Growing your fix and flip business

[Tiffany Foy]

Hello.  My husband and I started our fix and flip business about two years ago and are currently halfway through our fourth property (single family homes).  My husband is a general contractor and has quit his other job to free up time and speed up the turnaround time on the properties.   We hire out the electric, plumbing, HVAC, drywall, but my husband usually does all other finishing work.  We now have enough buying power (via cash and access to loans) to handle more than one property at a time.  I am interested in hearing success stories on growing a fix and flip business.  For our specific situation, we are currently kicking around two possible options.

1- bring on an experienced general contractor to manage a second property in tandem to my husbands property.  My husband would still check in often, however this other GC would be required to manage the day to day work and do the finishing work.  This would require us to figure out the salary and benefits and officially hire an "employee".   Example objective in this scenario is going from 2 flips a year, to 4.  I know there are a lot of variables depending on salary expectations, and profits per flip, but I can say that based on our past profit margins we will likely be able to recoup the cost of hiring that GC with the profits of one flip.

2-hire a less experienced hourly worker to occasionally assist my husband on the same property.  We would only have one property in motion at a time, but the hourly worker would be able to shorten the rehab window.  We would likely not offer benefits and pay a flat hourly wage.  Example objective here is to go from 4 months timeline per flip, to 3 months.

What was your strategy and why do you feel it was successful?  Any feedback or suggestions you can share are greatly appreciated.  Thanks for your time!

[David Short]

Your husband only has 40-50 hours to work per week. Hourly value of skilled labor would be in the area of $30-35 per hour x 50 hours= 1500-1600 per week. Can his time be better spent? I’m guessing if he finds one extra deal per month and you make 20k on that transaction your positive hiring the work out is a plus 15k.. and your husband just assist or manages workers that complete your projects. My wife and myself manages our flip business in Indianapolis and do over 40 houses per year with no full time GC.. Dave Short