All Forum Posts by: Ashley Owens

Hi @Suzanne Cedre. I see you posted you're looking for 2 tickets. Is that still the case? I have 2 pro tickets for sale. Text me or DM me if anyone is still looking. 508-340-1210. We had a last minute change of plans.

Please reach out to me if you want to go to BPCON but you missed out on getting tickets. We've had to cancel our trip last minute and I'd love to sell these to someone who can use them. I'm a Pro member so each ticket was $805. Just looking to recoup my money and have the tickets used, so price for 2 is $1610. Please let me know if you're interested and we can do Venmo or I can send a Quickbooks Invoice. BP has made it super easy to transfer tickets this year so that's a quick change. Thanks, Ashley

Hey @Curt Bixel,

Easiest answer first, Buildertrend can break it out as detailed as your contractor is willing to do. We use Buildertrend for all of the Architectural and Construction projects.

Second, I definitely agree with @Eric M. With our subs and when working with other GCs we always do at least 3 bids. Lots of good advice about comparisons and asking questions. Very important to get a better idea of what's being included and what's not. A good GC with experience has backup for the pricing they're giving so they should be able to support their numbers. Also as you may have seen in some of the forums, not all GCs are created equally. Some have higher overheads and other things that cause them to have higher markups. There are some GCs better suited for investors and others more appropriate for retail/market rate clients. It all depends on their structure and experience.

Last thing, with all of that said, you're actual numbers are probably closest to the higher guy. You absolutely get what you pay for and more often than not in our experience, the cheapest guy has almost always cost more in the long run and when the job is done right, the actual cost has usually been between the 2 highest bids.

Hope this is helpful. Happy to answer questions if you want to chat. 

@Brittany H.Thanks for the callout! Sounds like you're on a great path for making your dream come true. It all comes from talking to people and telling as many people as possible what your goals are. Happy to chat sometime if you want to know anything. It looks like you may have some experience in some of the bigger projects we're working our way into. Along with residential flips and buy and holds, we're looking at doing some larger developments. We just purchased a plot of land downtown where our office is located and we plan to build a 4 story mixed use building. This is our first venture into a development this size and type, so lots to learn. Talk soon!

Just saw this post come up in my keyword and thought it was an interesting discussion. I'm a licensed and practicing Architect who decided to leverage my experience, my network, and my license to work for myself. I'm a graduate of the BAC in Boston and I've been in architecture for about 14 years. I'm also a licensed Real Estate Agent. With all of this, I decided to get into investing and developing about 5 years ago and started my own company 4 years ago, [RE]Architect. We're a Design-Build firm who also invests/flips. This has allowed us so far (fingers crossed for the future) to never have to worry about having projects and to be choosier about the projects and clients we do decide to take on. Our flips and our BRRRR properties keep us busy and funded and create the income we need (not to mention, they're just fun to do), so projects with outside clients become even more fun as they're a want instead of a need. For us it's the best of both worlds. We get the additional income and security from real estate (as most people have already mentioned, Architects do not make much) and we get to practice our craft, but on our own terms. I do think this has given us some advantages in certain projects, especially commercial, but for the everyday single family or small multi investor, I don't think there's much of a difference. Love seeing all the posts and all the Architects getting into the investing world. Not sure about any of the rest of you, but I was personally inspired by 2 pretty well known Architect turned developers, Jonathan Segal based in CA and Tim McDonald of Onion Flats in PA. Would love to hear about any other Architect/Developers that have helped inspire others. Cheers!

Thanks @Scott Mac! Hmm...I'll have to look into why the other pictures aren't showing up. When I look at my posting there are 6 pics. 

Also thank you @Kati Henry Ortiz! It was a fun project. It's actually a few years old now. We renovated and sold it in 2017 and now we're working up the road in Harvard on a 4 family project also in sort of a house hacking style. I loved working in the Fitchburg area. There's a lot of potential there. We've done a few projects there for other investors as well. Good luck with your 2 family! Happy to help or answer questions if you need anything. Here's a link to our current project if you're interested in our marketing video :)

Investment Info:

Single-family residence fix & flip investment in Fitchburg.

Purchase price: $20,000
Cash invested: $82,000
Sale price: $130,000

This home was abandoned and gutted when we found it. It had been vacant for 6 years and had become a safety hazard for the neighborhood. We came in and removed everything from the inside, cleaned, and built it all back up. This was our first fix and flip project and it took us awhile to work through the process from purchase, permitting, construction, and sales. This project really jump started our excitement for rehabs.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) fix & flip investment in Harvard.

Purchase price: $560,000
Cash invested: $300,000

We purchased this 3 family from another investor using seller financing. We were able to work with the town to turn it into a 4 family and we are currently working with an attorney to create condos. This is sort of a house hacking project as we will be selling 3 of the condos to recoup our costs and make a profit. The 4th unit we will be keeping as our primary residence which we will own outright and have a large amount of equity in.

Investment Info:

Small multi-family (2-4 units) buy & hold investment in North Brookfield.

Purchase price: $110,000
Cash invested: $17,000

We purchased this property as a short sale from the local bank. It was an eye opening process, largely in how long it took to move through the system. It took us about 15 months from our first offer to the bank until we were able to close. It was great to get experience in short sales and is definitely something I'd do again.

Hey Adam, I'm intrigued by your post. We're a Design-Build firm and we've done a few projects in Somerville. We haven't done a lot with the zoning department, but we've worked the building department quite a bit and have some other contacts we can use. We just finished a restaurant project in Union Square a few months ago, TB Pizza, and we've done some residential and office spaces in town as well. DM me if you'd like to talk more about your project and what you're thinking. We have 2 creative architects and 3 very creative designers who have done some very cool work. Let me know if you're interested in chatting. Cheers!