Thinking of partnering up with a contractor to Flip Homes

[Joe Westmoreland]

   I am close to completing my first flip, I started out doing all the work, but since I have a full time job and it was taking too long I ended up getting a contractor to help complete it.  It looks great.  But on to the future already.   I am talking to an old friend who is starting out a home building business, my initial thoughts are that we are both starting out and can help each other, I have immaculate credit and can purchase a home with a standard loan and down payment, he could do the rehab.  He has standing credit at supply houses.  I do have the utmost confidence in his skills as a contractor, he has been in the field for quite some time but only now starting out on his own.  My biggest issue with my first flip was scrounging up the cash for the contractor portion, when I was doing my own work I used my Home Depot and Lowes credit cards (not the best choice I think, but it got me going in the right direction).  I currently work in commercial construction and I know very well the value of good contractors and the benefit to keeping them happy and continuing to do business together, this is where my question comes in.  Using this method of us working together, what is the best way to keep things evenly split throughout the process so that at the end we are both satisfied with our "share" in the project and are able to split the profits evenly and continue working together.  I ask this question because I have thought about the partnership from both views, if I was the contractor I may feel my work share is much larger if I work or manage the whole project for several weeks and all my partner did was sign some papers at the beginning.  I do know its actually more involved than that, but you get my drift.  I am actually quite capable of doing some projects on the house, but my current situation with a full time job and family kept me from the main portion of my first project.  I would be able to handle small projects, such as wood flooring install, if necessary.  

   Thank you for your time, any input will be greatly appreciated.