Flip Concept - Is This Crazy?

[Tyler Kosnik]

Hi all - I'm at the very initial stages of considering a flip business.  I come from a finance background, but honestly have 0 real estate expertise.  I know there are year(s) of learning and business plan formulation that need to be done before I take a leap.  But my hope today is to bounce a concept off of experts to see if it is even feasible before I invest years of my life prepping.

General concept is not much different from my understanding of a "typical" flip.  My main responsibility would be assembling/managing a team of advisors, doing market research and finding deals, and securing funding for said deals.  The difference comes in performance of the fixup.

I know I would need a GC to cost estimate and oversee work, but I was wondering if it was possible to have control of the people who perform the work.  My purpose is to hire recently released felons (drug offenses) and give them a chance to support themselves and their families, while also gaining relevant skills.  There are some agencies in my city that could provide some amount of pre-work training, but the GC might need to help train on specific tasks.

My questions are these:

- What is a "typical" % of total work done (in terms of cost) by a GC on a single-family home, and how much is outsourced to specialists?  Does a GC usually work alone on a project of this size or do they manage workers?  How many (again for a "typical" single-family lower/middle income flip)?

- Is it reasonable to assume that a significant portion of fixup work could be completed by relatively unskilled workers who are "trained up"?

- Would it be impossible to find a GC willing to partner in this way?  How much of a cost premium should I expect that they might demand?

- Am I totally crazy trying to create a business in this space that also, in some ways, is equally focused on social good as profit margin?

Thanks in advance for your perspectives!