Getting rehab estimates for BRRRR

[Wilber Perez]

How do you get estimates on needed rehab for a property? I am new to this and have never had to do an estimate? Do I hire someone to walk property with me and help me with estimates? At least for first time till I get hang of it? And if this is an option who would I even hire to do the estimate of a potential rehab?

[Marcus Auerbach]

In a perfect world you have a contractor walk it with you, but there are some issues:

- your Scope of Work is not clear: gut the bathrooms or just refinish, paint windows or replace etc

- calculation an accurate estimate is a LOT of work

- it's really hard to find a good GC who undersatnds all aspects of a rehab

- most good GC's do not like working with investors, there is more money in subdivisions..

- the higher the markup, the easier to keep a project on budget. Profit = buffer.

The good news is that you can learn how to ballpark cost. J.Scott's books are great. We typically spend etween 60 and 80k to doa  full rehab on a single family home (in Milwaukee, WI - if you are in a very expensive metro area budget more accordingly), about $50/sqft.

If you can't find a good GC maybe you can find an agent who has done enough rehabs and can tell you how to budget. But that's always just a ballpark number, you won't have a good understanding until you are done with rehab. I have done BRRRRs for almost 15 years and I still can't predict a rehab budget closer than 10-20%: I think people who claim they always hit their budget just cancel things as needed to stay on budget. My philosophy is always do it right, so if we discover the plumbing is shot we don't just fix a few leaky pipes, we replace the whole thing.