HELP! I can't Find a Reputable Contractor to Rehab my House!

[James Wise]

How many times have we seen a post on Bigger Pockets with a new investor complaining that they can't find any reputable general contractors to rehab their houses? Often times, these investors are looking for general contractors to give them bids on properties they are thinking about investing in and they can't seem to figure out why nobody is calling them back. From there we get a countless swarm of people who chime in with the same story and everyone talks about how busy contractors are. 

Folks, I am here to dispel that myth. Yes contractors are busy just as any business owner is but they aren't so busy that they aren't taking on new clients. No, they are not interested in taking on YOU as a new client.

The reality is that if you want a general contractor to go out for free and bid a house renovation for you so that you can put your numbers together and make an offer YOU are not a lead they want to work. If they spent time working with you they would not make money. This is very different from being too busy to make money. They are not too busy to make money. It's just working with you that's the problem. 

• Working with you does not make money.
• You are a bad client.
• You are a bad lead.
• You are not worth talking to.
• You do not represent a payday.

Now, now before you all get in your feels here, don't think I'm dropping these truth bombs on all of you with facts and data to back it up. That's not my style. 

Recently I wrote an article and started a thread called THIS is why your Realtor is Ignoring you-DATA says they Should! If you have not yet read it I highly recommend you do because the same people who can't get a general contract to work with them are the same people who can't get a real estate agent to work with them.

In that thread I broke down data from approximately 1,100 potential investment property deals I worked both as a Real Estate Broker and general contractor. From this data I determined that the average investment property deal close rate is about 2.9%.

From there we need to take it one step further. I know you all are reading your "how to's" on hiring general contractors so you all try to go out there and get your 3 quotes. This means that a general contractor has a 0.9% chance of landing a renovation job out of the work they quote for you.

Let me repeat that. A general contractor has a 0.9% chance of landing a renovation job out of the work they quote for you. So for all of you folks out there that are running into a brick wall trying to hire an "investor friendly contractor" this is the reality of the situation you are in. You represent a payday of less than 1% to these people. These people aren't too busy to make money. No, these people are intelligent enough to know that you can't run a profitable business spending time with clients whom have a 0.9% chance of paying you for your time.

This is why you can't find a reputable contractor to rehab your house.