When it comes to handyman and general repair services at your business, online contractor marketplaces only fix part of the problem.
The growth of web-based contractor databases is growing every day. Companies promise to simplify the process required to perform the daily handyman and overall facility maintenance needs of your business at the click of a few buttons. It sounds great and in some situations, it can be a solution. However, when you choose this route, especially if your general repair needs are frequent, a lot of the work still rests squarely on your shoulders.
Let’s start with the first step after you identify a repair need at your retail store, restaurant or office. You have to find the contractor (handyman, electrician, plumber, painter, etc.). Sure, they have a lot of them listed, but what qualified them to be included in the database and how do you know which one to choose? Customer reviews are helpful, but not always an accurate gauge of quality and consistency. At UmbrellaOne, we have an experienced account manager personally review your project’s needs with you and then we’ll select a pre-screened, insured, and trusted service partner who is capable of resolving the issue to visit your business location. And as for quality? The performance guarantee is with us, not the contractor. So we stand behind each and every job we complete.
From there, a lot more work needs to be done. The question is who is going to do it? Once a vendor has been selected, there is a whole project that still needs to be scheduled and managed. Questions to be asked. Decisions to be made. Costs to be reviewed and confirmed for accuracy and fairness. If you have the desire and time to handle all of this, in addition to running your business, than this may not seem problematic. However, if you’re busy and see this as a challenge, consider this. An UmbrellaOne account manager would handle the majority of these necessary tasks for you. Plus, our team adds true facility manager experience to help assess repair options and consult on the best course of action. All the while, you are still kept aware of steps taken via our updates and have cost control measures in place so nothing no costs are ever incurred without your approval. Our last step is to review the expenses at project completion and confirm they are in line with what has been discussed before you are ever invoiced.
So if it’s not me, who is actually doing the work you may ask yourself? From the very beginning UmbrellaOne’s process, you will have the email and direct phone number of your account manager for simple and direct communications. No on-line portals to log into or auto-generated emails to deal with. You will know exactly who is assisting you and who to call with any questions about your project. Our goal is to act as a bolt-on facility department for you to rely on and call with needs/questions. UmbrellaOne wants to be your long-term facilities partner.
Speaking of costs, how much extra is all of this help going to cost me? UmbrellaOne’s general repair and building maintenance services are invoiced on a per job basis and there is no commitment to use us other than when you see it fit. We have no membership fees or recurring costs of any kind. Our rates are very competitive with standard contractor rates in each market. We perform services on both a fixed cost basis (traditional proposal format) and/or with a pre-agreed to “not to exceed” dollar value for when there is urgency. It is this non-committal approach that makes everyone at UmbrellaOne always work hard to earn your business’s next general repair need.
