A renovation consultant?? Is that a thing? Help!

[Sara Frank]

Hi all, my name is Sara! I am a Washington, DC local and new to investing. I’m young and not in a rush to purchase my own properties so I’m taking my time to read all the books and save as much money as possible. In the meantime, I had an idea for a service I could offer other investors and I want to run the concept by you all if that’s okay… any input would be great.

I have a full time job in real estate development and have no intention of leaving, but I also love all things interior architecture, design, carpentry and DIY. This past summer I had a funny thing happen to me. I was surfing redfin looking for a new place to rent in DC (for myself) and I found a house that was above my price range but I thought was so beautiful. Just for fun I reached out to the landlord and sent her sketches/floorplans of how I thought she should renovate the house to increase her rents (a big hobby of mine!) Not only did she respond, but she loved my ideas and thought they were creative and something she would have never imagined doing. At the end of the day… it was a win-win. She was able to add an entire bedroom AND bathroom in a cost-effective way, raising rents significantly and later refinancing to take over $100,000 cash out of the house. I was on the ground for the renovations and ran point to get the job done quickly. As payment, she is letting me live in the house for a year at a crazy discount, which in DC is everything! (I have roommates, so don’t worry she’s still making a lot of money each month, lol)

All this to say… Do you all think this is a service that investors would pay for? I bring a creative, cost-conscious approach to renovations (I am in finance/construction, so I know what things cost and how long it takes to get them done!) and in return I charge a small fee or percentage of equity at refi.

Have you seen this before? How would I market it? General feedback? If anyone is interested, feel free to reach out to me I would love to chat with you. If this is a feasible idea then I imagine I'd do the first couple projects for free/at a high discount. You don’t have to be from DC, most of the work I did for her was virtual anyway.

Thank you in advance for your help!

[Tim Jacob]

I help people do this.  I don't do cadd drawings or anything but advise people on how they can revise the floor plan.  Being a realtor I pull comps.  Big thing here is finding general contractors that are affordable and reliable enough but not expensive and knowing there limitations.  So if you have the experience in your career to get those people then great.  J Scott has a great tip in a book of his to go to Lowes or HD in the early morning to recruit independent contractors becaise those are the guys that have work lined up and not lacking work.

I comp all my ideas but just get the commision.  I have a lot of pm experience so my contractor knowledge isnt bad.  If I have to manage a job I charge 10% of all charges including materials.  Its the same I charge on add on maintenance fees for pm.