Contractor vs DIY on a flip

[Jennyfer Sakiewicz]

I keep hearing that to become wealthy in real estate is "Don't be a flipper, be an investor.  Don't even touch a paintbrush."  

Working on our first flip, we're doing most of the work ourselves.  Yes, it's taking longer, but I'm still saving more than what the carrying costs are.  I am still not convinced that hiring contractors will keep me profitable.  I will crunch the numbers when we are finished, but I can almost guarantee there would be little to no profit left if we were to hire contractors to do all the work.    

We just paid a guy $1000 to hang drywall, float and tape a 1,500 SF ceiling.  He slapped up one heavy coat of mud without even feathering out or sanding.  I asked him about that and he said that whoever comes in to texture and paint will cover most of that up with the texture.  I thought to myself "that's gotta be some heavy texture to cover all those bumps!"  I thought he should have sanded it down and gotten it ready for texture and painting but he said, again, the painter will do that.  So, we got a quote from him to take it from it's present state to texturing and painting of this 1,500 SF house, interior only, and the bid is $5,620 which is $1.25/SF of surface.  My philosophy is this...if I take the time off work it would take me to earn $2,000, I could do the job myself and have an extra $3,620 in my pocket.

Installing kitchen cabinets is another thing.  It would cost $2,700 for a small L-shape 9'x10' kitchen.  I've done that before and it's not that difficult.  Not $2,700 worth of difficult for sure and I could do it in 2 days max including assembly of the cabinets.

Had a bid for $800 to tear down the top 2/3 of the brick facade; took us 1 1/2 hours with a hammer drill.

Bottom line, hiring contractors would probably eat away about $20k in profit if I hired them vs DIY.  I will find out when this project is done and I crunch final numbers.

I would love to hear from you.  If I need to change my mindset to become a successful and wealthy investor, please do your best to help me understand the role of investor who doesn't even touch their properties and still makes a decent profit.