All Forum Posts by: Adam Abdel-Hafez

Now, if you go to professional painting companies then you're looking at $2 or more /sqft

Typically on rentals you are good with just painting the walls and touching up trim. If you have to fully paint the trim that is usually when the place is trashed. For just walls and touch up trim, I would expect anywhere from $.75-$1k/sqft. For carpet $1-$2/sqft depending on the layout of the rooms since carpet is priced per sqyd not per sqft.

how do you know the tenants left it in good condition? With the information you provided,  I would think somewhere around $1k would do (assuming quite a few things from past experience). But, if it does need a full paint and carpet then their quote is reasonable. This really just comes down to the scope of work. 

So, part 1 of your previous comment, this guy is basically the GC. What you have listed as the GC above is his subs. He is basically doing what all GC's do, which is get subs to do the work, mark it up, and add his time in the price. The only thing different with what he is doing compared to paying 'John Construction' is basically all of the liability is on his subs not him. So, you better be sure that anybody that steps a foot on your property to do work is insured and has workers comp. Trust me, if somebody falls of your roof, they won't bring going after your "project manager", they will be going after you. As for part 2, draw schedules can be tough. Crews will not wait 4 days doing nothing while the necessary funds are getting transferred over. They will go on to another job and come back when they have time/finished the other job. With that being said, it is up to the gc to manage the draws appropriately. For instance, when I do draws my profits are built in to the price. Say electrical cost me $4k and I charge you $5k. So you paid me $5k upfront, I will use the remaining $1k to pay people so we don't have to stop work while waiting on the funds. This is the GC's fault and project managers fault. My advice would be to cut out the middle man "project manager" and talk to other investors to get a gc recommended to you.

Is this a rental or flip? I can't see the picture that well since I'm on my phone but if it's a rental I wouldn't do anything. I don't see anything significant enough to be considered a tripping hazard. If a flip, I agree with the comment above in regards to the top coat.

I agree with Brian Pulaski , typically materials and labor will be about the same. There are items that are more labor intensive like painting, but on larger rehabs they typically work out to be about the same.

Patrick Martone buy j Scott's book on estimating rehab costs. I am not sure if his prices he lists are accurate for New Jersey, but I would think it should be pretty close. Like you I have an engineering background, which unfortunately will do you almost no good with investing. I would say the only time my engineering background helps is if we are moving a load bearing wall, replacing some structural supports, etc. which typically these are not difficult situations. You just need experience to really understand rehab costs. I would say start out small and get bigger, i.e. Paint and carpet rehabs initially and then work your way up to the full $100k rehab.

Nadav Akselrad You have got to account for repairs and capex. Just because the seller says there are no repair needed does not mean there are no repairs needed. Even if there are no repairs needed, I guarantee you you will have repairs at some point. For capex, things like the roof, hvac, water heater will need to be repaired/replaced at some point. For general repairs, you will have leaks, toilet/tub repairs, etc.

A typical gut rehab down to the studs rehab in Atlanta just for interior is somewhere around $30-$40/sqft depending on finishes. That means you're looking at somewhere around $17k/unit. That includes pulling necessary permits and all, but that is acting as the gc. If you hire it out you will be looking at considerably more.

If you're looking to keep these as rentals for a while, I would just do vinyl. Hardie planks looks 100 times better, but for rentals you typically just aim for functionality and not worry as much about aesthetics. If you were go to sell the house, I would have said hardie plank.