Buffalo Duplex Multifamily Rehab Estimates

[Alex Smith]

Hi folks.  I'm just trying to get a supremely Ball Park rehab figure for the City of Buffalo for a Rehabbed Duplex.

It's actually in really good shape, so no real demo.  Needs new roof, 3 piers replaced for the Addition, and 5 poles replaced in the basement.  Otherwise, for both units, its pretty much new flooring throughout, new kitchen, new bathroom, outside paint job, and restoring porches on both levels.  New windows mostly throughout.  New doors mostly through out.  Thats it, its largely cosmetic.

With that said, would you say $50,000 is a big enough budget? I can go higher, but I'm trying to enter the property with equity and do a BRRRR.

Is 50k enough to do the above, or will I nees more?  It's okay if I do.  I just don't want the contractors to eat up all my equity because I'm a newb.

[David Robertson]

3,000 sf is a big duplex...that's 1,500 sf per side, so probably a 3 bed, 1 to 2 bath?  

I'm gonna make a lot of assumptions here just to prove the point that I think your Contractor's quotes of $70k to $80k seem fair.

• Roof - 30  SQs x $300 to $400 /SQ = $9,000 to $12k
• Kitchens (assuming rental grade cabinets/counters & appliances) - $6k to $8k each x 2 kitchens = $12k to $16k
• Bathrooms (assuming rental grade finishes & fixtures) - $3k to $5k each x2 or 4 bathrooms?  = $12k to $20k
• Foundation pier repair (depends) - $1k to $10k+
• Vinyl Windows (maybe 8 windows per side?) - $250 to $400 each x 16 = $4,000 to $6,400
• New doors throughout (maybe 8 doors per side?) $150 to $250 each x 16 = $2,400 to $4,000
• Flooring throughout (half carpet/half vinyl plank) - 1500sf x $2.00/sf = $3,000 for carpet, 1500 sf x $4.00/sf =$6,000 for Vinyl Plank
• Porch repair (not sure what this means, just replacing decking?)
• New furnace $3 to $5k

Total Range for the Items you mentioned: $52,400 to $82,400

But the problem is you forgot to mention all of the other things you will need in your estimate:

• Demolition? $1k to $2k
• Dumpster? $500
• Permits - generally 1% of costs 
• Subflooring patching when you remodel the kitchen/bathrooms
• Exterior Painting? $4k to $7k
• Interior Painting? $4k to $7k
• Electrical panel or re-wiring?
• Plumbing piping, hot water heater, etc
• HVAC?

And then of course the GC has to make a profit for managing the project.  I'm sure the GC would like to make at least 10 to 20% of the project costs which would tack on an extra $10k to $15k.

With all of those assumptions, you can see why I don't think $70k is an unreasonable estimate for the project.

As JScott recommends in his book, when estimating costs for projects you need to put together a detailed list of every repair and then price out each repair.  I think once you go through that process you will see that these quotes aren't that crazy.