Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2013 · 252 posts · 92 votes
I have done a few flips, and currently rehabbing a buy and hold in greenville, sc. I do most all of the work myself, which is pretty slow going since i only have so much time to devote . I enjoy carpentry, and the feeling of turning an ugly house into a nice property. does anyone else out there do the work themselves, or do most people hire everything out. Once my youngest son is in school next year... that will free me up more time to make more progress. Just wanting to see how everyone else is getting it done. Also, it seems when i do hire certain things out.. i am usually not satisfied with the results. Thanks for the input.
I have done a few flips, and currently rehabbing a buy and hold in greenville, sc. I do most all of the work myself, which is pretty slow going since i only have so much time to devote . I enjoy carpentry, and the feeling of turning an ugly house into a nice property. does anyone else out there do the work themselves, or do most people hire everything out. Once my youngest son is in school next year... that will free me up more time to make more progress. Just wanting to see how everyone else is getting it done. Also, it seems when i do hire certain things out.. i am usually not satisfied with the results. Thanks for the input.
Adam
In the beginning I swung the hammer. Havn't done so in years though. Truth be told i'm not all that handy I just kinda got in the way most of the time. We have 800+ properties & 60+ employees now so it wouldn't make any sense for me to be doing any of that stuff still. My partner still swings it every now & again. He can't help himself. He loves it. He's probably more useful in the office at this point but it's his passion to be in the field & get dirty so he makes time to go out to the projects as much as possible.
He's been going out to this property of ours last couple days with this major sewer issue that the plumbers are working on. Dude keeps sending me the photos. I'm like bruhhh your name is on hundreds of buildings, you shouldn't be in the same room as human poop anymore. He can't help himself. He loves it.
Specialist · Chicago, IL · Member since 2015 · 870 posts · 345 votes
8y
It's a great advantage to know how a building is put together, form the envelop to the trim.
I have done plumbing, electrical, and flooring. I will not do flooring again (ever) and I was able to find fairly priced electrical guys. Plumbing is expensive in Chicago and I will have to bite the bullet for larger renovations. I will not do drywall or demo.
It is fun to do this work, however, once you account for the opportunity loss (lost rents, reinvest, holding costs, family time) by doing your own work, the savings are not that great. All depends on what metrics you use: local contractor prices and income from your W2 job.
Charleston, SC · Member since 2017 · 84 posts · 46 votes
8y
I did a full landscape job myself including laying sod by hiring high school kids to help lay it. I did the design work and got plants on clearance at the nursery and worked alongside them to do the physical labor. Including landscape beds, slag walking paths, mulch - the whole shebang. I got the whole yard done for $2k when landscape quotes were between $4k-8k for the same job. Was a sh*tton of work but saved some good coin and got the exact result I wanted. I also logged 22k steps on my Fitbit the last day of getting that property ready. Ugh.
I also paint a lot of my houses and do things like window glazing etc. Just depends on how much time I have and what the deadline is for move-in. I enjoy the physical labor and the satisfaction of seeing it all come together with my own hands involved. But it’s fatiguing and not scalable.
Rental Property Investor · Carrollton, TX · Member since 2013 · 750 posts · 538 votes
8y
@Frank S. - agree with you on those points! Rather than work on my own houses during rehab though, I volunteer on weekends when I can at the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and have picked up quite a bit of construction knowledge there. I recommend this for anyone that needs construction experience - great way to give back. I do some ongoing maintenance or repairs during tenant turns from time to time - also a learning experience, but I am trying to get away from that. One bonus to the occasional self-repair: it gets me into the property to see what the heck is going on with my tenants.
We did buy a junker on some acreage outside of town which we decided to tear down - I have been taking the house apart myself when I have time, down to the slab - and that has been a learning experience, great work out and I would say pretty cathartic busting stuff up. Just watch out for country snakes!
Investor · Greenville, SC · Member since 2013 · 252 posts · 92 votes
8y
That can all be buffed out. :) I volunteered several years ago with our local habitat for humanity. Didn't learn much, but def a good way to give back.
@Frank S. - agree with you on those points! Rather than work on my own houses during rehab though, I volunteer on weekends when I can at the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and have picked up quite a bit of construction knowledge there. I recommend this for anyone that needs construction experience - great way to give back. I do some ongoing maintenance or repairs during tenant turns from time to time - also a learning experience, but I am trying to get away from that. One bonus to the occasional self-repair: it gets me into the property to see what the heck is going on with my tenants.
We did buy a junker on some acreage outside of town which we decided to tear down - I have been taking the house apart myself when I have time, down to the slab - and that has been a learning experience, great work out and I would say pretty cathartic busting stuff up. Just watch out for country snakes!
Flipper/Rehabber · Montgomery, NY · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
8y
I like to balance the GC and labor roll myself. Some days I am doing GC type jobs, calling subs, paperwork, ordering materials, etc. Other days I am on the job painting, hanging cabinets or tiling. I personally like both. I did the office stuff for years, and now I like to mix it up.
With that said, on every new house I learn jobs I don't want to do anymore and plan to hire them out. If you find good quality subs who can do it faster and better than you, it is usually worth it to pay for them. With my background I see me running my jobs as my own GC for the foreseeable future. Having run 2-3 $1-$16,000,000 projects at a time, with 30-50 subs on each job, running residential projects are fairly straight forward.
@Frank S. - agree with you on those points! Rather than work on my own houses during rehab though, I volunteer on weekends when I can at the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity and have picked up quite a bit of construction knowledge there. I recommend this for anyone that needs construction experience - great way to give back. I do some ongoing maintenance or repairs during tenant turns from time to time - also a learning experience, but I am trying to get away from that. One bonus to the occasional self-repair: it gets me into the property to see what the heck is going on with my tenants.
We did buy a junker on some acreage outside of town which we decided to tear down - I have been taking the house apart myself when I have time, down to the slab - and that has been a learning experience, great work out and I would say pretty cathartic busting stuff up. Just watch out for country snakes!
Investor · New Bern, NC · Member since 2013 · 96 posts · 29 votes
8y
Andy,
I am in a similar situation...Have a full time tech job and use a GC to do most of the work with the exception of Electrical (I used to be an electrician)
Investor · New Bern, NC · Member since 2013 · 96 posts · 29 votes
8y
also to Adam Drummond's point about refinancing for the max amount in order to have extra cash or to use a lower amount....I purchased a property last year for 12k cash invested 15k cash for rehab and rented it out. Then instead of refinancing it to pull my money out....i did a HELOC against it for 80% of appraisal so that I can keep using the equity in the property as i needed to purchase and rehab others. (its rented tor $800 a month BTW)
Real Estate Agent · Rochester, MN · Member since 2017 · 49 posts · 23 votes
8y
My husband and I tend to do most of the work ourselves. It's a nice change of pace from sitting in front of a computer and you can see your progress at the end of the day. Also, we've been disappointed in the price or schedule (usually both!) of local contractors that we've tried to work with. I do have a great licensed tradesmen on my list when something calls for it.
Investor · Kennedale, TX · Member since 2016 · 219 posts · 349 votes
8y
I do most of the work myself. I really like doing tile work. I farm out the electrical and texturing. I've learned that you just can't count on most contractors to do quality work for a reasonable price and half the time they don't even show up when they're supposed to. If you have good contractors they're worth their weight in gold. I have one handyman I can count on and I usually pay him more than he asks for the jobs he does for me.
Toronto , Ontario · Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 0 votes
8y
I live in Toronto but is crazy here for house flipping..the prices for house are very high..I am new with Europe experience house flipping..any one can help me how to start in best places in Canada house flipping full time bussines for new investors ..thanks