All Forum Posts by: David Robertson

Under the rehab section you have a couple of steps that you'll need to do more research on:

1. "Ask wholesaler estimated rehab costs"
2. "Ask wholesaler what needs to be fixed"
3. "Call contractor and get a rough estimate"

I would never trust a wholesaler's estimated rehab costs # or their Scope of Work.  Wholesaler's are notorious for underestimating rehab costs, so you really need to be able to identify the repairs, create your own SOW and estimates yourself.

As Miller suggested, you should pick up 'The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs".

In my opinion, what you are describing is basically a full gut not a 'basic rehab'.  

You mentioned replacing all drywall, so does that mean you are taking everything down to the studs, completely re-plumbing & re-wiring the house?  You are going to re-drywall and re-plumb without replacing the kitchen and bathrooms?

If you are removing all the drywall on the walls and ceiling that also means you are likely also going to need to replace all of the ceiling insulation, interior trim, interior doors, as well as renovating the kitchens & bathrooms with new cabinetry and floor finishes / paint, light fixtures throughout?

Again, if that's the case, that is a full gut, not a basic cosmetic rehab.

In my experience here in KC, a full interior gut rehab will run $50+/sf, but it will obviously depend on the actual Scope of Work of everything that needs to be renovated.

Hey David,

As Don suggested a SOW should be as detailed as possible.  Creating a detailed Scope of Work document for your rehab project is critical because it establishes a clear project plan that your Contractors can use to provide accurate Bid Proposals up front.

A 'SIMPLE' SOW as you requested can leave too much room for interpretation which can result in inaccurate bids, Change Orders, conflicts and disagreements once construction starts.

I have an example SOW template uploaded to my BiggerPockets fileplace which you can download as example of the level of detail that should be included for each trade category.  You can use it as a starting point and tailor the work and repairs to fit your specific project:

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...
 

I personally use my own spreadsheets & software for analyzing deals, but from what I understand DealCheck is one of the most widely used deal analysis phone/tablet apps on the market.

I don't believe BP has a phone app for their tools for Iphone, it's only on the android for some reason.

If you only have a phone to analyze deals then I would look into DealCheck app. 

Okay, gotcha now I remember our chat!

Yes, the 'Project Level Access' control where you can control which projects specific partners can access is on our backlog list to be completed in the next couple of months.

The Quickbooks integration/bank integration is another big one that has been requested a lot, so we are planning on doing that, but that likely won't be until early next 2021.

If are looking for something more robust that has a Quickbooks integration, you may look at BuilderTrend or Co-Construct, but those systems are built more for homebuilders and remodelers & won't have all of the real estate/house flipping related features.

If you want to schedule a meeting you know where to find me in chat!  Thanks!

Disclaimer: I am the founder of Flipper Force.

Hi Jarrod,

Thanks for signing up for a 30 day free trial of Flipper Force.

 We do have a lot of the features and functionality you mentioned, so maybe we need to get on a call or zoom meeting to walk through the software so I can point you in the right direction?

Need 1: Ability to enter purchase price and ARV

When you are first analyzing the deal you can enter the ARV and Purchase Price in the Flip Analyzer to initially analyze the deal and calculate the profit.

Otherwise, once you get the property under contract you can input your actual Purchase Expense & Actual sold amount in the Expense Tracker & Income Tracker tools.

Need 2: create a custom detailed budget (interior and exterior breakdown)
Our Repair Estimator tool can be used for creating a detailed estimate.  Our estimator includes a pricing database with several hundred repair items that is broken down by categories (roofing, siding, paint, doors, cabinetry, tiling, etc.) to help you put together an estimate & SOW for the project.

Need 3: Calculate holding and financing costs
You can calculate your holding costs & financing costs on the Flip Analyzer (step 4 & 5).  Otherwise, if you are wanting to track your actual holding and financing costs you can do this on the Expense Tracker.

Need 4: See real time budget vs actual expenses
Your initial budget for the project is established when you analyze the deal using the Flip Analyzer Tool & estimate the rehab costs using the Repair Estimator tool.

Your budget data feeds over to the Project Budgeter tool which is the overall dashboard that you can use to track your actual expenses & compare actuals to your initial budgets.  You can use the % complete to forecast out budget overages/underages.

All of the data feeds to a Project Budget report which shows your budget vs actuals.

Need 5: Ability to share project data with different partners and have them edit/input their expenses.

Flipper Force allows you to add multiple users to your workspace if you have other partners or employees that need to access the software.

Need 6: Also ability to easily modify numbers on the sale side to decide on offer acceptance/counter.
We don't necessarily have a feature to compare offers received, but we are certainly open to suggestions. 

Although we may not have everything you need, we are constantly working on building new tools and features and are committed to continuing to invest in our platform.

Learning to estimate rehab costs is a process that takes time and experience.

This is my boilerplate response to people for learning how to estimate rehab costs:

#1 Read the Book on Estimating Rehab Costs

JScott's 'The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs' is a great resource for new rehabbers to learn how to Estimate Repair Costs on 25 common rehab repairs.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/store/the-complete-g...

#2 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material Pricing

Take a tour through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects. This will help you get a better idea of what tile, hardwood, carpet, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures costs for your rehabs.

#3 Contact Local Contractors for Labor Pricing

Call local Subcontractors and get budget pricing for common repairs on your typical rehab project.

For example, call a roofer and ask what their average cost per Square of Architectural Asphalt Shingle Roofing would be on a 1,500 sf house, with a 6/12 pitch.

Note: Some contractors will be reluctant to share pricing without seeing the property, but tell them you are just looking for a rough budget number you can use on future projects.

#4 Compile Your Prices into a Spreadsheet or Estimating Software

Once you start to get a better understanding of Labor and Material costs you will want to store this data into a spreadsheet or software that you can use to help you streamline the estimating process.

The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs comes with a spreadsheet that you can use to help you populate your own database of labor pricing and material pricing. Or you can download my estimating templates I have in my Biggerpockets fileplace:

Simple Estimate Spreadsheet

Detailed Estimating Spreadsheet

There are other Estimating Softwares available as well which can help you manage the Estimating process as well...

#5 Practice, Practice, Practice

Walkthrough potential rehab properties (or find properties virtually online) and practice creating detailed scopes of work, quantifying repairs and estimating rehab costs for the projects.

#6 Get Your First Rehab Project

You can practice all you want, but ultimately you will learn the most about estimating rehab costs by actually rehabbing a house. Getting your first rehab project will require you to create a SOW, talk to contractors, compare and review bid proposals, review budgets, & make countless trips to Home Depot.

​You will inevitably make mistakes and underestimate things, but you will learn 90% of what you know by just doing your first rehab!

If you aren't comfortable estimating costs or aren't willing to put in the work to learn how to estimate rehab costs then you need to Team-Up, Partner, Or Hire Someone Who Can Help You Estimate Rehab Costs.

Pay A GC For A Consultation And Property Walk Through

You can hire a General Contractor to provide a consultation to walk the property for you and provide an detailed estimate breakdown of what they would charge for the repairs to the property. Expect to pay between $200 to $500 to have a contractor provide a consultation.

Partner With Someone That Has Construction Experience

To get your feet wet, you could partner with another house flipper, contractor or construction professional that could help with Estimating Costs.

Congrats on your first purchase!

First, you need to put together an estimate and budget for the renovation.  

I have a spreadsheet in my BiggerPockets file place which can help you with putting together an estimate.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/...

Your estimate should be organized by trade category, (roofing, painting, windows, cabinetry, tiling, etc.) so you can breakdown your budget, evaluate bids and create a payment schedule for the project.

Once you start spending money on the project, you need to track and compare your actuals to your initial budget so you can proactively review if you are over/underbudget and forecast your profitability.

I don't think J Scotts book is in audible. 

This has been requested before and the response was that there were way too many charts and numbers that would not be good reading for an audio book.