Help with BP Rehab Estimator

[Luka Jozic]

I am doing research to prepare for my BRRRR endeavors and will also just about start J. Scotts books on the topic. I came across the BiggerPockets Rehab Estimator and tried to use it on a random property in Ohio. There are a couple things I am a little confused about.

The first is that it estimates a total of $2784 for flooring for a 980 sqft house. I am no expert on flooring but that sounds like its barely enough for the material?

The second thing is, one of the first questions is how many ft of counters, which I put 14 for. But then under the kitchen category there is counters as well? So what are these counters for then?

Here is the link of the report: https://drive.google.com/file/...

[David Robertson]

Here's the problem with estimating tools that "estimate for you"....if you are using this tool you have no idea how any of these prices are being calculated and most of the calculations are wrong.  

I tried out the new BP "Rehab Estimator tool" and it looks like you have zero control over the cost of anything.  All of the prices are provided by "Kukun" with no ability to customize the pricing or use your own prices.

Every investor across the nation should have their own pricing sheet that they use that uses their specific materials and labor prices from their local contractors.  You should not be using some else's prices (or Kukun's algorithm), you should be using your own prices from your local contractors and using the specific material selections you picked for your project.

Here's an example of how bad some of the data is in Kukun and why it's not practical for investors that are wanting to create accurate estimates for their projects:

I just added "Exterior Doors" to my project, and I was told that 4 single doors and 1 double door is $59,352 in Kansas City, MO which is 20x what I would actually pay as an investor.

You don't need a fancy algorithm to tell you what something costs, you need to know basic math and have a general understanding of how much materials cost and what contractors charge for specific repairs.

If I have 5 exterior doors I need replaced (4 single entry doors, 1 french patio) this is how I would estimate the costs:

- Single exterior door labor 4 x $250/each = $1,000

- Single door material 4 x $300/each = $1,200

- French patio door labor 1 x $400/each = $400

- French patio door material 1 x $750/each = $750

Total = $3,350

Add 25% profit for your contractor and the quote should be around $5k for 5 doors.

The hard part is finding out what your contractors charge, after that it's just basic math that you can do in a spreadsheet.