What if your not a builder?

thehebrewhero · #1 03-09-2011, 04:11 PM

If your not a expierenced builder is it bad to flip homes? I have basic construction skills but nothing to brag about. Im pretty good at landscapping and ok with painting. I've owned renatals for years and mostly have good relationships with handymen. Family and friends that are in the house flipping biz have given me their contractors and I've been assured to recieve the same deals. Some of the guys I know do some of the work while others just hire out for everything. I will most likely hire out for 75% of the work is this bad?

Lady Flipper · #2 03-09-2011, 10:12 PM

Not really, but you need to familiarize yourself with building materials and prices. If you know what you mwant, a good contractor can pick it up for you even less expensive, but it helps to know what you want first.

I suggest you stroll around Lowes and like stores for a while and look at especially finishes and prices, like kitchen cabinets, countertops, flooring etc etc. Talk to your realtor and find out what is common in the neighborhood, stick with that except for that one room, the one you want one step up from the rest.

realestatehound · #3 03-11-2011, 04:07 AM

I love flipping and I do the majority of the work myself and if you want to make the most out of a flip you will need to yourself. I just painted a flip that I'm working on now and it took me longer than I thought, but I did get a quote for painting it just to see and this was someone I had used before. It was $2,100 and me furnish the paint. Well I painted the upstairs in 4 days and will paint the basement in 3 as it is smaller. So the way I look at it, I just made $2,100 for 7 days work, pretty good weeks work. Most work in flipping is pretty easy, like fixing holes in drywall. All you have to do is cut the rough edges off all the holes in the house and the fill and sand them until they are smooth. Big holes will have to be filled 2 or 3 times to get them right. I think that most people sell themselves short of repairing homes. If you have the right attitude you can do anything. Personally I've never seen anything that I wouldn't try to fix myself. I was putting up some fancy chair rail and I've never been a finish carpenter and I just couldn't get the outside corners to fit the way I wanted them to so I got on the DIY website and found a movie that showed me how to do it and tomorrow I'm going to put it up because I have all the pieces cut and stained and polyuithaned. So don't sell yourself short, worst case if you try it and you can't do then you can hire someone.

flippinout · #4 03-11-2011, 12:57 PM

Hebrewhero, you would be surprised at what all you will be able to do yourself. As RealEstateHound said, there are many, many videos online that can help you tackle a task and the videos are so easy to follow.

One advantage we have in our family is that between my husband and I and our sons, we have it all covered. From concrete work to the actual building and finishing. This makes it so much less expensive when we want something done than hiring someone.

Dont sell yourself short, as I said, you will be surprised at what all you can do yourself once you really get into it.

thehebrewhero · #5 03-11-2011, 03:57 PM

O Im not saying I dont have some ability.. I did carpentry when I was out of HS and I did concrete work for 4yrs when in college. My problem is 1) Im not great at drywall, tile, floors, Im really bad at plumbing and electrical scares me (been shocked 2 many times) 2) I allready run a full time biz so I just dont have that much time. I am good at landscaping and ok at painting so I figured I'd do that... I fix things at my rentals but my work is ok.. I figure if Im trying to make top dollar I should have the pros do most things..

flip_it_fast · #6 03-12-2011, 02:48 AM

I'd maybe do the things that you know you can handle and then try and slowly learn the rest.

It's not bad to flip houses just because you can't do all of the work but keep in mind the more you have to pay to have things done the less your profit will be. And you need to be careful that you will be able to pay to have work done and still make a profit. Without a profit you won't be flipping houses very long.

The internet is just full of do-it-yourself information. Maybe try one thing at a time and see what you can handle.

I'd say... don't mess with electrical though! It scares me too. lol!

JodiB · #7 09-02-2011, 07:56 PM

It's ok if you're not an experienced contractor, you just need to know what your strong suits are and go from there. I have a handful of San Francisco plumbers and electricians on hand at all times for two reasons.

1) I don't like messing with that kind of work, I'm not comfortable with it.

2) It's always better if you can say that you had a licensed plumber or electrician do the work.

But if you're handy and have basic carpentry skills, it should be no problem to do the majority of everything else yourself.

missmanors · #8 09-04-2011, 01:39 PM

I'd say that contracting electrical and plumbing work is the only way to go unless you are a licensed electrician or plumber. Potential buyers would not like to hear that somebody did the electrical work themselves - I'd be thinking "well there's a potential fire hazard."

Of course lots of times a licensed electrician is mandatory to get a building permit for certain jobs. This is simply a no brainer to me, you want the work done correctly so you get someone to do that job who knows exactly what to do. I think you get what you pay for in this instance, you'll recoup the money you spent by being able to tell a buyer that the work was done professionally and is up to code.