All Forum Posts by: Dhanush Kondoth

@Paul Amegatcher I am starting out with renovating a 1 bedroom unit and a studio unit. This is to figure out the whole budget and also to make sure I have a good team that can do the rest of the job. Once these 2 are completed successfully, the plan is to renovate the remaining 16 units by the end of this year. 

The renovation includes

Dry wall/paint

layout change (demo walls)

re-route electrical

re-route plumbing for new kitchen layout

install new stand in shower, toilet, vanity, vinyl flooring in bathroom

can lights, new water heater, new window AC

plank vinyl flooring

new interior doors if needed.

Note: the 1 bedroom is 576sq ft and studio is 288 sqft so they are small units.

I have more details for the work but this is the bulk of it.

Thanks

Hello BP-ians,

I am about to start renovating a multi-unit apartment building in Dayton, Ohio. I am looking for contractors who can submit bids for this job. I would highly appreciate if you could recommend some names from that area.

Note: I WILL NOT BLAME YOU FOR THE BEHAVIOR OF THE CONTRACTOR YOU RECOMMENDED. I KNOW IT IS COMPLETELY MY RESPONSIBILITY TO VET THEM. 

Dhanush 

@Dustin Ruff I totally get your frustration. Here is a simple example, when you decide to buy say a Honda Civic or Accord, you will start noticing a lot more Honda Civics and Accords on the road, this has nothing to do with a sudden increase in those cars, but just that you have become more receptive to those particular cars. Now that you have started to read up and educate yourself,your brain will be wired to see those opportunities everywhere now and this is exactly what that famous quote "luck is when opportunity meets preparedness". 

Keep the fire burning in you, I started seeing a lot more opportunities and channels for finance once I started educating and talking to people.  

The other big thing I have noticed is the personality of each individual. 

Thanks @Darrin Carey that is the route I plan to take.

@Jeff B. good point, I am in the process of looking at all those hassles along with the workers comp and liability situations.

@Ken P. That is correct. He will not be on my payroll. My management will receive a work order, if it is something that does not require a license or permit and is something he is capable of doing (based on the evaluation that me and my contractor is doing on him), he will go and perform that job. Each job will have a preset price written into the contract. example- Toilet clog = $10 (not real numbers), lawn maintenance = $40/month. He has his own other income to pay rent etc. 

There will be before and after picture of every job that will need to be sent with in 24hrs of completion of the job. 

The main reason I am considering this route is because I live in Columbus Ohio and the property is in Dayton and at the moment I am running it via my trusted management team from Columbus (yes which means for every work order, a maintenance guy drives 3 hrs round trip) I am doing this to not have too much variables during my transition period. I just bought the property and am going through the whole renovation/eviction etc. I just did not want to deal with evaluating a whole new management team. 

once the property is stabilized, i will eventually move it to a local company to run it and may be if I am not satisfied with this guy, I will switch to the property management companies crew.

Thanks for the input @Michael Le . I plan to put him on a month to month lease so that If things don't work out, I can provide him with a 30 day notice to vacate. The pros (if things work out well) I see in doing this is the fact that it is quite cheaper this way and its quite efficient to have someone onsite. Again all this is based on if the person turns out to be good and I don't see it more different than trying out different contractors or independent maintenance companies.

Thanks for the input @Pratik P.

@Ian Tudor yes, that is the route I intend to take. I will have a detailed contract drafted out and have him take his own insurance.

Hello Fellow BP-ians

One of the tenants I inherited with the property is supposed to be a handy man/maintenance guy. I am in talks with him to see if he could be a full time maintenance guy living on the property. I know many of you will have their hair rising when you hear this strategy, but this is one of the options I am trying to see if it will work.

My question is have any any of you gentlemen/ladies have done this before? if so, what pit falls should I be looking for? I scanned through the forums and could not really find an answer to this question.

Here are my plan of action.

• Background check
• Get references from previous maintenance related job
• Make him take an insurance? or do I take it for him?
• Provide him with one of the apartment units with half the rent
• Set out a price chart for each type of work order and then pay him monthly based on the work orders my management team receives. 

The job description would include

• All "non-license" based maintenance work which includes, changing bulbs, paint, cleaning, toilet clogs etc.
• Landscape maintenance (May be snow removal, not sure yet)
• On site human security camera (just look out for any unusual stuff and report).

What am I missing? or would most advice me from staying away from such setup? Please advice.

Thanks for your time

Dhanush

@David Stafford currently 12 out of the 15 tenants are on month to month lease. And most of them i intend to let go. So should I worry about locking them onto an extended lease? I will try to do that with me new leases.

Thanks

@Wade Sikkink, Yes it does sound like you were in the same situation that I am going through. So far the rehab cost will be covered by the income and I hope to increase the actual cash flow in the next few months.