NTE (not to exceed)

NTEs protect owners from surprise invoices and save everyone a phone call on small jobs. Set one per property or per owner, and write it into each job offer.

An NTE is the most the vendor may bill without asking you. The vendor still bills the real cost, up to that amount. If the repair will cost more, the vendor stops and asks before going over. Managers often keep two numbers: the NTE they give the vendor, and the approval limit the owner gives them. Any markup or coordination fee sits on top of the vendor’s bill.

An example

A job offer for a garbage disposal says “NTE $250.” The plumber finds the disposal is fine and the drain line is blocked further down. Clearing it will cost $340, so the plumber sends a photo and the new number before doing the work. The manager approves it in one reply, because it is still under the owner’s $500 limit.

Setting a useful NTE

• Base it on the trade and the usual job, not one number for everything
• Keep it under the owner’s approval limit
• Put it in writing on every job offer
• Ask for a photo and a quote when a job will go over

How Now Ours handles it

You set a spend limit for each property. On Cautious, the default, Ours asks you before it spends money. On Standard it approves up to that property’s limit, and anything above it comes to you. See owner approval and the owner approval limits template.