Before you call anyone new, look up the license number of the vendor you already use. Ninety seconds on your state board’s website. Two things can come back that you would rather know now than during a claim: the number belongs to a different person than the one on your invoice, or it expired some years ago.
In California that lookup is at the Contractors State License Board, and as of January 1, 2026 the threshold that requires a license at all is $1,000 in combined labor and materials on a single project, raised from $500 by AB 1170 (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 7048). Most real repairs clear that bar. Check your state’s number before you assume yours is different.
The problem is retention, not discovery
Anybody can find a plumber. Search, call four, one answers, done.
What is hard is finding a vendor who is still returning your calls two winters later, when they are busy, when your job is small, and when a bigger customer is offering more. Small landlords lose good vendors constantly and usually blame the vendor. The pattern is more often on our side: slow payment, vague scopes, and a tenant the vendor could not reach.
So vet for durability, not just competence.
Where the good ones actually come from
Ranked by how well they have worked out, in rough order:
- Another small landlord in your zip code. Someone with four units nearby has the same job sizes and the same margins you do. A referral from a 200-unit management company is a different business.
- The supply house counter. Ask at the plumbing or electrical supply house who buys there regularly and pays on the spot. Counter staff know exactly who is real.
- Your existing vendors. A good electrician knows a good HVAC tech. They will not refer someone who embarrasses them.
- Trade licensing boards. Search by trade and city, then filter to active licenses with no disciplinary history.
- Review sites. Last, and only to disqualify. Five stars means nothing. A pattern of the same complaint means something.
Notice what is not on the list: the first paid result for “emergency plumber near me.” Those are frequently lead-generation companies that sell your call to whoever is available, which is the opposite of the relationship you are trying to build.
Verify three things before the first job
License. Active, correct trade classification, correct name. The name on the license should match the name on the invoice. If it does not, ask why before you find out in a claim.
Insurance. Ask for a certificate of insurance naming you as an additional insured. General liability at minimum, workers’ compensation if they have employees. A vendor who does this routinely will email it in an hour. A vendor who has never been asked will take a week, which is itself information.
How they bill. Hourly with a minimum, flat rate, or time and materials with a markup. There is no wrong answer, but there is a wrong situation: not knowing until the invoice arrives.
Three questions most landlords never ask
Ask these on the first call, before you have a problem.
What is your normal response time for a non-emergency, and what changes in an emergency? You are listening for a real number and a real distinction. “As soon as I can” tells you they have not thought about it, which means your job will be scheduled by whoever complains loudest.
Are you comfortable coordinating directly with my tenant? Some vendors will not, and that is a legitimate preference, but you need to know now. If they will, you can hand off the scheduling instead of relaying it. That handoff is worth more than a few dollars an hour on the rate, and the middleman guide explains why.
What do you charge for a trip that turns out to be nothing? Every landlord eventually pays someone to press a reset button. Better to know the number in advance than to argue about it over a $145 invoice.
Run a paid trial job
Do not hire a vendor for the first time during an emergency. You will accept whatever they charge and learn nothing, because emergency behavior is not normal behavior.
Give a new vendor one small, non-urgent, scheduled job while nothing is on fire. A disposal swap. A dripping hose bib. Then grade four things: how long from call to scheduled visit, how long from scheduled to actually there, whether the invoice matched the estimate, and how your tenant describes the interaction afterward.
That last one is the tiebreaker. A vendor who is technically fine and rude to your tenant costs you a renewal, and a renewal is worth more than the price difference between any two plumbers in your city. If the job is small enough that you were tempted to do it yourself, the DIY comparison is worth a read first.
Keep them
Once a vendor works out, the job is holding onto them.
Pay fast. Not net 30. Same week, ideally same day, because small trades live on cash flow and they remember who is easy to get paid by. Send complete work orders with photos, the tenant’s number, and access details, so they are not calling you from a driveway. Give a standing dollar authority so they can finish without waiting for approval. And do not squeeze them on price for a $200 job. The discount you win is smaller than the cost of finding a replacement.
Two vendors per trade is the right number for most small portfolios. One is a single point of failure. Four means nobody has enough of your work to prioritize it. When a job needs more than one trade at the same property, sequencing matters more than the roster does, which is covered in coordinating multiple vendors on one property.
Write down what you learn
Keep a short record per vendor: trade, license number, insurance expiry, how they bill, response time, and a line about each job. It sounds fussy for three plumbers. It stops being fussy the first time a certificate expires and nobody noticed, or the first time you cannot remember which of two electricians did the panel work in 2024. LeaseRooster keeps vendors and their jobs on the unit record, so the history is where the next job starts. The vendor directory sits in the same property management CRM as your tenants and leads.
This is general information, not legal advice. Rules change and local ordinances vary. Confirm current requirements with your city, county, or an attorney before you act.