Taking on my fist rehab - Indy

[Michael S Maza Alvarado]

This has been a crazy year. Last year I did not know anything about the RE investing world, but today, I am obsessed with the whole concept of it. 

It is substantially bigger than i thought at the beggining and it set me back for a little bit. However, here I am. Very close to closing on my first rental and doing my first BRRRR.

Anyway, I am posting because there is still some clouds in my head in terms of how to go about the rehab process. I had 3 contractors bid the project and they vary but not significantly. However, I don't think I did the best job at explaining what I needed done to the property. You can call it miscomunication. I know to do better next time. 

So the project is a mid size one and I have estimated the rehab budget to be close to the 3 bids and I am perhaps overconcerned about being overbudget (this may be due to the fact that the contractor bid things the others didn't and the bids came back inconsistent), because of the numbers I have.

There may be some costs that I am not considering but I am not really sure how to approach a contractor about being as cost effective as possible with the material and not affecting their bottom line,  so there is a margin for error in my numbers.  

Do I get a new estimate for the project with the contractor I chose to go over the rehab or will they adhere to the bid estimate they did initially. Should I start a new bid on the actual work needed and the cost of the material/new items? Can I try to cut down on things that don't need replacement but just repairs? Can I hire the GC for certaing parts of the project as their line item bids are cheaper than the others? 

what I really thing I am asking is what is next after I have decided to hire a contractor (bisides talking about price, the timeframe, contract terms and payments). I am close to closing and I would like to start the rehab as soon as I can and would appreciate any help. 

Thanks in advance.