Construction

[Noah Wolcott]

Hello I am Noah. I'm in highschool and plan to become a real estate developer. After reading Donald Trump's "The Art of the Deal" It says towards the beginning that a reason his Dad was successful was because he negotiated everything even construction crew service and materials. My question is how do you haggle for better deals on construction services and materials? Thank you.

[Marshall Downs]

@Noah Wolcott

Best way to negotiate construction is to get multiple bids and know the numbers. You will quickly be able to tell if the quotes you receive are reasonable, overly padded or too low (which can be equally problematic). Negotiate intelligently and fairly. If you want a career in the business you don't want to be the guy who beats every contractor out of a nickel. Conversley, you have to keep the guys you develop relationships with honest and a way to do that is to get competing numbers or to not accept their first number on some projects.