All Forum Posts by: David Burkholder

There is a Commece Bank building being converted into a coffee shop,  the drive their will be an outdoor  patio area.      

In another town, the old town bank (late 1800s) was converted to a restuarant.  The vault was used as a cool private room.

Do pawn shops use vaults?

You definitely want to get a local architect involved to guide you in the process.  There are a lot of details that all need to align to make the project work. 

One of the issues with warehouse conversion to apartments is parking.    Where will the occupants be able to park?   In most cities, if you cant answer the parking question, the project will never see the light of day. 

The problem with hiring multiple people is the siding guy doesn't know about the sill plate repair,  and covers it with new siding before the repair is done.   Then someone has to remove the new siding and re install it and who pays for it?   YOU

Also you will hear stuff like,  well I can't come because he is still working where I need to be ect...

Hire a GC and allow him to handle the scheduling and coordination.   Unless you are on the site the whole time,  there will be loads of delays if you try to hire multiple people to do different jobs.. Also realize you are a small fish, one off investor.    You have no leverage over subs to get them to show up.  A GC who provides steady work to a set of subs can tell them when to show up and they will have guys there when he needs them there.

Don't go cheap with your CG.    Ask around your network for recommendations.  Ask your chiropractor or accountant who they would recommend.   They probably have a client they can recommend.

Homeadvisor/thumbtack is not a good place to find a contractor.   The good ones are not on there.    They often don't advertise,  other than their name on their truck and jobsite signs.     Find your local lumberyard and ask at their contractor counter for a referral.   They known who of their best customers does the kind of work you want done.    A new home builder is not going to want to do your project.  It is not in their wheelhouse.

Unless your project manager has other projects going on,  he has no clout or leverage with subs.   They will get to his project when they have time.   When their bread and butter calls, the subs have to take care of him first.   Even wads of cash can't induce them to come to your job because you are a one-off.  The other guy has kept food on their table for years they have to take  of him first. 

House construction is not like car assembly.   There are a lot of human elements that need to be coordinated.   many trades have to wait for the other trades, and then work.it into their schedule.

i.e. The plumber can't come till the tile guy is done. (and the plumber is leaving for a 2 week elk hunting  trip on friday, so he needs to be in there by Wednesday, otherwise you will have to wait till he gets back, -he warned you about this trip 2 months ago but you thought you would be done by now but that was before the sheetrockers delayed everyone)

Be careful with stock plans.   Houses are designed differently if they are intended to be built in Quebec or in Florida.    Different contractors I work with have grumbled about internet plans and how they dont have room for insulation  or the vapor barrier details are all wrong for the climate zone we live in.    

Should you do stick or modular? What is your intent for this house?  Is this a high end spec/custom? or a working class/entry level housing? 

Are you looking at being the GC and hiring crews and pocketing the largest piece of profit? or are you going to hire someone to run the project and end up with half the profit with a lot less of the headaches?

If you have an existing site, you have a bunch of the development headaches out of the way (water, sewer tie in, ect)  If you want to reuse the foundation,  it will probably need an engineering  evaluation.    

If you go the self GC route, your next step is to buy plans or have them drawn,  and then put those plans out for bids.

If you are planning on using a GC, find one you like, and ask them if they have some in-house stock plans that they have built before.   If a contractor has built a plan before, they will usually offer better pricing because they know the plan and there are less unknowns that might potentially pop up.   (and they don't have to spend time doing quote/takeoffs because they can just pull the file from last time and update the pricing)  

"Never wrestle with a pig, You both get dirty and the pig likes it"  

-- This quote was on a sign in a building inspectors office in NY.  (an inspector who did a footing inspection from his car cuz he didnt want to get his shoes dirty)

would you hire as 1099 subs and expect each to have their own insurance, or would you employ them as w-2 employees with you paying liability and workmanship comp?

What is your states contractor licensing process?. Do you have to register as a contractor to obtain workmanship comp on these workers?

What is your exit strategy with these team members after the process is complete?

So you did not get a septic inspection as part of your due diligence?          In our state an inspection is mandatory prior to title transfer.

The 1 day sounds optimistic.... not saying it cant be done.     

But even if they are only in your house for 10 hours   there is also the staging work ahead of time collecting the materials and unload restaging once they get back to their shop that also adds time to the project.

Also, are you paying for the dumpster or are they taking care of it?  Who is pulling the permits and taking the time to go to city hall to pull.the permits?

I'm sorry.  This is a d*ck move.   This is the kind of crap that gives investors a bad name.       

You wouldn't want your oil change guy to schedule three appointments at the same time slot and then the guy that offers the most cash gets his oil change and the other 2 are SOL.    You would be pissed and would YELP that guy to death.  

Yet the guys on youtube say its okay to do that to contractors, .......  

Relationships are built on trust.  Find a good guy, and stick with him.   He will save you money in the long run,  because he will learn to read your mind and when you screw up and miss something on the scope, he will know you want it and includes it, or remind you about it.  (meanwhile the other guys bid is $100 cheaper because he didn't know you want the item you missed on your scope, so he wont include it, then you will be pissed because he didnt do it and wants 200 to put it in after the fact.)