What Order Would You Do These Repairs In?

Question

I'm offering on a property and I think I can raise rents 20% based on making some improvements. It's an upstairs/downstairs townhome, 2BR/2.5BA with the half downstairs. Take a look at my current conditions and proposed changes, and let me know if there's a natural order to do the changes. I've never rehabbed before.

Current conditions:

* Carpeted living room (stained), stairs, and upstairs hall/bedrooms (cleanable carpet except LR)

* mild water damage to floor in kitchen - about 3-4 sq ft visible damage in wood kitchen floor.

* Old cabinets surrounding relatively new white fridge, dishwasher, stove.

* fireplace with black metal flashing/backstop

* downstairs half bath with old sink/lights/weird rattan wall decor (not in the tropics!)

* polybutelene pipes in most or all fixtures

*upstairs baths dated vinyl/shabby vanities

Proposed changes/repairs: (please propose order for this list for convenience of construction!)

*Remove Living Room carpet and damaged kitchen flooring

*Install laminate floors in living room and kitchen

*Have kitchen cabinets refinished/restored (cheaper than new set)

*marble backsplash and surround for fireplace

*tile half-bath downstairs floor and replace vanity

*remove half-bath downstairs weird rattan wall covering, paint

*paint all walls

*replace polybutelene with better pipes

*tile upstairs baths, add new vanities

Thanks for any and all insights.

J Scott · Answer

This is from the BiggerPockets Flipping/Estimating books (http://www.biggerpockets.com/flippingbook):

Dante Pirouz · Answer

Do all your demo work first and at the same time get on the phone and start booking your subcontractors (windows, doors, siding, roofing, electrical, HVAC, plumbing, etc.)...they will likely (if they are good) have a long lead time so you can do any small tasks in between their availability...don't remove your old flooring until you've painted that way you don't have to cover up the floors...just spray and drip at will. In fact, PUT IN YOUR NEW FLOORING LAST!! Otherwise all your subs/crew will scratch/dirty up your beautiful floors before your tenants/buyers see them (no amount of paper or plastic will work)...just my 2 cents!

Dante Pirouz · Answer

@J Scott GREAT BOOK!!

Darren Sager · Answer

@J Scott responded. So why is anyone else chiming in? Enough said, right?

Patrick M. · Answer

Thanks again! Just bought your book on rehab costs and am enjoying getting into the SOW piece. It makes a lot of sense and I'm going to build my own spreadsheets from the ground up!

J Scott · Answer

Assuming there is just subfloor underneath the carpet and kitchen floor, I'd just remove it all at the beginning. You'll find that both budget and schedule are helped when you don't have to re-do things multiple times. Get the demo down all at once at the beginning of the project, so you're only paying demo costs once, you're only scheduling demo contractors once and you're not adding dumpsters later in the project. Do things in the right order. Finish plumbing is done after drywall. This is to make the drywall guys' job easier and also to protect your finishes. After the supply lines are replaced, bring in the drywall crew, then the paint crew and then deal with the finishes.

Patrick M. · Answer

This is all terrific! Thanks. Now that I have the unit under contract, I was going to see if this great group had insight on a few more questions.On the floors- I clearly see from several replies above that installing the new floors is the very last step. However, the carpet and old kitchen floor- should I pull those out ahead of painting, or leave them in while the other work goes on to absorb damage, etc?My top two items that require some demo are replacing the polybutylene pipes in the unit and replacing the past-useful-life water heater on the second floor. The current heater is also piped in a way that is not up to code and the new one will need to be re-piped to the outside as there are zero overflow protections. The plumbing contractor estimate says "drywall repair by others" so I know I will need to bring in someone else to fix the walls where they redo the pipes. The wall holes in the bathroom I expect will be very minor- everything is largely in the right place. Should I have the plumbing contractors try to put the sink and vanity back where they found it, or have the drywall team come through first?

Victor N. · Answer

Do the kitchen cabinets as part of wall repair, paint prep and painting. I agree with the previous comment to do all sanding before starting to paint so the dust settles.

Victor N. · Answer

Of course, all demo first because it is dirty and you may find further surprises and more work to do. Then any structural repair (framing, subfloors, etc) Then mechanical (HVAC), plumbing then electrical because these trades need access to walls, floors, and ceilings which can damage them. Then tile, paint prep (drywall or drywall repair) and then paint. Floors last to protect them.

Christian Bors · Answer

DemoKitchen Cabinets (sanding can be very dusty; you don't want all that dust right after you painted the house)Paintplumbingtile/flooringvanities/fixtures