All Forum Posts by: Steve Johnson

I would advise anyone siding with @Wendell De Guzman do a simple google search of the name Trace Trajano.  Thats his "birth name"  its pretty damning stuff.  If you read his response to this thread and his posted thread in off-topic you can see the common denominator is Trace claiming victimhood in MANY bad real-estate deals...all while presenting himself as an "expert" and taking peoples money for seminars etc....  And that is just taking at face value what Trace/Wendell presents to the public.  Seems he is living a lie EVEN if he isn't actively scamming people.  He is no expert.

I see a common denominator here....just saying.

Adam Mertz makes a good point as well.  Northpoint Development is the company building all those HUGE warehouse around the area.  They are building 1,000,000SF buildings before they even have tenants if that tells you anything.   They've got stuff in Gardner, Lenexa, KCMO (71&435) as well as immediate north of river.   KC is hot for land ports right now, and Northpoint is leading the way.

If I was investing South, I'd be heavily looking at the Spring Hill area.  Overland Park is quickly growing into Spring Hill, and really anything 155th South in that corridor is a good buy and hold.

I pay my top guys $25.00/hr, then I have work comp, benefits.  That generally adds 50.00/day or an additional 6.25/hr.  Now we are at 31.25/hr.  We also have fully stocked work trucks.  Insurance, Fuel, Maintenance.  Lets say we are at 35.00/hr.  Then we have shop overhead, general liability insurance, electricity, gas, water. Thats an additional 600.00 Day / 10 guys = 60.00/Day or 7.50/hr.  Now we are at 42.50/hr  and we are just keeping a guy employed and keeping the lights on.  No profit, no room for a down day, no room for a **** up/mistake (i.e. warranty, slow time/winter)  

There's alot more to "hourly" charges than just what the guy doing your work is taking home to his family.   It's one of the reasons we don't do the little "honey do" jobs.  When Frank/Manny in a van have nothing but their mortgage and some vistaprint free cards we can't compete.  But he can't compete with us on quality/warranty/service or he would be making alot more than 25.00/hr.

I get it in the industry it's important to crunch and save, but as I do in my contracting I do in my real estate.  I have no desire to compete with bottom feeders or lowest dollar.   Bit of a rant, I apologize.

I have no experience in your market, but...a word of caution:

If you don't have construction project management experience, you WILL be raked over the coals by sub contractors.  Either up front in price, during the project in them flaking due to you not having a good rolodex, or in scheduling issues, and then on the backend when you inevitably go over budget and over completion date.   

    I have seen many people lose everything trying to do this, so back to that word of caution.  Get a reputable home builder to GC the project for you.   The 10-20% extra in $$$ it will cost on the front will save your time, money, and heartache in the end.   Time is money, as I'm sure you know.    Proper planning will save countless dollars.  Don't skimp on your architect, and don't skimp on your General Contractor.

Enjoy!  There's not much better than getting to realize your true dream home.

Yep, thats movement.  It's also a subpar grout job.  Not good at all.  Not even, porous areas, the grout was not worked, and was cleaned too soon.

I'm afraid others are right, this is a re-do.

@Rodney Harris - Thanks for the welcome, I'll be in touch.

@Gordon Cuffe - Excellent.  I'd love to look at anything you've got.  Thank you.

It might work...Thats a hard one because it could be so many things...the grout line is just the path of least resistance.  There could be a hump/dip in the floor that is causing a void which is allowing movement....the board may be installed parallel with floor joists which could allow movement.  The joints may just be too large for the grout used, which would cause cracking.   Got any pics?

Kyle,

  If you would like I can show you some areas of town that I am interested in.  There is heavy development going on around the Urban Core of Kansas City, and many areas that were once "war zones" are now VERY VERY close to being the next hot spots.

I'm a part time investor in the area, but fulltime involved in the general development of Kansas City as I own a construction company that concentrates on new construction multi-use/multi-family developments.

I enjoy beer, coffee, properties and BBQ.  :)  And it just so happens my shop is in the thick of all of it!