Managing Contracts as a Flipper

[Brett Kash]

I am a new house flipper in Milwaukee and in the middle of my first project. Things are going well and we are wrapping up to final pieces of the project which will hopefully result in a successful sale. Nearing the end of the project, I am starting to look for opportunities for improvement on the next project and one thing I have been thinking about is managing contracts for the different contractors we hire. My day job is a project manager for a big general contractor so I pretty comfortable managing the different contracts and hiring contractors but see the actual contract writing process as PAINFUL. I am writing contracts for each scope of work, printing or pdfings, signing, savings, sending signed copies, writing change orders and doing the whole process over again. It’s a lot of admin time to just manage contracts. This is surprisingly how I do it in my day job too but jobs are longer so you’re not writing and closing lots of small contracts so it’s a bit less noticeable there  

Now my question. Do any of you experiences flippers have a process, software, etc. you use for writing and sending contracts to your various contractors. I’d love to find an all in one product that makes writing, sending, digital signature, and saving the contracts/change orders easy and efficient. Let me know your thoughts and thanks for the help!

[Mitch Ferraro]

@Brett Kash Love this question. Sounds like you are on the right path. We use standard templates for everything and fill in or take out for what’s needed for each project. We have our standard contract, SOW, payment schedule, materials list, partial/final liens waivers, indemnification forms, etc. all pre-populated through Google Drive for every new project. And also use docusign for electronic signatures. 

We also use GCs for all of our projects, even smaller ones. and really have them take care of paperwork. There’s definitely still some “babysitting” at times for them to get things to us like change orders but for the most part they take care of it. One thing we will absolutely get from them, which I’m sure you are aware of, is signed final lien waivers from all their subs. This just helps make sure they are paying subs when you pay the GC. Helps eliminate a sub, down the line, that may try and put a lien on the home because they weren’t paid by the GC.