Working With A GC On First Deal

[Evin Lynch]

Hey everyone, my wife and I are looking for our first home. We are looking for a property that needs some love and our plan is to do some version of a “live-in” flip. Obviously, being able to calculate renovation costs is a big part of deciding which property to purchase and at what price. My questions is: Do you/would you have a general contractor walk different prospective properties with you to get an accurate estimate on rehab costs? Is this something that GC’s are typically willing to do? I would love to hear other’s experience with this and I’m also open to feedback/questions. 

Thanks in advance,

Evin

[William Harvey]

@Evin Lynch I agree completely with @Mohammed Rahman. It will be difficult to find a GC that will do this. We typically engage our contractor to come walk the property with us once we have it under contract so we don't waste anyone's time (including our own). 

I think being conservative and leaning towards the high end of things when doing your estimates will be the solution here. Once you feel comfortable estimating these figures on your own, it'll be a piece of cake and you won't need to rely on a contractor anyways.