Being My Own General Contractor - Am I Dumb?

[Noah Barba]

Hey BiggerPockets community,

I am brand spanking new to real estate investing, and by brand new I mean BRAND new. I just started listening to BiggerPockets podcasts and reading the free online starting guide within the last 3 months and decided that although I will be getting a 9-5 job in finance once I graduate, I want to pursue RE on the side, and potentially as my full time job if I get to a point where I want to leave the finance field. I'm a 20 year old Michigander and have just applied for a credit card so I can start building credit along with setting aside cash every paycheck. I currently work at a Renovations company (and have been for about 1.5 years) and for that reason have developed a large interest in construction/reno. My question is, is it a good idea to plan on not only overseeing my subcontractors, but actually doing a lot of the carpentry/general contracting myself? I've learned a fair amount and continue to educate myself through my job, youtube, questioning other contractors, etc. I know theres so much more to learn, including builders code, but with the next couple of years at my disposal, should I take the steps to essentially becoming a licensed contractor even though when comes time to invest I will have another job? Thanks for reading all this ^ and I appreciate any advice you would be willing to share with me!

P.S. I have two other friends who are essentially as "in" to RE as I am and want to come together to start our team, and we all would be content, and even excited, to leave work and head right to our property to fix it up. At least, that is how we feel right now, as I know that could change over time