All Forum Posts by: Christopher B.

You're not going to use HD or Lowes to source items for new construction. At least not on framing or most major items. I do get a couple things from HD but in general the supply houses will crush their prices on most items. 

Buying from the supply house is generally (90% time) cheaper. But, if you are spec building then the box stores do have some items cheaper. For example, I get my front doors at HD, saves $300. I buy my plumbing fixtures there too. Probably save $1K over the supply house. They aren't as high quality as the supply house but these are modest homes. On the opposite side, I pay. 45 cents/LF for 5 1/4 mdf speed base, its $1.50+ at HD. 

I prefer to buy from supply houses and HD/Lowes are retail stores, not supply houses. I look to get all my purchases from the real supply house because it's so much easier. Your salesmen handle measurements and orders for you then deliver onsite. 

One thing contractors are notorious for is being cheap. They save everything and spend more time on saving than it is worth. Don't get caught up in that. Focus on efficiency. Construction is wildly inefficient, there are going to be plenty of things to keep you occupied besides driving around trying to save every little $50 or keeping a pile of 2x8 drops because you can use it for dead wood at the next project.

Efficiency and Ease. Ignore the rest.

Sounds like you got it figured out to me. Trade up to higher quality, less effort assests. Stabilize and protect your position. Continue to do this as desired. Then use the excess to invest in "fun" projects. A successful investor I know told me once he'd never retire because now it's all fun for him. He only invests in projects or businesses that meet his lifestyle, which is no involvement from him day to day and that excite him one way or another.

Pretty good gig. Congrats on your success

Quarterly maintance program. 

Check under sinks for any water leaks, change filters, check smoke detector batteries, check for bug problems/pest controk, and perform any preventative maintenance 

The beginning is hard. Getting organized is a never ending challenge. If you plan to continue growing your rental portfolio then get Buildium. You'll read the "i can manage it for free in spreadsheets" a lot here, which is true. But make the investment in your business now to create a foundation for you to grow upon. 

Buildium will be a life saver for your rentals. Take the time to set it up. E-leases, use the accounting, get all documents uploaded, online payments, maintenance, etc.

Sit down with a bookkeeper or cpa, get your construction books setup in Quickbooks. Use Buildium for rentals. Keep your books and accounts separated. Remember your books don't need to be crazy detailed and complex, Buildium will keep the details of your rentals and you will cost segregate rehabs outside of your books. 

Set-up files in dropbox, Google drive, or whichever cloud storage you choose. Setup Gsuite, create an email for your rentals and one for your rehab biz. Have them directed to different folders. This allows you to manage your email contacts from one account. 

Get flipping spreadsheets. It's $200, set them up with your costs. I've completed $200K remodels using that spreadsheet, it works. Create a separate spreadsheet for selections. Have description, cost, sku, vendor. Your rentals should always be exactly the same, paint to house numbers. 

For rehabs you combine the venture sheets with your selection spreadsheet to create a project workbook. You can do this by creating pdf's or you can print them, put in a binder. Doing a tile shower? Make a quick drawing of the design, add it to the workbook for quick reference. If you want to go digital and plan to really grow the rehabs then check-out co-construct. 

Whatever you choose, just create the framework to operate in and continually improve upon on it. 

Real estate is conceptually very easy but more difficult in practice. Particularly the construction aspect of things. Keep grinding, always be working to improve the system, and don't forget to look up or you'll miss the bigger picture.

Check out your local city and county websites as well as the transportation department. 

Search for Michael Wagner and Seth Meyers here on BP. They're active in the industry and here on BP. 

As a licensed GC myself, heck no you should not pay 50% upfront. Contractors are notoriously shady and construction is probably the most unprofessional industry in our country. Construction is the wild west, everyone is carrying a 6 shooter, so you gotta be careful out there. Paying a large upfront cost provides then with temptation.