Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Stacey Salyer Show, the podcast for property management leaders ready to think bigger about growth. I'm Stacy Saer and the only acquisition strategist in this industry who sat on all sides of the m and a table. I've been the buyer acquiring a 370 door competitor during COVID using seller financing.
I've been the seller building and exiting a seven figure business. And I've been the corporate evaluator as director of acquisitions, assessing over hundreds of companies nationally. That means I know exactly what you're thinking, what you're missing, and what actually works when it comes to buying and integrating in this space.
On this show, we dig into acquisitions as a real business tool. Not luck, not someday. You'll learn positioning, strategy, numbers, and integration from someone who's actually done it all. Let's go.
Stacey Salyer: All right, so on the show [00:01:00] today, I have my friend Val.
She's awesome. I first met her well in 2025 when I was out on the road. I can't remember which trade show I met you at, but then I was like, oh, I love this girl. She,
Valeria Urcuyo: well, we finally, I think we had a conversation in South Dakota Property Belt.
Stacey Salyer: Oh yeah. Okay. Okay. So yeah, in South Dakota, which that was my first time being in South Dakota and I was like, oh, I love her.
She's awesome. And then we got to spend a little bit more time together in Orlando at the end.
Valeria Urcuyo: Yes.
Stacey Salyer: Good times. Yes. And discovered we both Pisces and manifesting generators. So. For anybody that those, yeah. Human design, you'll know what we're talking about. But I wanted to bring you on because I love to bring on like other badass women entrepreneurs and talk about your business and learn more about your business and the areas you serve.
Because as you know, I teach people acquiring property management companies, and [00:02:00] we look at so many different facets of the company before we go and acquire. So. Take it away. Tell me a little bit more about you where, where you are, what you a little bit more about your business.
Valeria Urcuyo: All right. So, yes, my name's Val.
, I run this it's called the Ledge for Professionals. Well, has two names to it. I'm the VPO for the For Men and the For Professionals. The Ledge for Professionals is the, division , of the company that focuses in working with other property management companies and warranty companies.
So that's kind of like what we're currently focusing on and growing. I'm currently sitting in Nicaragua, 'cause I'm Nicaragua, but I was born and raised in California and I've been living here since like 2008. And yeah, found this job by degree was in bio bio biology. I did not think that I would end up doing, running a company at this nationwide appliance repair, but I kind of just ran into this.
I found this when I was finishing my degree in college. On like Craigslist, logistic, make some extra money, on the side. And it [00:03:00] honestly just ended up snowballing and, I ended up sticking with it and I've been here for now 13 years and this company has grown. And yeah, this is what I do now for a living and I love it.
Stacey Salyer: Awesome. Well I love that. So, wow. 13 years is a really long time. Long
Valeria Urcuyo: time.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. And I know people are probably listening and they're like appliances. Wow. That is maybe not the most sexiest thing. But if for in property management, I feel like appliance repair is a very sexy thing.
But because appliance repair is like one of the hardest maintenance. Item things to, to do. I, I think because it's really hard to find people. Right? So tell us one
Valeria Urcuyo: of the hardest and one of the most needed. 'cause doesn't matter, like, where they live, like apartment, rv, huge, whatever house everybody has, at least what, like average five to six appliances, like, doesn't matter, maybe the quality or the style of the appliances varies, but literally [00:04:00] everybody, hopefully has, five to six appliances.
So it's just literally a matter of time. Before somebody needs something and so like I always say, the demand is not going to, slow down anytime soon. I don't think, even with all the AI and the, and the tech, it's not going away and it's always gonna be needed, but yes. They are, it is very difficult to deal with, which is why we pretty much focus just on appliance repair right now, just because it's hard enough as it is.
Stacey Salyer: Okay. So are you guys, so how do you work? Like do you, is it like you're finding the appliance repair company and then you're like doing all the dispatch or what, how does that like work?
Valeria Urcuyo: Yeah, so, okay, so yeah, they're all subcontractors, but we don't necessarily function.
Like a lot of the maintenance companies obviously subcontract, right? it's just all about getting vendors but we like to say we have like full-time subs kind of, right? So yeah, they're subcontractors, but we really get to know them, right?
Because we're only focusing on plans repair. So we're like, we're talking to the same guys. Like we, some of these guys have been with us for like [00:05:00] years. Some of the bigger companies maybe use us to kind of fill in their schedule if they're a little bit slow. Some other companies or some other like individual kind of like independent texts that maybe just like a one man show with like maybe one assistant, maybe they don't have a storefront.
They use this for work because advertising's very expensive and we're just provide essentially a constant workflow. but it's not like we just randomly call somebody when we get a work order. No. And we, we refuse to that We won't do that. I'm just gonna bring myself, a bunch of problems, right?
So a lot of these guys, we get to know them, right? We get to know them. We know that how they are. We get to know, who their families are and what time they get up. I always, I joke, but it's true. Like we know, like, okay, well this guy, we can't send him out, on Saturday mornings. 'cause he goes out on Fridays and he gets a little, a little wild.
And so we're like, oh, let's, schedule him for Tuesday. By Tuesday I think he got the hangover ready to go. So it's like those kinds of things. And we've been invited to like their weddings. Like we have this one tick. It's like, for example, we know we've been with us for like 10 years taking work.
So he is [00:06:00] like, oh, we already know of like October to December. We can't send him any work. 'cause he'll randomly go to Columbia, he'll just randomly go. So we're like, no, this is his phase. Of like just randomly disappearing, let's wait till January. So like, those are the things that like, takes years of just doing this and, and getting to know people.
So I think that's what kinda makes us a little bit different in the sense that, yeah, we're not just randomly calling and, hoping for the best. Like we get to know these guys. Right.
Stacey Salyer: So yeah, so like huge on relationship, relationship building really. So that's. And how many states are you in?
Valeria Urcuyo: Okay, so for the, what we're talking about today, like the Punchable professionals, which focuses on working with property management warranty companies, we started off a few years ago when I, I wanted to grow this 'cause on the other side, the B2C consumer?
Stacey Salyer: Yes.
Valeria Urcuyo: Got it. That side, we're in 40 states, but on this side we started off with like 22 past few years we've grown to 27 states. Right, right. So we, we, you can't just grow. I [00:07:00] mean, there's a, there's a lot of demand. So the issue is not necessarily us getting more work, it's more just like the techs.
Honestly, that's the most challenging part of our, business, right? Especially when we're, having 'em do work for property management warranty companies. It's already hard enough as it is finding good text. And then on top of that. When you have good techs that are also willing to work with property management, a lot of 'em don't like it, right?
They've had bad experiences, they don't like waiting to get paid. Right. Net 30, whatever. They don't like that. There's a lot of things that they don't really like. So I think they've had some bad experiences in the past, and I think that that's kind of been the challenge, is changing that perspective and also kind of just closing the gaps and kind of just figuring it out.
What is it that you don't like about working with these companies? And then I'll just kind of take care of that. And so that you'll be okay with working, with these companies. So, yeah, so we and we take up care of everything. Like literally. 'cause we already know the excuses, we already know the issues.
Like, we've been doing this for so long. I always joke about like, the infamous like, oh, you know what parts are on back order. It's like, [00:08:00] are they, are they really. But you don't, you don't wanna be rude and, and say like, I don't, I don't know. And then like, I mentioned this to you before, then you have the customers, like, what do you mean it's in stock in like eight places?
Right. So that's always terrible. So those are the kinds of things that we've learned. Like we know how to deal with the ticks. We know what they like, what they don't like. We know how to come at them. We know, all of those things. that's what we do for a living, and we know it's really difficult and for a maintenance coordinator to have to deal with something like that, like following up over a part for two weeks, like that's such a tedious thing and it's so frustrating.
And then they don't answer. We at least will answer, you know what I mean? Like maybe, or techs won't even answer us, maybe. I don't know. Hopefully they do. But we're always gonna be there to find a resolution and answer the phone. And I think a lot of the frustration is kind of just like, it's not just finding a tech, which is hard to find sometimes, but they're so busy.
Stacey Salyer: Right.
Valeria Urcuyo: But it's also like the following up and all that. It's just super tedious and frustrating. And then you're using. You know, Your maintenance coordinator's time and valuable time. Instead of using it for something else, you're using 'em to literally just be [00:09:00] following up and everything.
Right. So, yeah. So we take care of everything. We work with every platform literally that exists. I think I've, we've had experience with every platform. We'll take the work order via email, text message, Doesn't matter. We're experienced with everything. You would have like our coverage list, but you would send us a zip code and like the basic details of what it is.
The goal is to get back to at least with a, some sort of answer within an hour max. Like, Hey, we got it. Or we, or like, yeah, we have a tech, but let me share his schedule. Or no, we don't have a tech or some sort of update. Right? Because this frustration is lack of updates, right?
That's where you start getting, everyone just starts getting desperate. So, the work order comes in with the zip code we get back to you. Yes, we have a tech and literally we'll take it over from there. Literally, like, we'll take it over from there. We'll schedule with the tenant. We'll schedule with the tech.
We'll make sure he actually shows up. Like, are you on your way? Like, are you really on your way You know, So it's that, and then it's like, we provide the majority of the parts unless the tech has the part on their truck. that's one of the main areas of where you can [00:10:00] like, make things so much quicker is the parts right, because you're relying on somebody to buy the part, maybe they don't order it right away, right?
Normally you give the money to the tech and he comes back with the part, but it's like did he order the part? how long did it take to order? Maybe he used the money for something else. Maybe he went out on a date and then he makes the money back and he buys some time, and then he. eventually makes a money and then he orders it.
Right? So then that's why it's on back order. Right. So those kinds of things, right. Not all of 'em do that, but that happens. Right. And so there's a lack of control there. So it's hard to work with subcontractors in general, but
Stacey Salyer: Right.
Valeria Urcuyo: We try to control as much as we can and the parts thing is a huge one.
So we're able to complete the jobs. Substantially faster. We charge a 65. I know, and we know it's low. $65 diagnostic fee per appliance flat period. Wow. So you know for sure you're gonna get , that charge and you're going to get a leased, a diagnostic fee. And then after that yeah, we send the tech we take care of the parts, we get the parts at cost we're not even interested in me making money off the parts. [00:11:00] To be honest with you. Wow. Like we're, because we're making money off the fact that just the efficiency of the fact that we have the control over the parts. Right?
Stacey Salyer: Okay.
Valeria Urcuyo: If the tech provides a part, maybe on site, which is great, then the most, maybe 10% market will allow, but that's about it.
Because we're not interested in making money on the parts we're interested in completing the job quickly. Not just because that's the right thing to do, but it's also because it's in my best interest because I'm charging a diagnostic fee. We have to still pay the labor and the, we have to pay for the parts and all these things, right?
And so for us to make money just as a company, I have to do volume. And for me to do volume, it has to be quick. So it's not just. Quick, because that's what we gotta try to do. It's also in my best interest to do it quick and also ideally a reasonable price. 'Cause I want the tech to make their money and things like that.
So we also watch that.
Stacey Salyer: Okay.
Valeria Urcuyo: We have a lot of data and experience and so we'll notice that Hmm. We kind of know where all this. Sketchy areas are, I guess, right. So,
Stacey Salyer: yeah, no, that makes sense.
Valeria Urcuyo: We literally take it all the way down to like, [00:12:00] Hey, it's done. Here's the invoice.
We already called your tenant. , Because we don't just take the text word for it. We're not gonna just Oh, it's, it's ready. Oh, okay. No, we gotta make sure. Hey, I heard, they tell me that you're, that your thing's ready. Is it ready? Are we gonna go? Yes. And then that is when we will, you'll get an invoice and that's it.
It's, it's done. We'll take care of our tech. So you don't have to text like, where's my money kind of thing. 'cause they don't like to wait. We'll take care of 'em right away. And then we're the ones waiting to get paid. So that's how it works.
Stacey Salyer: Oh, okay. That's awesome. So, and that really helps like the whole maintenance coordinator or the property manager, however the company's doing it.
Because that takes like one less thing off their plate. 'cause I will say, I've done anything and everything in property management. So I've been that person that's like calling, the appliance repair. Oh, did you get it? Did the part come in? Like, have you been able to schedule the tenant?
It can eat up a lot of payroll time, for sure.
Valeria Urcuyo: Yeah. The texts that are like really good at the following up and following through they're not, to be honest with you. It's not common 'cause there's a shortage of a plant from Pex in the United States, [00:13:00] trades in general.
Which right now, especially right now with ai, right? That's like, trades are like the best thing, that's, I, I'm all about the trades, like there's so much money. Mm-hmm. Like that you can make, just, just the things. What I see in this industry, I'm like, oh my gosh, like this. It's insane because there's a shortage of tech, so the demand is not stopping anytime soon.
It's never going to stop because what I just said. Right. There's five, six appliance per average. Every single, literally everybody, hopefully, right. Everybody you know, has that doesn't matter where the fuck they live. So then,
Stacey Salyer: right.
Valeria Urcuyo: And then you have a shortage of techs. So it's like the, the work is endless, so.
We have great techs. But the texts that I feel like benefit from us the most are the texts that are like, are great at fixing the actual, like, appliance themselves. But maybe then they're not the best at like the office stuff.
Like the following up, the following through the, the coordination. Right. And the techs that are good at that they're super busy. You can't get an appointment for at least minimum two weeks, and they're very expensive. And they don't even really need us for work because they're just [00:14:00] super booked.
Right, right. And, but unfortunately the reality is that the majority of techs are not the best follow up and follow through with people. Right. So that's literally our job. Our job is to hold their hand throughout the whole process. We're like adult babysitters I guess, in a way.
Right?
Stacey Salyer: Well, property manage. Yeah. Yeah. So what about, I mean, do you guys have like a average size company you work with, or, I mean, would you take on, like, would you work with a company that's 50 doors or 5,000 or it doesn't matter
Valeria Urcuyo: to you? We don't care. Okay. We literally don't care. Like as many as little as you want.
Same thing with the tech. They can also take as many as little as they want. Right,
Stacey Salyer: right.
Valeria Urcuyo: We don't care if it's once a month, once a day, 10 a day. I mean, we'll make it happen. But
Stacey Salyer: Okay. Yeah, no, that's really cool. you're in 27 states
Valeria Urcuyo: right now?
We're currently on this side, yes. 27 states and growing. Right. I mean, we hear, at the conferences, there's a lot of areas where they're like, well, we're desperate. Right? But it's kind of like, what we like to do is first, obviously we have to find the tech process, make sure, check them out, train them, and [00:15:00] then we like to kind of send 'em off first.
On the, kind of like the B two learning, B2C side, the pledge repairment, which is kind of like one-offs, right? Like individual kind of private homeowners and we kind of just watch them make sure they do a good job. Like I said, it doesn't, no matter what, we're always gonna be there to like provide a resolution.
So if there's ever an issue, it doesn't matter if I use a subcontractor or not. It's just the cost of doing business. If there's ever an issue, we're always gonna be there to resolve it. So, because we're the ones that send the subcontractor, it doesn't matter if he's a subcontractor, the responsibility falls on us,
Stacey Salyer: right?
Valeria Urcuyo: But anyway, so yeah, so we like to try him out. We, we like to get to know them because, obviously we care about every side of this. This organization, right? Both sides. But obviously it's a little bit, easier to deal with an issue if it's like a one-off private homeowner customer as opposed to like a potential company that's like a hundred a day, right?
So it's like, and on top of that, there's a lot more steps to doing a, a job for a property manager or warranty company. There just is a [00:16:00] lot more requirements, the pictures and all that back, before and after, and this and that. There's a lot more things.
So. But fortunately we have the other side to kind of like kind of watch 'em and kind of see who has the potential and then, hey, are you interested in this? And a lot of 'em are like, they're maybe great, but they're like, no, so that's kind of the challenge. So that's why there's a difference between we're talking 40 to 27 but you know, we're getting there.
Stacey Salyer: No, that's awesome. I think that's really cool. So basically the property management company would only really have to deal with your team. Like they're
Valeria Urcuyo: not, that's the hope, right? I mean, that's what we want. That's, we want, we don't want you to even talk to the tech if you don't have to. Like, we'd rather not do that.
I think it just makes things more complicated.
Stacey Salyer: So the work order goes to you guys, you, your tech,
Valeria Urcuyo: so we're the vendor, but in reality. We're like thousands of vendors all over. Nice.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. I
Valeria Urcuyo: love that The property manager adds us as one vendor, but in reality, I mean, you're getting nationwide patch repair coverage, right?
But we're, you treat us like a, a [00:17:00] one vendor sorts us one point of contact, and then the person who's in charge is very accessible. Right. So it's like, if there's ever a super issue, then we're gonna take care of you. There's not gonna be a a, which is part of the problem is like the not answering the desperation of like.
Trying to call this tech. And then your tenant's like, what the hell's that? And then the owners pay and like, you're like, oh, hold on. And then you're like calling this tech and he isn't an answer. It's just, it's terrible. So, you're always gonna have, at least at the very minimum, somebody's gonna answer the phone and, and, and give you at least some sort of info.
And worst comes to worst, there's gonna be some sort of resolution. No.
Stacey Salyer: Right. And so are you, are you guys like open seven days a week? So like for after
Valeria Urcuyo: hour we get call. I mean. Okay. So for, well the other side is literally seven days a week. There's always somebody taking a call. Okay. Right now for the other side, the, what we're talking about the punch for professionals, it's Monday through Friday.
Well, no, Monday through Saturday. There's some people are working on Saturday. Okay. Can you send us a work order on the weekend? Yeah. It might not be booked. Some of those actually depending on, 'cause we, we've integrated with a lot of like, some [00:18:00] of the major softwares. We like property mail and things like that.
Right. So, in some cases, depending on kind of like your setup with us, like you could probably send us a work order and in some cases you could get it booked and with the tech ready to go over the weekend. But when it comes down to just like customer service and like somebody answering the phone, it's usually Monday through Saturday.
But the reality is, is the person in charge I kind of make him be on call if it, if he has to be on call. I mean, that's just kind of like how it is, right? So especially in this industry, I mean, we understand it's a very tough position to be in between the tech and your client.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. No, that's cool.
So I know you had amazing growth in 2025. Do you guys have like anything on the horizon? Like are you doing anything new in 26 or are you, do you have any like specific goals or is it just keep doing what you're doing and
Valeria Urcuyo: I mean, I guess keep doing what we're doing. It seems like it's working very well.
Okay. My goals right now I think I mentioned to you were, because. God bless. We [00:19:00] have grown substantially. Now. It's kind of like optimizing.
Stacey Salyer: Okay,
Valeria Urcuyo: so that I can continue to grow because I don't wanna start effing up. So we are, you can
Stacey Salyer: say the whole word. You can say the whole word on my show.
Mm-hmm. I said
Valeria Urcuyo: you can. Okay. Yeah. Okay, good. I, okay. I wasn't sure, I shouldn't have asked you this beforehand. I was like, am I like breaking the rules? Anyways, ugh. I feel so much better. So, yeah, I don't wanna start fucking up. Yeah,
Stacey Salyer: I, I'm the slayer. I don't have a lot of rules, so,
Valeria Urcuyo: yeah. Okay. Good. Great.
Same. Same. That's when we get along samey. I know. So, we're kind of working on some kind of like partnerships with some companies, right? There's this one, we're, we're for example warranty company.
That, that industry, they're notoriously known for, being difficult to work with, right? I mean, I think that's just across the board. and that's why we can't work with some of 'em. And they're like desperate.
I mean, they really need help. But I think, their processes, they're, just not realistic. And I think the, the issue with some of these companies, you have to be realistic with who you're working with, what you can ask [00:20:00] for.
Or also it'll be super difficult. So warranty companies have been difficult. However, in the past few years we've been able to work with some. Some great warranty companies that have been willing to kind of work with kind of more how we would like to work. And it's worked out fine. And then we've we're kind of in talks with some companies maybe partnering with them and, and, and to make it easier because it's not just working, it's not just difficult working work together 'cause of their, their re requirements.
It's like their systems, a lot of the systems and all these things are just extremely complicated. And the claim numbers and what's covered, what's not covered. That in the plan repair industry world, it's so hard. Like I don't even know how they even take care of their customers for plan repair. I don't even, I mean, what I've heard, and they're not the best at taking care of
Stacey Salyer: Yeah,
Valeria Urcuyo: I know.
What do you think?
Stacey Salyer: I, okay, so on the property management side, I know appliance or the warranty companies are not very popular because of that whole issue. Right? So like I have managed properties before that have had. Like a owner warranty, but then at the scene, because of my [00:21:00] maintenance coordinator would have to call that warranty company, and then the warranty company is like now trying to find a vendor and it usually almost always takes longer.
And then that vendor, it's finally, yeah, so generally, most, I know property management companies won't work with. Home warranty companies. Exactly. I've had a warranty, like a home warranty on my property and I did use it for a furnace. And I actually, luck of the draw actually had a good experience, I guess, but
Valeria Urcuyo: yeah, I mean, they sometimes you do.
Yeah.
Stacey Salyer: But, but I also was the homeowner and so I also knew the drill, so like they weren't able to come out same day. I think it was like three days later. I was like, well, whatever. But
Valeria Urcuyo: that's not that bad.
Stacey Salyer: No, it's not that bad. But technically for a tenant, that would be bad. I'd be
Valeria Urcuyo: breaking. No, it feels like I was talking about that.
It's like, no, you don't understand like a refrigerator, not cooling. It's like a huge deal. Yeah, it's huge deal. Yeah. It matters a lot more, more than some of the other stuff. 'cause you're like, it's, it's, yeah. I mean, first of all, the food and I lost [00:22:00] groceries and then it's like the social stuff, it's, it sounds so simple, but I mentioned this the other podcast, it was like, okay, well then you know, you have your for this weekend and then all of a sudden.
Fridge goes out and you're like uh, you know, like ruin my, weekend. Like I, my weekend if I had some ribeyes and some beers ready to go, and I have some friends coming over and I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna get some of my thyme and my garlic. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, right. And then like my fridge goes out, like I'm gonna be piss as fuck
and so I think that there's a lot of like underestimating, that's why maintenance is so important. It's like you don't understand how important, like those little moments they seem so like, okay, get over it. Get over it. Okay. Boohoo, you lost your fucking rib eye. You know what I mean? But it's like, no, no, no, but those things matter.
Especially my mom's working their ass off. Like, no, I want my Friday. I wanna have a peaceful Friday. I don't wanna worry about a fridge. Right. And then I mentioned this before, and then you have like, you have, you have to make, take care of your owners. And then you have a lot of techs who, this happens a lot in the industry.
They recommend replacement when in reality it's like, you don't, you could have, [00:23:00] you could have done that for like 200 bucks. Like 300 bucks.
Stacey Salyer: Right
Valeria Urcuyo: Now you're pissing off your owner. When you're getting the wrong tech or just some random tech that you're just randomly calling because they're just trying to collect diagnos.
A lot of these techs, what happens in the industry, because they charge 120, $110, is I just run around like think about how many diagnostic fees it could collect per day. Yeah. And then it's like, so if I'm just collecting diagnostic fees and, and, and I'm just recommending replacement or just giving like a super high estimate
Stacey Salyer: Yeah.
Valeria Urcuyo: Then guess how much money I'm making a day, right? So
Stacey Salyer: yeah, I mean, if you're like two every hour, I mean, that, that could be a pretty good gig.
Valeria Urcuyo: Right? So that's, there's a bunch of things, right? So that's a danger of just, you can't just call just any tech, right? Because it's snowballs because your owner.
There's a lot of things that they're dealing with. And so this last time I, I was talking about, okay, like my, I, I said this story of my friend Heidi, who literally, she was telling me like over the phone, we're getting, get rid of her house. She moved to Florida, getting rid rid of her house in Texas, like telling me all these issues.
Then the deck had to [00:24:00] be replaced and then this and that. And then in that, in her scenario, it was like, and then I had to pay 2000 hundred dollars for a fridge and that was it. And so, Troy and I decided to set, like, she's literally telling me this, and it's kind of just like. You don't know at what point something just a fridge or something just is the, the straw that broke the camel's back.
Stacey Salyer: Right.
Valeria Urcuyo: I was saying that this last time, but then I was think, you know what, it doesn't have to actually necessarily even have to be like the last thing. It could be like one of the five things that builds up to the snapping of the I'm done. I'm done. I'm selling this shit. And then there you go. The property managers loses the owner right over a fucking washer that they weren't able to fix because like their son's coming in from college.
And that was like that one fucking thing, and so I think there's a lot of, there's a, people underestimate that. And then, and then, and then, and sometimes you have to replace, right,
Stacey Salyer: right.
Valeria Urcuyo: But you have to be careful with that. There's a balance, right? So. And that's what we try to do. We go with the intention of actually fixing the appliance.
[00:25:00] Like I'll hear it all the time. This happens all the time. Like, well, okay, I see the symptoms. So if it's like, for example, the tech will say, if it's whatever, free on, I can't do it, but if it's this, I can, so I'll go. It's like, no, then don't go. I, why would I send a tech that is only has the capacity to only fix it if it's one out of the whatever other things.
That's not right. You know what I mean? Like why would I do that? No, I need to send a tech who actually can fix. Pretty much 99% of whatever the hell it is that's causing the, the not cooling symptom, not like hoping for the best and just kind of throwing a tick out there and just kind of just, just this mediocre diagnostic and hope that the owner doesn't approve it.
And then that way we earn the diagnos field. Like that's not good for business and that's not our, that's not the point of of us. We don't wanna do that. That's what all the other companies do. And then that's why, and I notice a lot of them do that because I've seen some of the like, forums and stuff.
And I remember it, it kind of hit me a few years ago. There was this one guy, and it had nothing to do with, he was talking about something else, not related to what I'm [00:26:00] talking about, but in passing, he's like, yeah, my average estimate for appliance repair was like, it was something ridiculous, like a hundred and something or like a hundred and something dollars.
And I'm like, they're, he wasn't talking about that. He was talking about something else, but I'm reading this and I'm like, okay. There's no way that the average cost of a applied repair is one 20 or one something. It was like 100 and something, and I'm like, but it would be though if out of all the repairs, all of them are just charged.
You're just charging. Diagnostic fees are like $120, a hundred, then your average would be lower. But that's misleading. It's like, yeah, your average is lower, but are you actually taking care of your tenant or owner? Are you actually going with the intention of actually fixing the appliance and taking care of them?
And so that's the problem is that you don't really notice that. So that's something that we'll notice. Like if I start saying, Hey, the sex good. Hmm, okay, he's gotten a lot of diagnostics. Only he hasn't got any repairs, like, what's going on? Is it that his estimates are too high? [00:27:00] Is it that
Stacey Salyer: Right?
Valeria Urcuyo: He's just saying recommended replacement and that's it.
Because that's just, so those are the things that like you have to understand like who you're working with for you to kind of pick up on that.
Stacey Salyer: Well, I love that too. So you guys are kind of taking the place of like, 'cause to be quite honest, I mean a maintenance coordinator is not necessarily gonna have the time to go back through all of their work orders every huge
Valeria Urcuyo: turn.
You know how many maintenance coordinators have like, got to know and then they switch 'em. And they switch 'em. It's, it's crazy.
Stacey Salyer: I know it's a tough position. Well, it's a tough one to train where I, that's where I do think AI will definitely help out in the near future in that aspect. But, but yeah,
Valeria Urcuyo: maybe.
Okay. Yes. Maybe like, kind of like the following up between like the tenet and like ai.
Stacey Salyer: Yep.
Valeria Urcuyo: Do I think that AI can have the same type of conversation with, with Caesar who randomly goes to Columbia? Or like, do I think AI will kind of hear like the hangover voice of like [00:28:00] John,
Stacey Salyer: right.
Valeria Urcuyo: You know what I mean?
Like Mm. John sounds a little hangover, hungover. Listen, send John tomorrow. That I, I don't think we're quite there yet. And so that's where,
Stacey Salyer: yeah.
Valeria Urcuyo: I think might take a while.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. No, I, I, yeah. I think we agree there that, that definitely, like even the analyzation. Would probably be helpful because your average maintenance coordinator does not have the time or necessarily even the training of like, oh, hey, let's, let's analyze all of our work orders for this quarter and then let's, let's break it down even to further of like, how many, like how many maintenance repairs did we have ordered?
How many like just diagnostic fees were we charged versus like, how many actual repairs got done? 'cause that, that's a big thing. And so that's really huge. Take a look at that because, so like, I just hired an electrician for my rental house. Do you know how much the diagnostic fee was? Do you wanna guess?
Valeria Urcuyo: I, I'm scared. What is it?
Stacey Salyer: Washington State, over 500 bucks just to walk through the door. Yeah. And that was
Valeria Urcuyo: applied towards the [00:29:00] repair.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Yeah. And it only took them like 45 minutes to do. Yeah. Few things, but that's cool. I mean, they did stuff I'm not good at, but, but yeah,
Valeria Urcuyo: it's right.
Stacey Salyer: I, I told my husband, I was like you're not charging enough.
'cause he's a plumber. Yes, yes. Plumbing company. And I'm like, maybe we should be charging more to walk
Valeria Urcuyo: through. But you know what the thing is though, is that's another thing. The reason why we just charged 60, I mean, we know it's low, but we're just trying to grow. It is upfront, flat, no matter what is, because we hear that all the time.
It's like, okay, but I have a check who charges me a hundred something. But then he applies it, he actually doesn't, it's like, no, he actually, oh no, he, they'll go, I, they charge this, but then if you do the repair, they don't charge me. They don't charge me a diagnostic, right? Like they charge me 120.
But if I actually go and say yes to repair, then they're not, they won't charge me that. They just charge me the repair. That's bullshit. It's like they still had to spend money, the gas, the time, the diagnostic, like they're charging the diagnostic, but they're just camouflaging it. [00:30:00] In the parts and the labor.
Right. Right. So that's kind of like, and we also know that, so that's why, that's why we kind, we like to take control of the, of the parts. We don't wanna inflate the, 80% inflation, that's not right. And then you have your tenants and then your owners like Googling and things like that. And yeah, that's not gonna be the same price as there as your finding.
Right. So we're providing a service, but yes. Is it, is it a difficult conversation when you say something like. Parts are on back order and they're not. Or hey, this part's 20 and it's, or whatever. This part, we, we tell 'em the tech thousand is $200 and it's actually 40. That's a difficult conversation and that it's not even your fault.
But then you have the owner kind of like not trusting. You know what I mean? Like, and it's, and so then it's important for you guys to find you guys as an property manager to find vendors that you can actually, that are reasonable, that are not trying to just like, take every dollar because it's your reputation and you're relying on their information, right.
And then you're gonna make you look bad. It's like, oh, I'm sorry owner, but like the parts on our back order. And then it's like, then it's like, who, who are they to trust? And it's, and you're genuinely just [00:31:00] relaying information from the tech.
Stacey Salyer: Right.
Valeria Urcuyo: But in reality, who knows what you're actually relaying from the tech?
'cause maybe he's full of shit. I don't know. Right,
Stacey Salyer: right. Yeah, no, I love that. Yeah, no, this was really, this was really enlightening. 'cause I think especially if, a property management company could bring on like a vendor like yourself, like in that national level, it's one point of contact that would help streamline their maintenance make them a far better candidate for.
Building a good asset because utilizing your vendor relationships for all that would be a huge benefit. I wish you guys would
Valeria Urcuyo: benefit. I mean, yeah, you don't know what you're losing out or saving. Like I said, like, like in my, in my friend Heidi's case, the fruit refrigerator was the straw that that broke the camel's back.
Right. That was, that was it. Right. And even if it wasn't it, it was one of the five things. That was it. And so then, and that's why I also like, I always talk about like those, some companies charge, like when they, their vendor is like, okay, I need 10% of like your invoice though. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna give you work, but I'm gonna get 10% of your invoice.[00:32:00]
And some techs accept it, but it's kind of like, for me it's like, we can't do that. We can't do 10% because our business model just doesn't allow it. Right. Most of my money's going to the tech and they don't wanna get 10%. And we need to make some money too. But also it's like, you gotta think about like considering that there is a shortage of a plan repair text and there's an abundance, God bless of a plan repair at work.
Stacey Salyer: Right.
Valeria Urcuyo: Why? Why would, as a tech, why would you take 10% off for no reason, if you can just go somewhere else and find some work everywhere else. Right. Right. You're either maybe like not the best at advertiser, you're maybe mediocre, I don't know. Right. And so I don't think, and so then, but what happens, I feel like sometimes, and with all due respect to the property manager companies,
like I understand they see it as like a money making thing, but I think sometimes you have, be careful with that. One of the things I disagree with is like, some of 'em are like 10% across the board.
You can't do 10% across the board for all your vendors. You're gonna make money. There's some percentages are more reasonable. I'm not saying to make money, I'm not totally against that, but you know, you have [00:33:00] to, you, it can't just be a, an across the board thing. It makes no sense, especially for applied to very different things like that.
That's one thing. And then two, you have to be careful of what you're getting for, if you're getting somebody who's willing to take a 10% hit off of their invoice, especially in a client repair where you can just eventually works, gonna come to you anyways, right? One way or another. Then it's like, why? Why?
Then maybe you're hiring a less than okay person. Maybe I don't, I don't know. Right. So. The whole, that's kind of an issue that sometimes we run into and we won't work with people who, who wanna take 10%. We just, we simply can't do it, for our business model. But I, I also don't think it's a smart idea.
It's like you're worried about making 10% off of an appliance repair. Like worry about 10% maybe on, maybe some, I don't, something else. A
Stacey Salyer: larger project,
Valeria Urcuyo: 10%. What? Maybe you can fix an an appliance for what, 300 bucks, whatever, right? You're making a few extra bucks, but then. Or maybe you hire a tech, like I said, who's willing to take 10% there may be mediocre.
Right? Because, and that's where they're like, [00:34:00] oh, fuck it. I don't, I don't care. Yeah. I'll take for 10%, right? It's like, no, you don't have to take 10% off your shit, fine work somewhere else. So then whatever, right? So he takes the work and he's and then they do maybe a mediocre repair, and then the property manager makes 10% off that, whatever the fuck.
Right? So you're what? 40 bucks. But then like my friend Heidi. Okay, so, but you didn't actually take care of her though. And then now she's fucking pissed. Now you just lost an owner, so now you actually, you didn't, you are worried about 10%, right? You are worried about what? 40 bucks right now. How about the money?
All the fucking money you're gonna lose when you lose the owner because you send some asshole who doesn't, who's like buy a new refrigerator when it could have been repaired for $200. You know what I mean? Right. It's easy for people to see physically, like when it's on a spreadsheet or like a document, it's easy for people to see how much money they're making.
But I think the issue is like, how much money are you not making the abstract? Right? How much are you losing? Because that's more abstract. Like, it's kind of harder to think of things like in that way. Like [00:35:00] the abstract money I guess. I don't know how you would, you would call it like, it's one thing to say I made $40 on this.
It's another thing, but are you actually connecting, like when your owner leaves, do you know why they left? Maybe it was, yeah, it was a dick. It was like, 'cause you don't answer. And then I was broke and I was, it was after Christmas and then you guys called me and told me I had to buy a fridge.
So I was like, fuck it. Then how much money you were actually making then, was it worth the 10%? The $40? Absolutely. Fucking not. So I think that that's one of the issues I would say in that, in, in this industry is that whole thing.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Well, I, what's that saying? What? Chasing pennies to try and make, like stepping the curb,
Valeria Urcuyo: bend over a a dollar, pick up a penny or something like that
Stacey Salyer: or
Valeria Urcuyo: something.
Stacey Salyer: Stepping over a penny to. Or like stepping over a dollar to chase a penny or I, whatever that saying is, I don't remember, but yeah. Yes. And I always encourage my clients too, to look at Yes. Like look at the business holistically. Mm-hmm. And what does make sense? So, [00:36:00] I believe like project fee. Fees make sense, 'cause you're running a really large project.
And I, I don't know. I mean, I'm not necessarily against like maintenance markups, but, I do think,
Valeria Urcuyo: no, I mean, I, I, I think there's different ways to do it though. Like, yeah, forget, I asked Peter on the podcast last time how he did it, but I know there's different ways of doing it. I don't know if the smartest thing though is to get the 10% off the vendor.
At least for some industries. Right. I think if anything, if it was me, I mean, I don't. I'm not, not a property manager, but I would probably set something up like, okay, I'm gonna charge a whatever fee every time I handle this type of work order or whatever, like a maintenance fee per month or per work order, or I'm gonna charge the owner this amount because I'm handling this issue.
Mm-hmm.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah.
Valeria Urcuyo: But that's, but, but, but, but if you're gonna try to get it from the vendor, that's where I think the problems arise.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. Agreed. Agreed. 'cause it, yeah.
Valeria Urcuyo: Yeah. And then, I mean, in me, in my case too, it's like if I have a client who's. Giving me a bunch of work, like, I'm obviously [00:37:00] also going to make sure that I take care of them.
Right. So it's like a lot of these property manager already getting like good pricing from vendors, if you're giving 'em a lot of work. So it's kind of like the 10% thing. It's like, why me? Like, you know what I mean? I, I'm like, yeah, totally. Let's of course make some money 'cause you're handling this issue, right.
But you know, you have to know how to go about it a better way. And I just don't know if 10% to the vendors the smartest thing in the long run.
Stacey Salyer: Yep. Ah, yeah, I think that's a good point.
Valeria Urcuyo: Yeah.
Stacey Salyer: So, yeah. Well, I think yeah, this has been very, very good. Very interesting. As far as like, do you wanna share anything you guys have coming up this year?
Or is there
Valeria Urcuyo: anything? No, I mean, I, you actually met asking me about the goals, another goal that we have 'cause data. Yeah. Is huge. Right? It's very valuable. Yeah. And the thing is, is like also you have to have like the right systems to kind of like be able to extract all this data.
And we've improved our system, some great developers like the past two years. Like it's, it's crazy. Like I, I mentioned to you like this new update, [00:38:00] I'm like, I can't wait to be finished 'cause I'm going nuts. It is gonna be done soon. It's gonna allow us to be more efficient. And then my goal is.
There's not many companies that have the amount of work and years of data that we have,
Stacey Salyer: right?
Valeria Urcuyo: Why aren't we using this data? I mean, I, I'll use internally, I'll, I'll, I'll ask like, Hey, pull a report on average, whatever from this time to this time. Would this appliance, like for a personal use to like, make decisions?
But it kind of hit me like the world of data. It's so valuable, and not many companies have the capacity or the volume. Right that like we have, why aren't we maybe educating people with some of this data? Why aren't we, sending some , useful information out. I mean, talk about, accumulation of data of what you doing, like 7,000 jobs a month for 13 years.
Like it's, it's a lot. And so I think that one of our goals is also hopefully. This year kind of just start sending out some like, real realistic data right from, from a company that's only done appliance repairs [00:39:00] for this long. So that's one of our, our main things, hopefully that we can eventually, at some point, and I think it will help a lot of people and put some perspective on, on appliance repair, which not a lot of people don't really know.
Stacey Salyer: Do you guys track like, which appliance brands like, like. Are repaired more or like you get more work orders like, or are there any particular brands that you guys get can't repair? Because I know, like in my mind, there's one for sure that I got, I was told all the time like, oh, we can't repair this particular one.
Well,
Valeria Urcuyo: like Melee or something. One of those, what is that like Samsung.
Stacey Salyer: Samsung was one. Samsung. Okay. That's what
Valeria Urcuyo: was gonna say. Yeah, they, there's some brands that techs don't like Samsung and lg, mostly Samsung. They don't like it. They don't like it. 'cause I think it's like some sort of seal in the fridges.
They hate it. I think it's like a first thing. And technology, it's like a sealed system. It's like there's some brands they don't, they'd rather not deal with. There's also, for example, out of all the appliances, one that they hate is there's two. Well microwaves a lot of the time it's like, microwave is out.
You might as well, [00:40:00] almost a lot of the time you have to, you, you should replace it. But dishwashers is huge issue 'cause you're essentially having to uninstall to even diagnose it a lot of the time. Right. So things like that they, they, techs love working obviously on subzero and things like that, right?
There's some yeah, like, what is it? Speed queen, like there's some, there's some specific like, kind of like brands that are hard to get parts for Zo. Like, that is like, they, they hate that. So yeah, there's that. But that's my point. My, I will like, and I didn't, it kind of didn't hit me like, I will ask for things like that to just make decisions internally.
Like, okay, well we should adjust whatever this diagnostic for this, because this brand is more whatever. And then it was kind of just hit me like, wait a second. Like the value that we have, we have so much data and we're not, and I'm using it for, for me. For internally, but it's like, I think, why am I not sharing?
Why are we sharing this data with everybody else? It's not like some bullshit data. I mean, it's like legit.
Stacey Salyer: Right.
Valeria Urcuyo: Real life data. And so that is our goal this year. Right. Kind of just like, so people re I [00:41:00] mean,
Stacey Salyer: yeah. Well that'd be super helpful I think with property management companies is they're going out to get new clients.
How cool would it be to be able to walk through a client's home? 'cause like back in the day, I used to walk through and be like, oh, you have a Samsung fridge, FYI. You can keep it until it dies, but I'm gonna tell you right now, when it dies, I'm gonna even put it in your contract when it dies. You're, we're gonna have to buy you a new fridge.
Valeria Urcuyo: They hate it. No, they, it's, it's difficult to buy. They, they don't, like, it's hard to fix. It's a thing. It's a thing.
Stacey Salyer: So how cool would it be to be able to like, give a new client or if, like, even acquisition wise, like if you're, looking to acquire a book of business and you're like, okay, well, kind of like, what's gonna be my possible maintenance workload on this?
Like
Valeria Urcuyo: Exactly. No, exactly. The possibilities are endless or like average. Whatever, I don't know, work order on this brand or Yeah. How many, yeah, like you just said, like, okay, what is the most repaired brand in refrigerator? Like, there's so many things that I, I, I honestly, I probably like today can say, Hey, I need a report.
It has to say this is, and I get it. And then it just kind of like [00:42:00] a epiphany like what am I, why am I not sharing this? How useful, yeah. Right. So be like, oh, okay, like a pledge repairment out of like the 10 years of them been doing this, like this is the number one brand that you should not fuck with.
Stacey Salyer: I love it. Yeah. You're, you're sitting on a data gold mine, so I'll have to have
Valeria Urcuyo: you
Stacey Salyer: opt, have you
Valeria Urcuyo: back. That was my epiphany this year. I'm like, wait, why am I not? Who else has, I mean, thank you. Right? I'm sure there's some companies been around, but like 13 years that for any company that's a long time.
But honestly, in all fairness, the past few years we've gotten a way better system, better developers and things like that, right? So a lot of that's kind of difficult. But now we're at a point once we get this last data updated in our system. Yeah, like data, like legitimate data, not just data that will like help.
Me. Right. Just, it just the reality of what we deal with. Yeah. So that's my goal. I, I think my goal and I think it'll be a great use for people. I love that.
Stacey Salyer: I love that. And I always love epiphanies. They're like my most favorite.
Valeria Urcuyo: What
Stacey Salyer: I said, I always love it when people have [00:43:00] epiphanies. That's like one of my most
Valeria Urcuyo: favorite.
Yes. Right, right. Yeah. And then, yeah, we talked about this. When you see something, you can't unsee it. Now I'm like, oh my god. I'm rush, I wanna run. I'm like already thinking like, hey look, we do some pie charts and some graphs and and, and, and it really came from something as simple as me seeing in a form.
It was a Facebook group form. Mm-hmm. When I saw that guy talking about like, my average repairing, it's just like, that's what you're thinking. If you're thinking that's a normal average, a hundred something dollars for a repair and that's what your owner thinks. And then. You're just gonna cause yourself problems.
Like you're not being, you're not even being realistic with your owner. That's not even a real, that's not even good. That's like, that's a red alert for me. It's like, oh, I wonder what tech he's using.
Stacey Salyer: Right. You
Valeria Urcuyo: know, so.
Stacey Salyer: Yeah. I love that. Well, thank you so much. I loved having you on. You're awesome. Thank
Valeria Urcuyo: you for having me.
Stacey Salyer: And yeah, like once you kind of get the data wrangled, you'll have to come back on and we can talk, I'm excited, talk numbers and all that kind of good stuff. So yeah, thank you so much [00:44:00] and awesome. Have a great rest of your year and we'll talk to you. Thank
Valeria Urcuyo: you. Same these.
Outro: Thanks for listening to the Stacey Salyer show. Here's the deal. You can read about acquisitions anywhere, but you can't learn acquisitions from someone who's done it the way I have as a buyer, a seller, and from the corporate side evaluating hundreds of companies. That's why I need you to subscribe and share this with someone in your network who needs to hear it.
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