Do you do most painting and repair work yourself or pay?

Question

So I just bought a new house that I will be using as a rental. The house has minor details that are needed. Mostly painting inside and out, cabinets need to be repainted, fans...all minor work, but time consuming.

I can get a company to do everything in 5 days for $6k, or I can do it all my self in about a month. This means that I would potentially lose $3k in rent (2 months 1 for rehab, 1 for listing). Would you do the work yourself or would you get the property rented as soon as possible?

Keep in mind, that the rent could be longer if I don’t find a tenant within 1 month

J Scott · Answer

You'd save $6K for a month of work...  If I asked you to work for me for $6K a month, would you do it?  If you won't take a job with me for that amount, why take a job working for yourself for that amount?

Kevin Sobilo · Answer

@Allen Lopez, I might choose option #3! If you know how to do the work, then you can probably direct laborers and handymen to help you and knock out the work in a week or so!

In my area I would pay a laborer $80-100 per day and a handyman $100-150 per day depending on the type of work and the skill and experience of the person.

If you have the skills to do the work and you like doing that, then you can leverage that to manage other people to do some of it and still enjoy doing some yourself.

It isn't all about numbers on a spreadsheet, its also about the skills you have and the types of work you enjoy! If you like hands-on, do it!

Thomas S. · Answer

I would do the work myself and have it rented the same month. There are 24 hours in a day, plenty of time to get it all done quickly and not lose any more rent than hiring a contractor. Short term pain for long term gain.

Jim K. · Answer

Those minor details...are you sure you know exactly how to do all the work? Are you sure the contractor that told you they can knock it out in 5 days will actually get it done even reasonably well in 5 days? Are you really on top of what needs to be done, enough to write a quality scope of work and draw schedule for your contractor? Or is this something you don't really want to deal with and you're brushing it aside as inconsequential when, really, getting work like this done reliably, correctly, and quickly is one of the main issues in dealing with rental properties?

If it was my first investment, I'd trust nobody's word about getting it done and I'd handle things myself, maybe with the aid of someone I'm paying $15/hour off of Craigslist.

Frank Wong · Answer

Hi Allen,

Great point you made.  The lost of rent money for doing it yourself.  If you have no money and have time then doing it yourself is a no brainer. If you have money and have limited time then pay someone to do it.

Lynn McGeein · Answer

We actually do a combination like @Kevin Sobilo stated.  When we close on a new rental property, we plan the first weekend after closing, have materials ready to go, and hire workers, like we have a guy who works for a painter during the week that will come in and plaster/paint the more difficult rooms while I paint the easy ones, my husband is great with electrical, we both do the little stuff like caulk, clean up the exterior, while a handyman is there changing out a toilet or other items we just don't want to do, and Lowes is delivering any appliances.  We get a ton done in a 3-day weekend.

Whitney Hutten · Answer

@Allen Lopez Agreed!  I would pay to have the house painted as there is your time AND you are heading into the most likely the best rental season.  Painting isn't that hard, but it takes a while to make it look stellar and get super fast at it.  Also, if you are painting cabinets for the first time, I'd definitely pay to have that part done.

If you miss your timeline by just 1 month, you would have been better off paying for the painting.  Keep the questions coming!

Johann Harshman · Answer

Personally, I would hire someone to do it. I am a pretty handy person with carpentry and electrical but nothing gets to me like painting... especially cabinets. I took on one cabinet painting job and it was one cabinet painting job to many.

So the answer to your question depends, mainly on your own skill set, comfortability level and income. Is that $6000 dollars worth a month of your time or would you rather just get it done with out headaches (assuming you have a good contractor)?

Jim K. · Answer

Any of you posting from an island run by a Mexican and a French midget in white suits? Yes, I am bitter about the extreme unreliability of contractors in Western Pennsyltucky.

Jim K. · Answer

It's nice to know that so many people live in an area where if a contractor you don't know tells you he's going to renovate your house in five days, you can count on it being done and done right in five days. Sadly, I do not live in such an area. There are no such contractors here, or mortgage brokers who will not try to sell you too much mortgage, or financial advisors who will not try to sell you whole life insurance, or unicorns, griffins, pegasi, or dragons, for that matter. I sometimes read this website and wonder if I even live on the same planet as some of you.

Do you do most painting and repair work yourself or pay?

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