All Forum Posts by: David Troust

Perfect, thanks for the info Russell!

Great Aaron, that does sound like a solid strategy, and I agree completely with the transparency/honesty best practice.

Do you know if there are any websites or other resources that help starters ballpark painting and other rehab costs on their own?  Where you can maybe plug in total SF and it spits out a cost projection?  I heard about www.homewyse.com recently, but are their others you are aware of?

I'm just getting started in DC/Frederick, MD...is the Rockville meetup still going, and is that the best one for my area?

Thanks Aaron...indecision is not an issue for me, but getting a verified rehab budget is crucial to determining if a deal is worth pursuing or not.  I do not want to ballpark a rehab budget, purchase the home, then get bids back from GC's that are double what I estimated.  I do have some broad general contracting experience, but admittedly not enough to feel comfortable with estimating the rehab budget.  

Do you usually generate the rehab budget yourself, then determine if the deal works with that estimate, then if it does...bid out the work to a few trusted GC's after purchase has gone through?

Are there websites or other resources that might have rehab "calculators" that would help you estimate painting ($/SF), etc?

Greetings BP!  I'm thrilled to be posting for the first time, as I'm in the early stages of getting started developing rental properties in the Washington, DC / Frederick, MD area, and have a question about when to include my GC.  

To determine if a property is a potential good deal, I need to know the rehab/repair budget up front, so I can run the necessary calculations with the BP calculators.  Would this mean that I need to choose the GC prior to purchasing the property, or am I able to walk multiple GC candidates through each potential property, to get their bids and compare?

I am focusing on developing a relationship with a quality, reliable GC in the area, and I'm working on getting referrals from colleagues now, but I'd also like to see comparison quotes from comparable GC's.

I'd appreciate input on when to include the GC in the process, and any other choosing GC feedback you've got.

Dave Troust