General / Sub Contractor(s) - Fair Pricing?

[Jonathan H.]

Hey,

Had a quick question relating to finding "fair prices" for general / sub contractors in my area. Recent ran across the "RSMeans Contractor's Pricing Guide: Residential Repair & Remodeling 2013 (Means Residential Repair & Remodeling Costs)" book - does anyone have any experience with this? or possibly another similar source to find average prices for each task? I would really like to have a list of tasks and fair prices so that I could calculate a (generalized) average total repair cost for each flip. Would really hate to overpay for the contracting work on my first few flips - as it has the potential to make quite a big difference in the end price.

Thanks

[J Scott]

Labor prices will vary based on many things:

- Location
- Time of Year
- Skill of Contractor
- Insurance/Licensing of Contractor
- Finish Level
- Your Negotiating Ability
- Etc.

That said, as Joel pointed out above, if you're paying RSMeans prices, you're way overpaying for the typical low- to mid-level rehab. Now, whether you will be able to find pricing at 10% below RSMeans or 50% below RSMeans will depend on the factors above.

I actually just finished up a 150+ page guide on how to approach estimating rehab costs...hopefully will have it available in the next week or two...