Ask a General Contractor (me) anything!

[Dalton Smith]

I am here to network and learn. I want to help however I can. I am a General contractor. Please feel free to ask anything about a project you have or are considering.

[Dalton Smith]

Thanks for responding to my thread guys, it's nice to meet you! Residential remodeling is my passion and I love helping people even if I am not doing the work. There are a few factors that can make a project get the title "hardest project". The thing that usually makes a project hard is the customer. That is why I am making the push to move into investing. It gets the customer out of my hair during construction. When I say customer that could be homeowners, banks, FEMA or inspectors. They can really be fickle and hard to please. Although, I have zero unsatisfied customers to date. The most challenging job I've ever been on?...IDK. I've painted oil Derricks, built roads, built houses, remodeled houses, commercial painting, custom showers, foundation repair, truss repair, Roofing, excavation, it's all a good time to me. I love my work. I don't take jobs when customer only wants low bid, I have a standard of work, and I will go out of business before I do bad work. I like jobs that have the largest before and after differences. I restored a home that sat under 4 feet of water for 2 weeks. The customer was pretty disheartened. It turned out amazing, and I was able to get him a few free upgrades that he loved! What trends do I see? Remove acoustic, paint walls light tans, use composite wood floors. Kitchens and baths are what sell a home so don't skimp there. The biggest mistake I see when people fix and flip is that they fix the home how they want it rather than putting what is popular. People need to be able to picture their tastes, not see yours. Staying in first time homebuyer territory is smart for the quick sale. There are a lot of government programs to help people to get into $100k homes. Also getting cheap contractors or trying to be their own general contractor. I am always ahead of time and under budget...always. I think a team of good investors and a good contractor would be unstoppable in this business.