All Forum Posts by: Steven Del Prete

@Brandon Turner thanks for the welcome. Seems I made that post exactly 1 year ago. Time flies

if your telling us that they burned down 2 years ago and have been sitting I'm going to assume the houses are garbage. Besides the crazy amount of water the fire departments need to use to put out a fire soaking everything they have been left to crumble for years.

My guess would be that these need to be town down to the foundation and completely rebuilt. With that being said you need to figure out demo cost plus rebuild cost. All soft and hard cost and resale value at the "new home" level and no rehabbed level. Then you will know what you can offer

@michael Woodward is right. On the inside to get the most out of the small space I would use rigid foam boards for insulation. However the inside exterior walls are really just concrete? Just wondering as I've never seen that around here.

On the outside you would use 1x2 furring strips and then attach the siding to that. You can also use the rigid foam board on the outside for extra insulation.

I see no reason why you shouldn't. It's great to know how things get done, the Order In which to do them and so on. It puts you more in control of your projects which could help keep cost down plus not paying the fee for having a GC around the whole time. It will eat up more of your time instead of writing up a scope of work and having someone else handle it. Especially when you do more then one project at a time but the savings should be work it to you.

I guess it's ultimately up to you no matter what any of us say. As far as liability I believe even if you aren't the GC but because you own the property your selling any structure problems are your problem regardless. Also I don't thing you would miss that and even if you did when the buyer sent a home inspector to your home they should find the problem anyway and then you can fix it.

what would be the point of owning said construction company but not abiding by state regulations and doing it legally?

Not trying to start a war just trying to see what your intentions are?

License aside being its not needed in all areas, I would believe once you use your Name to start a construction company you are automatically a contractor. Unless you wish to never "contract" jobs from people. but then again why start it in the first place?

the house has been sitting since 2006 with no siding? How is the subfloor? Sounds to me like it would be swollen. Delaminating ect. That a big home and here on the east coast unless you buy it way cheaper then that I don't see you making any money. I mean you can't go the cheap route with finishes on a home that size.

To really answer that question I would need ore info then what you gave but I'm happy to help.

You don't exactly need to hire a GC if you can be there to hire and schedule your own subs. However with that route you also can get burned by fly by nights. Should be easy to spot those guys anyway so you don't hire them.

If I was you I wouldn't go about trying to do things yourself if you never done them. A person buying a finished home WANTS a nice product that they don't need to fix. Doing things you never done to "save" money can easily cost you way more in the end if the craftsmanship isn't up to par.

Just my 2 pennies

First time shame on them. Second and third are on you. Get a cheap alarm. Put up curtains to make it seem like someone lives there. The ADP sign and stickers are a good idea too. Put up motion sensing lights on the outside of the home. No one likes to break into a place when everyone can see them.

Always lock doors and windows. That includes the second floor. Use both the handle and dead bolt on the doors.

Biggest thing is to keep the job active. If they see you only show up from time to time I believe someone is more willing to steal from you as they don't thing it will be noticed for a while.

Maybe the most important. Talk to the neighbors. Ask them to help you protect the home at night by simply calling the cops as they will know no one is to be at the home at night when it's being rehabbed.

With all that being said I've never been robbed on any of my new homes. Or flips I've done for investors.

The other thing you need to consider when thinking about doing the work yourself is your time frame. Sure you can do the landscaping and painting for example. But let's say you contracted it out and you got both done in the same few days instead of you doing it and it taking all week or more. Look at that time you just lost. Time = money