Finding an Investor Friendly General Contractor

[Drew Osifalujo]

My question is around identifying the appropriate General Contractor to renovate an investment property. I am looking to make some moderate renovations to a SFH investment property that includes flooring, kitchen, bathrooms and drywall/paint. In preparation for requesting bids, I have gathered (Googled) some estimate costs for the scope of work I believe will need to completed to raise the value of the property to align with recent comps; however, after checking reviews on Angie's list of local contractors, it became clear that many of the reviews that I was seeing were from happy homeowners who didn't mind spending an arm and a leg for a kitchen remodel that they would be enjoying. I believe I may need to look for contractors with lower than A+ ratings, who still do adequate work (judged by their pictures) to meet my budget goal. While I would never invest in materials that I felt were above and beyond what I need to be comparable to the market, I am interested in what tactics other investors have used to ensure they were not requesting bids from Rolls Royce contractors for a Toyota level project.

[Joshua McMillion]

@Drew Osifalujo

I found my GC from my REA. My agent is an active investor and flipper and already had a team in place. When selecting the agent, I made sure he already came with a team in place—for example, PM services and others.

If you can't do that, David Greens BRRRR book outlines several methods to find a contractor. Honestly, it will come down to due diligence on your part to find a GC and doing a comprehensive interview process. It sounds like you understand the contract process. I highly recommend you make a competitive contract with at least three vendors and use incentive-based approaches to ensure the work performance remains on schedule. This will be your biggest issue from my experience. 

Sincerely, 

Josh