All Forum Posts by: Glenn Banks

Stefanie Jensen Just buy it. Similar to the husband coming home with a new Harley. It's easier to beg forgiveness than to ask for permission. I left my job without conferring my wife and jumped into real estate head first. She is similar to your husband with the "wait" approach. I knew this ahead of making my decision and went for it. Time for you to make some boss moves and make the right decisions even if he won't. Fate favors the fearless.

@Cameron Hayes At least you know there isn't any competition for your property type which may be a good thing. They don't have a property manager ???!!! Kind of red flag but could be advantageous. They should provide you with rent rolls and all costs listed in previous post. The owners are acting as managers and are out of state, another advantage to you. Expect the numbers coming from the owners to be padded somewhat, you'll have to compensate for that when you calculate your offer. 

Cameron Hayes I can send you a spreadsheet to help figure it out. Slab is not a building, won't get you any income and is worthless unless you want to build on top of it. In short, you need data to determine value. Property manager should have rental data including vacancy, gross rents, any other revenue centers (laundry, parking, storage, etc), taxes, maintenance costs, deferred maintenance, etc. You also need to walk through the property and try to assess condition and come up with a rehab cost to bring the occupancy back up to 90% as a goal. Also need to get rent comps in the area to project ARV and calculate CAP rates.

Anna W. Wood. Durability and the ability to repair easily when needed.

@Phil Weinstein A paid invoice and a waiver of lien is typically what you will receive. The GC should get these things for your review. 

@Peace Lily  Sounds like you are having a multitude of issues on the project. This is true of most projects. How these issues are managed is key. Sounds like you're somewhat behind schedule and you subs want to get paid. As others have stated before, it's your GC's responsibility to manage his subs. The GC may be asking you for money to pay his guy because he doesn't want to come out of his own pocket for fear of not being paid at the end of the job. As long as the contract dollar figures are not changing at all, I don't see a reason why you can't pay him up to 90% completion if his work is 90% complete.  It's up to the GC to let the electrician install his devices before drywall on his job. Not the way installs are typically done but it sounds like you're having schedule / relationship issues and the electrician wants to be paid and off your job ASAP. He pulled permits on his license and if he's comfortable doing the install that way, that's fine. Means and methods of construction are up to the electrician and GC to decide on whats the best path forward. This isn't a decision you should be involved in necessarily, which falls back on the GC to manage effectively. 

@Bryant Griffith Why steel frame? Steel conducts the outside temperature to the inside of the structure in a less efficient manner than wood framing does. Have you looked into SIP panels or ICF 's ? SIP's are the way to go if you're trying to achieve a green "net zero" type of build. 

@Nicole Kemanjian Try reaching out to your local remodeling / homebuilder organizations. They usually have the connections you need. 

@Bruce Clark  You could use steel studs or hat channel as furring and shoot them to the wall. Then sheath and side with metal panels, vinyl siding, fiber cement, etc. You could paint it or apply stucco. OR YOU COULD JUST LEAVE IT. 

I did this type of work on an 8 story building, grinding and cutting out brick & block/ mortar lines. Project budget was $2.4m. Masons are $38 an hour in Milwaukee plus fringes. You need a bunch of equipment and manpower to do this work, it will be costly. That I am certain of. 

@Balazs Sipocz  I have seen percentages for added for managing subs and the self-perform work. It is scope size dependent. Generally on larger projects ($5mil) and up, the percentage is 3-5%. Smaller projects have a higher percentage, I am closer to 7% on projects under a $1m.