All Forum Posts by: Jesse Kirchhoff

I love the acid stains as long as they have a good thick coat of clear epoxy and then a wax coat over that.

The decorative epoxy overlays still leave a lot to be desired - but Shire Stone is taking it to a whole nother level. It is amazing what they can do! www.shirestone.net

An experienced hardwood finisher can replace the "damaged or stained portion only" with ease. You may have to ask him if he did't think of it on his own.

Water (and/or oxygen) neutralize muratic acid - the more water you run the safer you are. That being said muratic is extremely corrosive to mineral, organic and metal. If using natural grey grout it will dark stain your grout joints if mixed to hot.

Good luck!

Good advice here.

ALWAYS have a signed contract with a VERY DETAILED scope of work. This protects both you and your contractor. Preferably a "fixed cost" contract covering both labor and material for the project. Professionals know how to bid their work and I am very leery of "time and material" contracts on straight forward projects unless they have hidden damage or other unknowns.

Be aware that no matter how good your contractor is - some things will go wrong. It's Murphy's Law. How your contractor handles those things is what important. If there are any changes required in the scope of work make sure you have signed change orders. This also protects both you and your contractor.

In essence you will be married to your contractor for the life of the project. Just like marriage, great communication and understanding is vital.

Good luck in your projects!

A RotoZip with diamond cutting wheel is cheap and will do nicely. An abrasive wheel will wear out to quick on a RotoZip.

Can we post images on this forum? I am pretty proud of the business cards and gift cards that my designer created for us but am unsure how to show them. They ALWAYS make a great first impression.

Thanks

Here is a link you may find useful if you don't already have it http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/reo/pandpsched/

By the way I have a buddy on Remodel Crazy Forum and Contractor Talk Forum from Wichita Kansas. His name is Brock Patterson and owns Blue Ribbon Construction. I am pretty sure he doesn't fool with Property Preservation but he is from your area none the less.

First of all you will have to wait 30-45 days to get paid. No down payments and no draws.

You will have to have a minimum of 1 Mil. general liability as well as work comp. Some even require 1 mil. commercial auto on every vehicle that will be on the property. You will have to jump through plenty of other hoops as well which you probably already see your boss doing. It's all the stuff you "don't" see that really adds up.

There are companies like SafeGuard that get the the nationwide contracts and sub them out locally. A Google search will turn up quite a few

Working for free will definitely not get you the job but cut throat prices will. As soon as someone is more desperate than you and charges less - you're out of there. The Realtors are usually middle men.....the further you are down on the food chain the worse it gets.

Also HUD has online REO guidelines for what they will pay. That will give you a ball park of what to expect.

Good luck.

Sorry for the rant - back to the original question: a good way to ball park your cost of repairs is to buy an estimating program or book.

We currently use Xactremodel Software for $600 a year subscription. It is an absolute power house of knowledge but more than the average person needs.

RS Meens http://rsmeans.reedconstructiondata.com also has decent books (but with a lot less detail). If you want to look it over before purchasing there are usually copies that you can check out at the local library. Used copies can be found on Amazon.

When I was first starting out I used the Craftsman Cost Estimators http://www.craftsman-book.com they have the least amount of detail at all and are by far the cheapest. From there we kept evolving and paying more for better quality books and software.

A Craftsman has the right and should be expected to earn Craftsman wages. A Craftsman that is also a business owner should be doubly so. If he doesn't then there is usually good reason why......... buyer beware.

No offense but reputable Contractors steer clear of flippers and Realtors like the plague. You may get lucky with a "new" contractor just starting out - but once he realizes what it costs to run a business AND collect a decent wage - his rates will double, tipple, or he will go down in flames taking everyone with him. You get what you pay for my friends.