All Forum Posts by: Bryan Devitt

They're grandfathered in, leave them alone. It will cost you a LOT of money to bring them to code, if it is even possible and will require walls to be moved I'm sure. Once you dump probably $5-10k into doing it, the property will be worth the same amount as before.

In MA I believe it is 1/3 also or whatever the cost of special order materials is, whichever is higher but not both. If I am doing a $200k addition though I am not charging $70k/$70k/$60k. I write my draws so I get a check every week at least and my subs are paid the day the job is done or the permit is signed. 

They probably saw what a SFH was going for per sq ft and rounded to a nice number. You're not missing anything that I can see. I would have laughed at this listing and scrolled past it

He thinks you're rich because you own property and can toss cash at him to shut him up. Ignore everything from him and respond only to things from a lawyer he (will never spend the money to) hires.

He might also just be very busy and he puts the guys where he is getting the most money from. As long as your contract doesn't state when the work needs to be finished by and he has someone there working, there isn't anything you can do unfortunately. He needs to abandon  the site entirely before the state will do something. Now you have to weigh how long it will take him, vs waiting for someone else to be able to get there and finish it, then factor in the added cost of the new crew vs what you're losing in revenue waiting for him and see which one works out better financially.

If the shower is the last thing on the list for a rough inspection, then yes, he has to finish that before he can do anything else further in other areas. Now that I am thinking of it, if they just discovered that a shower can't be placed there, then he is still in the rough inspection stage?  If so, he is about 30% done with that are. If the shower was fully built before it was caught that it wasn't legal, I have serious questions about the ability of the inspector who signed off on the rough inspection (or if he got one).

How much was the job in total? Normally I charge for any special order materials up front, first day of work (demo) I get another chunk to cover labor and materials for the week. Then everything is on a draw schedule based on milestones. Framing signed off gets xx%, rough plumbing and electrical gets enough to cover my labor, materials and the sub contractors to that point, insulation inspection sign off another check for labor and materials or subs, once the sheetrock is up and finished is another check, flooring done is another check, etc. Unless the job is only going to last a month, that payment schedule isn't broken up enough for my liking. Also, I leave 10% once the job is completed just for the punch list. Then the home owner can have a day or two and walk the place, make sure everything is working and good, then when they're satisfied I get the final payment. I understand the draw of front loading the payment schedule to make sure the home owner doesn't decide they ran out of money and can't pay you now, but 70% of the money when 40% of the work is done is way too much up front unless they're installing a ton of high end, special order cabinets and trim.

Don't do tile. Good tile is expensive and cheap tile breaks if you drop something in it. It also takes days to install with dry times at each step. Put down a pad under the laminate and it won't be so loud when you walk on it. If the floors are really out of whack, get thinner flexible flooring so it follows the dips and bumps and doesn't have voids under it when you walk 

Welcome to BP! It's great to read about someone with such determination that is putting the thought into it before jumping in blind. If you need someone to look at properties closer to the Pike/Worcester area shoot me a message and I would be more than happy to go over what work they need in trade for a latte. I'm also down in Norton every other weekend too if you need help / a sounding board when I am in the area 

Good contractors aren't cheap and cheap contractors aren't good. The guys who are professionals and reliable charge a premium because they're so rare. Probably 90% of contractors are either ok or crap. The good ones that people want to work on their properties are all booked for months at their higher rates, so even if you had enough room to make the numbers work, the timeline doesn't. You're looking for a needle in a haystack and if you find one that is reliable, professional and fits into your budget, lock them down and do everything you can to keep them happy.

Jake, did you get an estimate to build the deck for $15k? That seems very low to me considering the engineering stamps, structural work and crane needed to build them. The last one person I talked to in Boston that built one cost $60k.

You forgot about the record credit card debt. The problem isn't investors, it is people that dont have a clue about finances. It isnt taught in schools and it should be one of the main focuses of high school. Stop teaching every kid trig and teach them how to live day to day. I am a dooms day person, but I wouldn't blame someone selling or trying to make a profit. I blame the people who never plan and over extend.