How much to pay maintenance person and manager as dual role?

What is the going rate for both positions for a park that has majority of units as POH? I see the formula for $10-$15 per lot for manager. There are approximately 40 occupied spaces with 10 spaces as owner occupied 10 spaces under a RTO and 20 spaces as rentals that need maintenance attention. The person would be onsite in a DWT under a RTO contract. He wants to see the park reputation changed with his work. He is qualified on all maintenance areas including lawn mowing capable of remodeling an entire unit.

Do you pay double for both manager and maintenance person?
Do you cover lot rent and home payment?

Hi Doug, I’m sure you’ll get some great input on how much from the full time park operators. But also pay attention to “how.” Do you pay them as an employee or as a contractor? If the latter, do you have a written contract? What’s the plan if they are hurt on the job? If you pay them as an employee, are they paid a salary or hourly?

The Federal Govt has made it harder and more complicated to employ people than ever. So check with your CPA for some advice specific to your state. And if it’s a close call, pay them as employees vs contractors. The penalties for mistakenly paying someone as an employee are few and far between, not so if you pay an employee as a contractor. See the forms section of our website and look for a good form to use if you pay them as Contractors - “Peformance Agreement for Contractors and Contract Labor”

Hi Doug,
Just my two cents, but remodeling an entire unit is major construction work. Even if your manager is handy, there are likely some repair items that will be over his head.

Personally I would be extremely reluctant to have the manager do major repairs, rather than having the manager do limited office duties and hiring a licensed and insured contractor to do all home maintenance. The professional contractor will likely be much more skilled, and will be less likely to screw around if the manager is watching over him. If you combine the manager and rehab job into a single position, you lose that additional check and balance.

With the above said, I’ve absolutely loved having a handy park manager who is good with tools and can fix minor items such as a leaky faucet or running toilet.

In our experience, it is very rare to find a manager that is both interested in and skilled at both the ‘white collar’ Management role (collecting/depositing rents, appearing in court for evictions, showing available homes, scanning/uploading leases) and the ‘blue collar’ Maintenance role (hanging sheetrock, painting, re-roofing, pouring concrete). We find mom-n-pop owners make the mistake of thinking their manager is a ‘do-it-all’ guy, and that’s just rarely the case. We often see very high manager salaries because the pay supposedly includes maintenance; but inevitably the maintenance never gets done. But of course, the sky-high paychecks get cashed. :wink:

So focus your manager on managing. Even lawn mowing is additional pay for additional work, and not part of their job, unless they want to add it on. Be sure to get a Manager than can execute well on getting the money in the bank. Basically anything else is ‘maintenance’ and almost certainly something for someone else to do. Or at least to be paid separately when photos document completed repairs. Don’t pay a Manager (or anyone) a flat salary for doing maintenance. Pay for all maintenance by the job, and only upon completion.

My 2 cents worth,

-Jefferson-