Managing Vendors and Contractors at Your Church

No church facility manager can do everything in-house. Roofing, licensed electrical work, elevator inspections, commercial kitchen hood cleaning, pest control — at some point you're relying on outside contractors. How well you manage those relationships directly affects how quickly problems get resolved and how much you spend over time.

The churches that handle vendor relationships well don't just have a list of phone numbers. They have real relationships — vendors who know the building, show up reliably, and give them honest assessments instead of upsell pitches.

Identify the trades your church depends on and find a reliable vendor for each before a crisis forces your hand. At minimum:

• HVAC — for routine maintenance and emergency calls
• Plumbing
• Electrical
• Roofing
• Pest control
• Janitorial (if outsourced)
• Elevator/lift inspection (if applicable)
• Fire suppression system inspection
• General contractor for larger repairs and renovations

For each trade, have at least one primary vendor and one backup. Vendors get busy, retire, or go out of business. A Saturday night pipe burst is not the time to be searching Google.

• Ask other churches in your area — the best recommendation comes from someone managing a similar building
• Ask your congregation — you may have a plumber or electrician sitting in the pews who does commercial work
• Check with your insurance carrier — many have preferred vendor lists for common repairs
• For licensed work, verify the license with your state's contractor board before hiring
• Read reviews, but weight recent ones more heavily — a company's quality can change fast with new ownership or staff

For any significant repair or project, get at least two quotes — three for anything over $5,000. Not because you should always take the lowest, but because the range tells you what the market looks like and helps you catch an outlier.

• Give every vendor the same scope in writing — verbal descriptions lead to apples-to-oranges comparisons
• Ask for itemized quotes, not just a total — it's easier to compare and negotiate specific line items
• Ask about timeline, not just price — a cheaper contractor who can't start for six weeks may not be the right choice
• Clarify what's included and what triggers additional charges
• For recurring services (pest control, HVAC maintenance), ask what's covered in the contract and what's billed separately

Every time a vendor does work at your church, you should have a record of it. This is more important than most churches realize.

Service records protect you if something fails again shortly after a repair ("this was just replaced six months ago"). They support insurance claims. They tell the next facility manager — or the next vendor — what's been done and when. And they're essential for capital planning: if you know your HVAC was last fully serviced three years ago and is 12 years old, you can budget accordingly.

• Keep the invoice and any written report from every service visit
• Note what was done, what was found, and what was recommended for the future
• Store records by asset or system, not just by date
• Flag unresolved recommendations — if a vendor says "the compressor is starting to wear," that's a capital planning signal

The best vendor relationships are built over time, not just transactional. A technician who has serviced your building for three years knows where your units are, what their quirks are, and what your budget realities look like. That saves time and money.

• Be a good client. Pay on time, be available when they arrive, and communicate clearly about the problem.
• Introduce new vendors to the building — walk them through the mechanical room, show them where access points are, explain any known quirks.
• Give honest feedback when something went wrong. Good vendors want to know.
• Loyalty has value, but don't let it stop you from getting a second opinion on major work.