A few questions about GC's/ Contractors

[Jeff Ashachik]

Hey guys! I'm pretty new here so I'm sure I will be pushing the limits of "There are no stupid questions".

1) Right now I am only planning on having 1 flip going on at a time. Is it worth finding a General Contractor? Or would you try to find a painter, people for flooring, people for cabinets, carpenters, etc. (trying to stick to mostly cosmetics for the first one)

2) At what point in the process do you start getting quotes from contractors? I guess this is where utilizing my knowledge from "The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs" comes in. So, do you guys typically walk through with the realtor/inspector and come up with a number in your head, purchase the house, and THEN get contractors to quote? What happens if your estimates aren't accurate? What happens if issues come up during the inspection that are too expensive? Do you just back out?

3) Last one, when picking out cabinets/fixtures/carpet/flooring/paint colors do you just provide all this information to the contractors? Or do you purchase everything and bring it to the job site? Or, like on all the TV shows, do you go to the store with the contractors and point out what you want?

Looking forward to hearing some responses and getting to know some of you guys! thanks in advance for taking the time to help out a noobie.