Who is the "Contractor"?

[Aaron Tornes]

Hi everyone,

New investor here. I have nearly prepared everything to search and buy my first property to begin BRRRRing but there is one point I see often in the purchase process that I could use some help clarifying:

"Walk through with a contractor and get a quote to better understand your rehab costs."

I have seen this time and again to effectively estimate rehabs. J Scott mentions how he has this step on autopilot in his book but I do not understand who this contractor is.

Is this a GC who you are planning to hire for the rehab? Is it a GC who you are paying for their time to get a fair view of your expected costs?

Do you show them your SOWs for plumbers, electricians, etc and expect that those quotes will be very similar to what he returns?

Basically, how do you do this step?

Thanks for any help on this. I want to add this person to my team before I get started but am not sure who they are, what value they get from providing me quotes and how they relate to the contractors that will be doing the work.

Some context to my investment plan: I am planning on purchasing 800-1200 sq ft SFU (2/1 or 3/1) for cash in the Midwest.