All Forum Posts by: Seth Davis

Hi. I'm a newly minted GC in North Carolina. I was curious about building a couple of 1-story condos. My main questions revolve around establishing the HOA for the property.

I would want to establish the HOA and have a property management company handle the payments and the everyday stuff like lawn and building maintenance.

Has anyone here built condos or know the HOA establishment process?

Thanks!

Lexington has a lot to offer. They have been updating the downtown area to make it more attractive, as well as bringing in popular businesses like Starbucks and Chick Fil A recently. I would say it’s slower growth than surrounding areas though. 

Thomasville, which is 10-15 mins north seems to have a little more growth, or High Rock lake which is 10-15 mins southeast. 

Update 5

Hey everyone!  So, it's been a bit since I have posted an update.  I have had a little bit of everything going on, which is a good thing. Here are some of the things I have been accomplishing with the business startup:

• Secured a lawyer to be the Registered Agent for my LLC
• LLC articles are filled out and will be submitting them here in the next couple of weeks
• Business phone number secured
• New domain name secured: https://www.tigerdog-builders.com and setup a local mail server at my house to point to my new domain
• Configured and setup a local web server at my house to point to my new domain
• Began development on my website
• Had a conversation with my realtor on design and location for first build
• Sent out my first official estimate to a potential client for a main water line replacement from meter to house. This estimate includes working with multiple sub-contractors and filing permits with the county, which will give me some good experience starting out
• Inquired about general liability insurance for the business

So, it's been a busy month! Let the journey continue!

Thanks Don!

 Thank you Ashley! I really appreciate the encouraging words. 

 Thanks Justin! I used to live near Oak Ridge over in Walkertown. That’s a nice area. 

Congrats on your journey! I would highly recommend purchasing a study guide. I got mine from Carolina Seminars. It makes a world of difference. I studied a couple of hours per night for about 3 months. The study guide comes with a practice test that you can take over and over. So, after studying, I would take the practice test. Once I was consistently getting 90-95% on the practice test and answering the study guide questions without missing any, I felt I was ready to go.

There are a lot of tricky questions on the exam and you will definitely be searching through your books during the exam, so be sure to tab sections and tables.

Let me know if you have any questions! I can also sell you my study guide if you’re interested in saving some money.

Update 4

I received my official general contracting license today! Very exciting. I can officially pull building permits now. I have also been working on my branding and such for the new company and researching all of the required documentation to start an LLC as I believe that is the entity I will go with.

I also contacted my investor to see if he is interested in a sit down to talk shop about building a spec house here in the near future.

I designed a logo as well.  Let me know what you think!

Thank you Ashley!

Update 3

So, I have started learning PlanSwift estimating software. Last night, I spent a couple of hours watching some YouTube tutorials on creating parts and assemblies and using those to create estimates based on a plan. I can already tell this is going to be some powerful software.  There will be a lot of preliminary setup, but once that's all done, creating estimates from new plans will happen in very short order with extremely precise accuracy.  It also has a software development kit with it, when means I can use my programming background to do some automated tasks within the software. 

I have also been listening to some podcasts on some best approaches to creating a business plan, as well as some podcasts on an interesting topic: technology in construction.  There is an absurd amount of potential in the construction industry to utilize the latest technology.  From machine learning to help find pitfalls in scheduling and estimating to augmented reality with HoloLens to view a fully constructed building right on your lot. Seriously, an endless amount of possibilities. 

Investment Info:

Single-family residence other investment.

Purchase price: $193,000

Cash invested: $13,000

Sale price: $214,000

Bought the home for personal use. Built with sweat equity a 2-story workshop in the backyard.

What made you interested in investing in this type of deal?

The wife and I wanted to move to a different city.

How did you find this deal and how did you negotiate it?

We located the property by searching online. We negotiated from $197,000 to $193,000 since it had been on the market for a year.

How did you finance this deal?

Traditional mortgage financing through a credit union.

How did you add value to the deal?

I build by hand a 2-story workshop in the backyard. It cost me roughly $13,000 to build it, which included power and plumbing. Ultimately, it added approximately $20,000 value to the property.

What was the outcome?

Outcome was great. Made a few dollars and sold the house in one week.

Lessons learned? Challenges?

It's not easy making money. If I had paid a contractor to build the workshop, it would have cost me money in the end.