All Forum Posts by: Juan Cristales

Working on getting the final details completed on this duplex. 

I was excited the city was there working on some water taps... turns out they did not bring any water meters... 

All good. Jumped into action. Called the city. Talked to some people and it got figured out. 

Let's go!

Build 2 Rent,

Juan-

Trying to take a look at your drawing here... where is the road frontage?

What's up Damien! I'm in Conroe and Willis doing ground up duplexes. I'm happy to help you with any questions you have. I have 1 duplex at day 90. Another at day around 30. Two more that JUST started and we're doing the fill dirt. All of them are duplexes. Happy to answer any questions you have. Good to hear you're taking the plunge into new. I wish I would have started with new construction. The good thing is that my kids will know/learn new construction. 

Juan-

What's up dude! Congrats on looking to GROW like this!

Here's my answers based off my personal experience. I'm in Texas. 

- How do I know/confirm how much of the lot can be developed (i.e. sometimes the lots are steep slopes or swamp lands). I'm echoing Jamie Hora. Find a local architect & engineer who actually does work in that area. They know the answers to these questions or can find out very quickly. There is normally a "Senior" Building Official/Inspector person who has like 50 years experience at the city permitting and will know or direct you. 

- How do I develop with the potential to subdivide to separate single family home lots? Start with the end in mind, right... my area has a 'minimum' street width for single family. Ask the permitting office for what their minimums are for road frontage and minimum for living sf. That's usually documented and filed for record with the city. 

- Which permits will I need and what is the process to follow? Once you have done the legwork of figuring out the best course of action (subdividing, number of houses, etc) most places you as the owner will need to submit a set of building plans (or set of plans on how you want to subdivide). They will review for approval. AFTER approval, they will grant you any type of permit. This is why a local architect and engineer are important as they know what is likely not going to fly with the city. 

... Many other blind spots that I recognize I haven't figured out yet... 

Man I tell you I started doing fix and flips many years ago and I wish I would have started in new construction instead. It's a bit of a longer process but in my opinion, there are less surprises of things that can go wrong. 

I used to freak out about the inspectors showing up at my job site until I realized they have my best interest in mind. Many of them are very nice and super helpful people. If I legit don't know... they are happy to school me up if I ask in advance.

Hope this helps bro! Get it!

I'm probably going to get "hait-mail" that grey tones are played out... 

Please remember that we are not our own clients and at the end of the day, if they complain about it, it's to their realtor, showing manager, what-have-you person. I am looking for an easy to repeat model. 

I used to think every house had to be unique.... until I realized it didn't need to be.

Here is my "thing that I do" for these duplexes. There will be a yard separating the yards and each one will get its own little firepit thing (waiting on the black rings that go inside). This additional living space I feel makes people see themselves living there and enjoying the fire... because, who doesn't enjoy a nice firepit?

Build it!

Juan-

So.... We have this little issue... not to worry, because we have solutions!

So we started to do the dirt work for the fill-dirt and the pad.

The process is relatively simple:

- Where the concrete slab will sit... at it's highest point, it needs to be 12 inches above the crown of the road in front.

- The "footings" for the slab, which is simply just the "trenches" that go around the perimeter of the slab (and other areas to) but that's all according the the plans (trust me, your foundation guy will know exactly what to do)... those "footings" need to be around 26-inches deep. 

- We had to pump the water out to DRY OUT the area faster with a hand pump... no biggie.

It's been drying up well over the course of the last couple days here in Texas.

We DO NOT want to put that good Fill Dir in while this sucker has water in it... waste a few days letting it dry... Fill dirt is now scheduled for tomorrow! 

Let's go!

B2R,

Juan-

 Appreciate it! 

Juan-

I think single family builds like this are pretty easy. The challenge has been the city. They're inundated with requests and my little duplex build is not getting much attention. This is the first time it's happened so it's not common-place for us. No one's "dropped the ball" per se... we're making great time at 79 days in. 

The electrician wants to finish but doesn't want to make multiple trips so he's asking for the HVAC guy to be done.

The AC guy can't finish because the concrete flatwork isn't complete.

The flatwork concrete guy can't finish because the plumber has not connected the clean water.

The plumber can't connect the clean water until we have water meters.

The city has said they will be out "soon" to instal the meters.... so we wait.

Build 2 Rent,

Juan-

I have it on the MLS now for $407K. Check out the last page. We have partnered with a great mortgage company offering extremely competitive rates. We're offering concessions to the buyer to be used at their discretion.

Juan-