Do not look for a plumber once the pipe has burst. Line up three vendors for each trade before you need them: plumbing, electrical, air conditioning and cleaning. Test them on a small job first, get prices in writing, check they are SSM registered, and keep the numbers in one place.

Why three, not one?

One vendor means you accept whatever price and date they give, because you have no alternative. Three means you know the market rate, and when one cannot come that day, your property does not wait. A Saturday with a burst pipe is not the time to start looking.

What should you ask before hiring?

SSM registered? Ask for the business name and registration number.
For electrical work, do they hold the registration they should?
How fast can they attend when it is urgent?
Warranty on the work: how long, and what does it cover?
Payment: deposit up front, or on completion?

Test on a small job first

Give them a RM 150 job before you give them a RM 5,000 one. How they handle the small job, meaning whether they turn up when they said, clean up after themselves, and charge what they quoted, tells you everything you need to know.

When should you insist on a written quote?

For anything over RM 500, or anything you intend to deduct from a tenant's deposit. A written quote protects you twice: from a price that grows after work starts, and from a tenant disputing the cost you deducted.

What UrusPro does for you

Your vendor list is kept with each one's phone number and trade.
Repairs are assigned to a vendor and tracked through to done.
Each job's cost is recorded against the house, so you see which house is expensive.

One expensive mistake

Using the cheapest vendor for electrical or plumbing work. Work that has to be done twice always costs more than work done right once, and the second time usually includes repairing what the first time broke.