All Forum Posts by: Eric Teran

@Eric Canning I’m an Airbnb superhost and we own four rentals. I think for the last few years Airbnb doesn’t allow what the other party left as their review until both have provided a review. I see two options.

1. Be honest. They will probably do the same. Of course you can add a follow up comment (it’s happened to me twice) were you can explain your side of the story. If I were to rent to these same guests I want to know how they treat other properties.

2. If you don’t want to do that then don’t leave a review because if both of the parties don’t leave a review then it doesn’t go public.

Learn from your mistakes and make it a better rental for the next guests. Remember to become a superhost you have to leave reviews. If you miss to many then you will not be considered. Good luck.

@Nwakaego Onike there are a few things going on.

1. Someone will be at fault. Maybe the contractor sues you and then you sue the architect and the architect the structural engineer and a fun game is played if whose fault it is. Let’s start at the beginning.

2. The permit set of drawings is this first item to be studied. How detailed are they? In DC and Northern Virginia where I have most of my clients whenever we excavate a basement and are doing underpinning we are required to have a special inspection. Was this part of your permit requirements? Your architect should know. Was a structural engineer used or only an architect? We’re you in a contract with these professionals or did the contractor provide this service to you.

3. Did the contractor follow the plans. There are certain items that have to be followed but the means and method are on the contractor. Did he get the required inspections and pass them prior to the wall collapsing?

4. We all know about change orders and those are done when time or costs are over the agreed contract. The owner has to approved them before they move forward. However, there is also a Construction Change Directive which is used in these circumstances. A wall collapses and it has to be fixed ASAP. Who pays for it will be decided later. This is usually signed by both parties as well but the cost is not determined. I have never seen these document used on residential projects. I’ve only seen it when I worked at a big architecture firm but it exists and is a good form to follow. He may be claiming that the wall had to be fixed or else more damage may have happened. You are in your right to ask for all that documentation and he needs to provide it. Don’t pay anything until they do. Then you can maybe come to a compromise. If you come to a compromise you have to make them sign a notice saying that they have been paid and will not file a lien. I forgot what the actual name of the form is called.

5. A mechanics lien has to be filed within 90 days of the last day they provided labor or supplied materials. It may be different in your state and a sub and contractor have different lien notice requirements. Usually they also have to file a notice of intent to file a lien by a certain date. Any if these dates are missed and a lien is no longer valid. The contractor may not pay the subs and they may put a lien on the property as well. Try to find out when each sub and contractor provided these services so you can keep an eye on the calendar. I’ve also gone around my contractor and paid the subs directly when I found out they were not being paid. Of course this may go against your contract with the contractor so make sure it doesn’t.

6. It may be cheaper to compromise a price with the contractor than going through with lawyers and liens and so on. Take it as a learning experience. I hope this doesn’t happen but if you want to sell the house and it sits in a court battle for liners it may cost more.

7. With all that did it sounds like it was his error with his means and methods of doing constructions. His insurance should be footing the bill. Does he have insurance?

8. You can also contact the state board and file a compliant.

Stay calm, don’t be bullied, and definitely don’t pay the entire fee he is asking. Good luck.

@Dmitriy Nam I’m an Architect and I do a few of these every year in DC for my clients. There are a few requirements to make the bedroom legal and we can go over those. I’ll send you a PM.

@Susana M. I have used Jason Osser, http://ossercpa.com/ for the last three years since I started my architecture business. He has been great combining my business with my income from my rental portfolio. Three of those rentals are in South America and he had no issue figuring out the best strategy.

Good luck.

@Jason H. Going back to your question I have been extremely busy since June. April and May were a little bit scary when no one knew what to do. However, since everyone is now living at home full time I have had numerous clients who want more space or to make their spaces more functional. Those are the homeowners. They want an office, they want places for their kids to play, a more functional house, or just want a bigger house because they are now home more often. I am no longer advertising but I still get one or two contacts a week through word of mouth or even bigger pockets posts. Those posts are mainly about basements and modular projects but people are finding me which is nice.

Also, my developer clients which are about 50% of my clients either want to keep on investing or fix up their places to get a higher return. A few of them rent to section 8 tenants and understand the more rooms they have the higher rent they can get. This is in the DC metropolitan area and section 8 pays higher rent than a typical tenant. I also do a few daycares and they have new restrictions so I have had a few opportunities there as well.

This is definitely different than the 2008 recession for people with white collar jobs. They have not been affected and want to invest. Even I am finally building my detached garage to make it into an office. However, material prices have gone through the roof. Especially lumber. Lead times are also an issue.

It is an interesting time to be an architect.

@Patrick Sears It is in Maryland. I can't disclose the exact location until they are built. The house is almost 6,000 SF with a basement and 3 stories above grade. He is acting as the GC and actually builds a lot of the stuff himself. He is amazing. He once rented a bulldozer and graded the property one weekend because he just wanted to learn. He hopes this is the first of many. I don't remember exactly the numbers but altogether he will be making around $16,000 for 8 bedrooms and his expenses were around $10,000.  His rates are based on what the military gives the tenants for living expenses. I think his tenants are people that want to live off base that usually lives in a nearby extended stay type of residence. I don't know the exact specifics. However, they are older career military members. Since everything was new there will not be much needed for repair or any large expenses. 

@Aaron T. I’m going give you advice from an Architect’s perspective and what can derail this projects. Hopefully, it doesn’t but here is you list.

1. Puerto Rico looks like they follow the International Building Code (IBC) of 2018 which means a lot and even though old building may not have those requirements you will be changing the use of the building from a school to a hostel and the occupancy. That means you will not be grandfathered in for many parts of this project. It also means it isn’t a third world country where you might get away with a lot of things.

2. Plumbing. There is a ratio on how many people you have for how many toilets, showers, and sinks you need. Plumbing can cost a lot to update. Is the property on septic or public sewer? How much will it cost to enlarge either of those. If you are on septic you can kiss the pool away. Unless you get a company to fill and drain it. I know of one in the DC area that does this so a property owner doesn’t have to hook up the pool to the sewer systems.

3. You may need to adhere to ADA guidelines. Puerto Rico is part of the USA and people may sue your small business if you do not meet ADA or ANSI guidelines. For example, clear pathways, restrooms and showers, beds, and so on. Even how hard a door may be pushed is taken into account. You can sometimes get away with not complying if the occupancy is lower than a certain threshold.

4. Mechanical requirements. I know COVID will go away sooner rather than later. However, a lot of codes have been updated for Air filters. For example, some daycares I am working on had to change their 4’ wall to 6’ because of COVID to separate spaces. Is Puerto Rico hospitality industry requiring anything like this? The good thing is that you are near a beach so opening a few windows may do the trick but you need to ask.

5. Electrical may need to be updated. The panel, outlets, etc. Once you open a wall to change one thing then there are a hundred things to update. Do all lights need to be converted to LED?

6. Fire alarm system or sprinklers. This will cost an arm and a leg and you need to check if this is required. It may be an occupancy thing again. Same goes for the number of egress from a space.

7. Energy requirements. Does the code require new windows and doors and insulation and so forth.

8. Structural. You need to make sure it is still in good shape after all those hurricanes every year. If anything needs to be repaired it will fall under the new IBC 2018.

9. Certificate of occupancy requirements and any other type of licenses you may need from Puerto Rico’s tourism industry.

10. Finally, figure out the best spot for the bar! That will bring in your revenue.

I love hostels and have traveled the world staying in hostels. I’ve stayed in over 100 and maybe one or two would pass all the new code requirements. I bring all this up because there is a lot of due diligence that needs to be done and any of these items may add a ton of money to the construction budget. I’m on your side and I hope I see this built in a year so I can take my kids surfing.

Good luck!

@Patrick Sears I have a client where I designed 8 bedrooms that are all suites (bath, walk in closet, microwave, 200 sf rm) with one large communal area on the first floor. Each room will be individually rented as you stayed. However the market audience for this is for profesional military people who travel to different bases and only stay for a year or so. My client knows this market very well and knows how much different professions are given for for their housing per diem. We haven’t started construction yet but we hope to soon.

He did spent some time with the zoning department, lawyers and so forth to make everything legal.

I think it is a good idea if you can do it legally, your ROI makes sense, and you are prepared to have a piece of property for 12-24 months where you invest a lot of money before the returns start to pour in.

Good luck.

@Erick Chavarria first off, great name. I have done about 15 of these types of projects for my clients in the DC market in the last three years. It can become expensive but it depends.

1. Most important determine the depths of your existing footings. You can do this by digging a hole about 18”x18” and dig next to the party wall. Once there is no more brick or concrete then you have reached the bottom of the footing. Let’s say the footing is 13” deep then you subtract 4” for a slab and you are left with 9” of additional ceiling height. If you want to go lower than the footing then that will require underpinning and that may become expensive. Be sure to dig a hole on both party walls.

2. In addition to egress you need natural light to come into the space. I forgot the requirement but usually if you have an egress window or door with glazing it is enough.

3. If you drop the slab you may have to drop all your existing sewer lines. Theo will add costs. Especially if they have to be dropped all the way to the street.

4. Is there any mechanical or other equipment in the way to have a decent bedroom and space down there? This is where an architect may come in handy. In DC we are required. I’m not sure about Baltimore as I’ve only done a few bigger projects there like a full gut rehab.

5. To confirm you only want additional bedrooms and not a separate unit because that is an entirely different ballgame?

6. You will most likely need a structural engineer to ok drop the slab. You might be able to get away without an architect. Don’t let a contractor do all this on their own unless they have a structural engineer on their team.

Good luck

Eric

@Brenden Giroux Russell gave a good price range. Within the beltway you are looking at roughly the same price range. Unless If you go towards Anacostia or Capital Heights áreas and you will find it a little cheaper for construction costs. Last year I had two very similar projects for an areaway stair and one was in Georgetown and the other in Anacostia. Guess which one was $30k more expensive?