How to survive the early phases of a partnership?

[Account Closed]

A friend and I are working together to invest in real estate. We both work in the construction industry. I used to remodel houses, eventually got a civil engineering degree and an MBA, and now work as an area sales managers for a company in the concrete industry. He has been working as an accountant for a construction and development company for the past seven years. We both bring different strengths and connections to this partnership. 

I'm trying to figure out the best way to compensate him for the work he will provide. Among other things, he will be handling the accounting, property analysis, and has connections to investors. He doesn't currently have money to put toward investment, so he would be working for equity. 

Our goal is to buy and flip houses. I would put up the money to buy the first few houses and do most of the repair work. He is willing to help me with the repairs in addition to accounting services, and I would like to compensate him financially out of the profit from the sale of the properties. The idea being that he would eventually bank enough money to start contributing to the subsequent properties. 

Does anyone have experience with this sort of arrangement? What would be a reasonable percentage of compensation? Would it be better to pay him a flat rate, or hourly rate for his time? Any advice would be appreciated. I'm obviously not providing every detail, so please feel free to ask any qualifying questions for more clarification on this particular situation. 

[Jeff V.]

@Account Closed

I saw a good YouTube video discussing this very thing.

Check out Partnership Issues - How to make a deal between unequal partners? at about the 4:10 mark he discusses sweat equity.

Great information for joint venturing.  The entire video is good for a variety of scenarios, so I would watch the whole thing for ideas.

Jeff V