All Forum Posts by: Gary Siver

@Basit Siddiqi I personally don’t have any rental units. But I have worked on numerous rental properties for investors that have window units in them with heating and cooling functions. 

@Basit Siddiqi It has to have a source of heat. It gets cold in the winter here.  They probably have window a/c units that also have the heat function built into them. 

@Alex Goumilevski You should be able to get it done for about $325 a square.

@Bastian Kneuse You can also check with the local utility company. It is possible that the area now has public sewer and you could connect to that for a fee.

@Bastian Kneuse It’s a newer system so it should already have an alarm on it. If it doesn’t I would look into having one installed so you don’t have issues of it backing up. If it has a pump fed drain field make sure you are aware of where it is plugged in and make sure it doesn’t get disconnected. If the home has a garbage disposal in the kitchen I would remove it. You don’t want any unnecessary stuff going into it.

I would not worry about having a septic, there are plenty of homes out there that have them. Like everyone stated above just get it pumped out on a regular basis and you will be fine.

@Sarah Latif If I do work for someone and it’s a one time thing then they will be charged a lot more than someone that gives me multiple jobs. It’s like buying things in bulk, you always get a discount. If you feel like your contractor is taking advantage of you he probably is.  Time to shop around for another one. 

@Clint Shelley Of course every contractor wants to make top dollar. But if you have a relationship with someone then why wouldn’t you give them a discount to know they will be feeding you work for years to come. 

Anything over $600 needs a 1099 misc form.  But I think they actually changed it or this upcoming year. I don’t think is called that any more. 

If you pay someone hourly and tel them what to do they can technically be considered an employee and could possibly come back on you for paying taxes as an employee.  You can google it and see several lawsuits that companies tried to get away with non employees. There is a fine line and a lot or people do it. Talk to a cpa and see what they have to say. 

Also if you do this make sure who ever you hire has the proper insurance. A lot of contractors have general liability but they don’t have the type that covers subcontractors If they use them.  Just verify all insurances. 

That is a pretty common thing when you work do work for realtors. They just put the money owed to you in escrow and you will get paid out of the funds at closing. We  have done several houses that have wdo repairs that needed to be done so the house would close. If that is what you are meaning than I would say go ahead. If what you are taking about is people wanting work done before they list there house Im not to sure about that. I guess it depends how much you know and trust them. 

I agree with most of the comments above. That under the table work is what causes us contractors doing everything the right way to have competitive bids. It’s a lot cheaper to pay someone $15 an hour off the books without any liability at all than it is to pay someone $15 An hour on the books with all the proper insurances in place.  If you hire someone that doesn’t have actual employees it will only hurt you in the long run. I know most investors look for the cheapest way out and want to save money. You do that by building relationships, not paying guys cash and hope for the best.  People paying cash and illegal workers is what drove the whole construction trade wages down.  It doesn’t matter to me what country you come from, if you come to work that’s great. Just do it the proper way and for the right price and we all win.

@Steve Mandelbaum what type of limbo are you using?  What types of issues are you having?  We do this all the time without issues.