Many managing agents have the ability to perform small repairs up to a certain dollar amount without board approval. Most of the time these jobs are given to a house contractor, super or regular. I have about three contractors that I use often, but I play them against each other to obtain a lower price/better job, etc.. I also on projects that I many not have experience in (where I do not know the pricing and protocol on my own), I will call in an outside contractor or two so I know I have everyone being kept honest (plus I learn). That is how I do it, but i have at minimum 3-10 projects going on at a time... so if you are a "newbie" to the contracting world, I would suggest obtaining 3 bids by sending a package to 5 contractors and create a spreadsheet and compare each item, apples for apples.

~AR