are just as bad! All now seem to take 10% commission per job!

[Ken]

Update: After a back and forth email chat with my contact at the local office (who I have to say seemed very sympathetic to the points I made), and also an email from me informing the various property managers that prices would be going up 5% to cover the cost of the scheme...

...I received an email from the main office telling me that the fee was being waived!

So it was worth a grizzle as it turned out.