What resources do people use to manage home needs (routine maintenance, odd jobs, etc) for elderly parents in another town?

Nextdoor Neighbor is a good referral site for local, honest handyman services.

I think that Angie's list is also a good source.

I would be careful sharing any information about the residents of the home. I am overly cautious about strangers knowing that the home has vulnerable seniors, just never know.

Facebook is a good resource for finding a handyman or a company in their town who can help them manage all those tasks. If you find one, ask in the comments section what other’s experiences have been with this person or company or even contact the Better Business Bureau or the Chamber of Commerce in their town for any reviews. Ask the aide to keep an eye on the handyman and share her opinion with you. If they belong to a church, there are often members who will help out, especially teenagers who might be looking for service hours and can change out a screen. Senior Centers in the area might also have a list of reliable handymen.

None of the geriatric care managers in my area would do that. I do what Ahmijoy suggested. I look on Facebook in my area. Ask for references and then have them give a written estimate. For gutters I called a cleaning service that does gutters. For electrical I call a local licensed electrician - same for plumber.

I live about 30 minutes from dad and I created an account in Nextdoor under his address to keep track of things going on in his neighborhood and get referrals for services. It has worked well and also keeps me up on what is going on in his area.

For home items that break - appliances, a/c, jacuzzi bathtub, etc - get a home warranty service company. (like American Home Shield) In Houston, no swimming pool, septic system or hot tub, the price is about $500 a year for the policy and you pay about $75 service fee per problem. Ex: Stove won't work and appliance man comes. He can't fix it because there is a problem with gas line so a plumber is called. You only pay one $75 fee no matter how many servicemen have to come. If you happen to have a stove problem and an a/c problem at the same time, you would pay $75 x 2.
This has worked for my mother's home because we aren't waiting on family member to have the time to come or trying to locate someone when it happens.
As for yard work or minor things (clean gutters, change light bulbs) start with neighbors who know her first. They may have a good lawn guy or handy man already. You do have to be very careful about who is coming and going in the house. Things can come up missing.

When it comes to hiring someone to do work at home, one needs to make sure they are licensed, insured and bonded. In my area we have a local consumer group who puts out a list of all services and one can decide from that list on who to use. I have always had excellent results. I realize not every city has such a group, so one would need to depend on Angie's List or other nationwide groups which I found not as accurate as our local consumer group.

Usually tradesmen know of other tradesmen. If there is one who you think highly of, ask him/her if he/she has any recommendations. That is usually your best bet. My parents did that and found excellent people to help out.

I never use Yelp, or similar, as fake negative reports can be found. The company I work for, we had found people making negative remarks who were never our clients, nor had we ever had a conversation with a person by that name.

As someone mentioned, NextDoor is a great place to look for a handy man. If you post your needs, you will get recommendations from your Mother’s neighbors - which are usually the best way to find great people. Also, they have one day a week, Wednesday maybe?, when businesses are allowed to post themselves.

When I went to visit my parents once before I moved them here.. their property looked like the Beverly HIllbillies,, and my parents were house proud. I asked the neighbors.. got lots of good advice

We have a wonderful man, Barry who looks after Dad’s place. Dad’s place is about 6 hours from me, but in an Island, so not accessible 24/7, we must plan trips around ferry schedules.

Dad loves his illusion of independance, so Barry does all the yard work, plants, waters and weeds a huge veggie garden. Barry meets other professionals as needed, I had to arrange for the septic tanks to be pumped, Barry met the truck.

During storm season he checks the house inside and out, removes debris etc. If there is damage or work needed he gives me a call, if it is outside regular work.

This works very well for us.

Heavy cleaning falls to me. No rugs to worry about, but stripping and waxing floors, interior painting, washing walls, cleaning ovens. It could be hired out too, but I generally spend 2 weeks there with a plan to scrub and polish. I have a sense of pride in the effect of a good cleaning.

Those tasks are handled through a variety of ways - a company who cleans for elders (go through the elder's case worker) or some use a trusted friend.