The boiler's broken at 23 Elm Street. Tenant's without heating, landlord's asking who you're sending, and you need to book a gas engineer. Who was that guy you used last time? The reliable one with the reasonable prices?
You check your contacts. Three entries for "Dave Gas". Which one is current? You check old emails - ah, it was "Dave from SafeHeat". But wait, is he still Gas Safe registered? When did his certification expire?
This happens weekly in letting agencies. You have trusted contractors you use regularly, but their details are scattered across contact lists, email threads, old invoices, and sometimes just memory. Finding the right person when you need them urgently shouldn't be a treasure hunt.
We've added contractor management to LetAdmin.
The Problem: Scattered Contractor Information
A typical agency works with 15-30 regular contractors:
- Gas engineers for boiler servicing and safety certificates
- Electricians for EICRs and repairs
- Plumbers for everything from dripping taps to emergency leaks
- Locksmiths for lock changes between tenancies
- Cleaners for end-of-tenancy cleans
- Handymen for minor repairs and odd jobs
- Decorators for refreshing properties between lets
Each of these people has:
- Contact details (phone, email, maybe address)
- Registration numbers (Gas Safe, NICEIC, etc.)
- Bank details (for paying invoices)
- Specialities (what they do well, what they don't do)
- Availability patterns (who answers on weekends?)
Where does this information live today?
Phone contacts - Great for calling, useless for registration numbers or payment details.
Spreadsheets - Better, but always slightly out of date and not connected to anything.
Email - "I know I sent them a bank transfer request once, let me search..."
Memory - "Ask Sarah, she knows all the contractors."
The result is wasted time, incorrect payments, and occasionally using someone whose certification has lapsed.
The Solution: Centralised Contractor Database
We've added a Contractors section to LetAdmin. Store all your contractor information in one place, connected to the rest of your property management data.
What You Can Store
For each contractor, record:
Basic Contact Details
- Company name
- Contact person (if different from company)
- Phone number(s)
- Email address
- Physical address
Registration Numbers
- Gas Safe registration (for gas engineers)
- NICEIC registration (for electricians)
- Other registration/certification numbers
- Expiry dates (so you know when to check for renewal)
Bank Details
- Account name
- Sort code
- Account number
- Saved securely for when you need to pay invoices
Work Types
- Gas
- Electrical
- Plumbing
- General maintenance
- Cleaning
- Decorating
- Locksmith
- Other
This means when you need "an electrician", you can filter your contractors to see only electricians. When you need to pay an invoice, the bank details are right there.
Integration with Certificates
Here's where it gets useful: when you're uploading a new gas safety certificate, LetAdmin can auto-populate the contractor details.
Start typing the engineer's name and the system suggests matching contractors from your database. Select them, and their Gas Safe number automatically fills in on the certificate.
No more typing registration numbers manually. No more "I need to look up their Gas Safe number" delays. Select the contractor, and the relevant details appear.
Finding the Right Contractor
When you need a contractor, filter by:
- Work type - Show only plumbers, only electricians, etc.
- Registration status - Only show contractors with current registrations
- Search - Find by name or company
The list shows each contractor's key details at a glance, so you can quickly identify who to call.
Real-World Example: Emergency Repair
Before contractor management (typical agency experience):
- Tenant reports leak at 5pm on Friday
- Search contacts for "plumber" - three results
- Call first number - no answer
- Call second number - wrong person (that was the old plumber)
- Call third number - yes! This is Mike the reliable one
- Mike fixes the leak
- Mike sends invoice, needs paying
- Search emails for Mike's bank details from last time
- Find old email, hope the details haven't changed
- Send payment
Time spent on admin: 25 minutes
With LetAdmin's contractor management:
- Tenant reports leak at 5pm on Friday
- Open Contractors, filter by "Plumbing"
- See Mike at the top with phone number visible
- Call Mike directly
- Mike fixes the leak
- Mike sends invoice
- Open Mike's contractor record, bank details are there
- Send payment
Time spent on admin: 5 minutes
The difference is most acute in emergencies. When there's water pouring through a ceiling, you don't want to be hunting through old emails for contact details.
Keeping Registrations Current
Gas Safe registrations need renewing annually. NICEIC registrations have their own cycle. Using a contractor whose registration has lapsed puts your landlords at risk.
When you add a registration number with an expiry date, LetAdmin tracks it. You can see at a glance whether registrations are current, and filter to find contractors with valid certifications.
This is especially important for gas safety - using an unregistered engineer means the certificate isn't valid, which could have serious legal consequences for your landlords.
Team Access
Contractor details are visible to your whole team. When Sarah's on holiday and a boiler breaks down, Dave can find the gas engineer's number without texting Sarah.
This seems obvious, but it's a real problem in agencies where contractor relationships live in individual people's contacts and memory. Centralising the information means the whole team can work effectively.
What This Means for Your Agency
Faster response to maintenance requests - Find the right contractor immediately, not after searching through contacts and emails.
Fewer payment errors - Bank details in one place, not scattered across old invoices.
Compliance confidence - Know that the contractors you're using have current registrations.
Team resilience - Anyone can handle contractor booking, not just the person who "knows everyone".
For agencies handling regular maintenance across a portfolio, this could save 2-3 hours per week in contractor-related admin.
Coming Soon
This is the first version of contractor management. We're planning:
Contractor portal - Let contractors submit their own availability and registration renewals.
Work history - Track which properties each contractor has worked on.
Rating and notes - Record quality of work and any issues for future reference.
Invoice tracking - Link contractor invoices to work orders and properties.
We'd Love to Hear from You
How do you currently keep track of your trusted contractors? Phone contacts? Spreadsheets? Somewhere else?
What information do you wish you had at your fingertips when a maintenance request comes in?
We're building LetAdmin to be the single system you need to run your agency. Drop us a message - we'd love to hear how you manage contractor relationships today.
LetAdmin is in active development, designed for letting agents who want everything in one place. If you're tired of scattered information and multiple systems, we should talk.