How can we love faster preparing our rental?

Question

Hello all!

My husband and I are preparing our first rental (it was our first home, was a fixer upper when bought and we have lots of renovating to do, most of which is necessary). My question is, how do we move faster with the renovation? Is it normal to spend months doing a project like this.

We’ve already cut the fat including thing that are “wants” and not needs and we still have a lot of things that must happen before we can list it including some structural projects and sump pump issues etc…

I’m working two jobs and caring for 3 kids and husband is working 10-12 hour days so obviously time is limited. We have delegated many projects that we could have done ourselves but what other tips do you have (please don’t say work harder lol-though work smarter might be good ;). We’ve now got tow mortgages so wanna get this thing filled asap. Thank you for all tips to speed up thr process!

Do you all hire a project manager or just pour every second in or? We’re down for the hard work but need to move on this. This is a single family, B class home. Thank you for some insight.

Joe Hammel · Answer

@Jessica Long

I’ve found one of the best ways for your stage is to be your own GC and hire out a specialist/handyman for each job.

HVAC guy for HVAC

Plumber for plumbing

Electric guy for electric

Handyman for odds and ends

Use referrals, read their reviews and get the work done.

Can execute a rehab in a week or maybe a few, and for good pricing.

Doing the work yourself to save money but then dragging it out for months (because you’re busy) cancels itself out because of the holding costs and lost rent.

Routinely doing a lot of work on proeprties for $5-$15k with this method that would take weeks and weeks myself (and only cost half as much) or be $20-$25k+ hiring a project manager or GC.

Good Luck!

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

1) You clearly do not have the time to do the work yourselves. I doubt you have the talent either (?)

2) You don't have either of the above to go the owner/builder route either.

So your only option is:

3) Hire a GC to finish this for you. It'll get done quickly and correctly. Well, assuming you find a good GC.....

But don't waste time screwing around with this yourself...it's going to take forever and the quality will never be as good as it could.

Scott M. · Answer

Either you spend more time working on it or you hire a crew.  Unless you have some magic elves no other two ways about it.  You don't want to hear work harder, maybe work longer or faster?  Sleep less?  Or hire it out.  Sounds like you have done the smart thing by cutting the fat off the bones and are concentrating on the bare essentials.  That is the other option, cut the todo list down but you have already done that too.

Colleen F. · Answer

@Jessica Long you haven't indicated the scope but it looks like you are not living in the unit but you were.  Given that information one way to move faster is cut the list.   Another is knowing what can and can't be done at the same time and what should be done first and what can be done last or  while listed.  Also what has to be done for your rental market, you were living there with 3 kids so how is the list so long? List all your jobs and project manage them.  You can hire a contractor for the whole job but even they can be bad at timing. Materials are one way to speed up a job.  Make sure you have them, pick things in stock. Use responsive reliable tradesman. Set goals and timelines (from my PM days in another industry) Good luck!

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

That's BS man, don't get her hopes up. I've done hundreds, maybe thousands of builds, remodels and rehabs.... A week or two......? Hahaha....Only on TV Dude......

Jessica Long · Answer

Thank you so much everyone! Re the no work harder thing, I think I could work faster for sure so trying to! But I work nights and also have to stay up during the day to handle family business so not a lot I can do to extend my hours (stay up later etc). Thanks for the advice everyone. I’m gonna get on it and get ‘er done.

Aaron F. · Answer

Structure and sump pump projects shouldn’t hold you back from listing, screening, and leasing as long as it’s finished before move in.

Rumen Mladenov · Answer

If your rental market is as hot as mine, you may consider looking for a tenant willing to do a lot of the finishing touches themselves, possibly for some kind of break on the first month's rent. Painting, cleaning up, etc - stuff that takes a lot of time but doesn't require specialized skills, and even if done poorly would not cause serious damage. People are willing to make a lot of compromises when they've been looking for 8+ months for rentals in their price range with no luck...

Joe Hammel · Answer

My apologies for upsetting you @Bruce Woodruff. I believe I said “or a few” and correct, most likely will land on that end of the skew and I could have left it at just that. I have had that success, and stand behind that as a possibility. It does take some skill, so I can see where not everyone will be able to execute even the “few” weeks timeline..

Theresa Harris · Answer

Hire people to do it.  If you have a few very different jobs, hire different groups of people.

How can we love faster preparing our rental?

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