Abbottsford's drywall is going up!

[Sean Carroll]

This flip has been a little bit of a challenge with many issues we expected but two we did not see coming. This was first off supposed to be a very basic flip of bathrooms, kitchen, paint, flooring, roof, landscape, exterior paint. However when we started this flip Cincinnati began to have some odd weather with heavy rain and some snow then 50+ degree weather. Well during the closing process someone turned off the heat and knowing there were some leaks in the roof we saw that the temperature fluctuations caused the moisture in the house to expand and contract to cause our plaster to crumble whenever touched. This led to more demo, framing, and drywall work; but as whenever you open up the walls to old houses you begin to see framing that is not up to code and electrical work that is no longer up to code. For a week I thought my project was surely done for and I would be lucky to see any profit, but with a little brainstorming with my general contractor and taking a step back and taking a look at what we have we were able to formulate a plan and mitigate costs with careful planning. Our original projections for this project we had a budget of $33,000 and a 6 week time frame. We are now looking at $35,000. In order to mitigate costs, we began ordering materials in large quantities so we could demand larger discounts. We also had to downgrade some features like the vanity, type of flooring, and light fixtures. We also have to get items in-house such as exterior painting and landscaping in order to not pay the higher cost of a subcontractor. All and all I am pleased with the progress the crew has made on this house and our ability to prevent a disastrous situation from unfolding. In the next few weeks, I will be posting another update showing the painting being done as well as the bathroom.