What is your process for choosing finish materials?

[Hunter Harms]

When it comes to the design process of rehabbing a property, what is your work flow for choosing finish materials? Of course you don't want to be the best or the worst property in the neighborhood, but once you see the necessary finish level of your comps, how do you go about choosing materials? I am going to be diving into my first deal later this year and am trying to figure out a great system for this part of the rehab. I know that after a lot of trial and error you build up a spec sheet of the materials you favor the most, but for someone like me just starting out, how should I go about this? What comes to mind first is finding some examples on Houzz or somewhere similar and then finding the materials used in that property on my own. I am a bit reserved though because I'm not sure what finish materials would look good with others, etc and I don't want my shortcomings in design eye to negatively effect my business. Obviously I will learn and gain the eye for this through rehabbing many properties, but what are some things I can do for my first few deals besides hiring a designer or partnering with someone who is good at it?