New Austin Duplex

[Jon Klaus]

We are approaching the half way mark on this project. It's a 4000 SF duplex, one mile east of the state capital. We plan to sell the units to 2 different owner occupants. Planning to finish by the end of March. Also working on a very similar duplex 2 miles away.

[Jon Klaus]

Originally posted by @Karen Margrave:

@Jon Klaus Well, don't be shy, post more pics! I really like it. How much are you asking for each duplex? Also, where in the process do you start marketing the property? What is your model for your business? (# of people that work for you, what they do, etc.) Do you personally run your jobs?

We relocated to southern California from far northern California when the market crashed. We were one of the largest contractors there, until the market crashed, and we took a tumble, and we are, starting up new.

Right now it's just me (general contractor, real estate agent, marketing, sales, administration, social media, etc.), my son (real estate agent, residential design and project management), my husband (broker, accounting, cost breakdowns, project management, bids, broker) and our son in law (electrical contractor). As we start doing more projects, we will hire bookkeeper, and shift things a bit.

You mention on your project that it's a duplex. Here in order to sell they have to be "condos", you don't have that there?

Ah, lots of good questions.

We like to wait until it's time to list to price, but for right now when we get inquiries, we'll say high $500K's per side. We have a sign in the yard now, but will wait to list until it is complete. It's on a corner and has good visibilty. We've had 7 inquiries so far. I expect we will get offers before we list, like we did on the last one we built in this neighborhood.

Business structure is loose, varies per project. Different entities and investors might be in different projects. We (partner and me) do have a dedicated GC now. I've worked with others though, and will again, Bryan Hancock, for one. My job tends to be finding lots and financing. My partner's job is to get them built and sold.

Our GC has his own crew, as well as sub relationships. There is high demand for subs, so when we get stuck waiting, the GC can do most work, and will. However, as we scale, we need to keep him managing projects, and not getting his hands dirty.

Yes, we will set up a condo regime to sell the units separately.

It sounds like your business is the definition of a family business. That's great. We need a bookkeeper, too. We're thinking about a full time admin/bookkeeper.