All Forum Posts by: Alina Beryh

It's true, that in most areas, contractors won't want to visit your property prior to your having the property under contract, but paying them $300 for an estimate can overcome that. You can probably see that if you plan on investigating more than one property, how that can add up quickly before you even have a deal. So the best thing you can do is to educate yourself as quickly as possible.

For that, definitely check out the Jscott book, it's one of the best ways to get your estimating legs.

You might also want to check out this BiggerPockets blog post that I wrote a while ago:

How to Estimate Construction Costs For These 29 Common Rehab Projects

Cheers!

Kuba

If you are looking for a rough idea- Biggerpockets has a tool called the rehab estimator.

Link:     Biggerpockets rehab estimator

-or-

Just go to the top of the screen, hit tools and demo the calculator. 

I have not used it but I am sure it is pretty complete. 

I hope that helps

Guesstimate. Use google and you'll find several website that do give you ways to estimate costs for rehabbing. "estimate cost of replacing siding/flooring/paint". Easy. 

I use 5k per bathroom. 15k for kitchen. 5k for mid grade flooring (1.5/sqft installation). Paint inside or out 3.5-4k +1k materials.

For materials, just lookup costs on home depot and start adding them up. use J Scott's spreadsheet.

 https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/JasonScot...

I actually took that spreadsheet and started adding to it myself to show cheap, mid grade, and designer finishes, as well as adding line items relevant to my project. 

Here's another useful file:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/JasonScot...

I agree what has been said Along with owning rental properties we own a large construction company. Getting good help is hard and our company along with other reputable companies are so far back that when a landlord calls and says they are thinking about buying a house and they need estimates we honestly would like to help them but we need to focus on our customers that need work immediately. You could also look at a handy guy or a one many guy depending on the work but a 5 bedroom house might be a little bigger than what you want for the first one.

@Alina Beryh Have you considered trying to find a partner in the deal to help with the estimations as well as the education for yourself?

@Alina Beryh there are a lot of great responses in this thread.  You are asking the right questions.

Try this -- use the resources here that others have provided, and do your best to build a list of repairs... sometimes this is called a scope of work.  Make sure you cover the big items -- roofing, flooring (carpet, tile, hardwood), heating and air, and then foundation/basement, etc.  Electrical and plumbing might also need work.  It won't be perfect, but just do your best.

Then maybe you can find some local investors/flippers in your area that can help you assign some 'estimated values' for the costs associated with that work.  You can meet people that can tell you roughly what they pay for painting inside or outside, or what they pay to replace doors/windows, or flooring.  Roofers can price you out using satellite imagery, without even needing a visit (for a new roof -- spot repairs will need a visit).  But whatever the case, the first step is try to get a good understanding of what work needs to be done.  Then get some help from others.

Now here is another idea -- go see a hard money lender. Get pre-qualified, and see if they like the deal. They will check your ARV/comps and your repair estimate. A good HM lender will actually go out and walk the property to check your estimates. Mine did, and he told me that my repair estimates were low. And it turned out that he was correct. He actually tried to dissuade me from doing the project, and I wish I had listened to his advice. I was able to complete it, but it wasn't profitable for me. But I sure did learn something about estimating repair costs.

Also the best contacts locally that I have made, that are the most successful 'real investors' here in Houston, I have met right here on BP.  So keep asking and keep networking.  Find somebody that knows what you are trying to learn, and see if they are interested in working with you on your project.

Udachi!

@Alina Beryh, I'm new at this too but Ive actually used Home Advisor to look up potential costs based off of job records they have. That way you can get a ball park estimate for free. Just keeping in mind its ball park and not actual. If you know what needs to be done, tear down wall, add new room, complete new Bathroom, etc. it actually gives you some figures. Good luck dear. 

@Alina Beryh

BiggerPockets has a rehab estimator calculator.

I also recently read an article on BP that breaks it down to a simple formula. Price to rehab per sq ft x sq ft of the home.

You could try talking to some people who are doing rehabs in your area to find out what the general cost per sq foot is. Then just do the rough and dirty calculation to come up with a ball park.

@Alina Beryh where are you buying the home

@Alina Beryh check out the book on flipping houses by J Scott Its on the BP store It has oodles of InformatIon on cost estImatIng. That should st least gIve you enoIgh InformatIon to decIde to purchase the house. Make sure you set a 5-10% contIngency In your budget. Once that is done then it’s just finding the people to do the work. You will know how much you want to spend in each category and you can go from there!

Good luck!!!