I love fix and flipping homes and buying rental properties.<\/p>\n
I love the money you can make and finding great deals, but my biggest problem has been working with contractors. \u00a0I have 9 fix and flips going right now and I can’t find good people to fix them!\u00a0 I have interviewed new contractors, hired new contractors, used old contractors and I am having no luck finding enough great contractors to keep up with the work. \u00a0I have decided to take my own advice and focus on how to improve my luck with contractors by writing out this article<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the past I have never had so many fix and flips going at once.<\/p>\n I also had a great contractor who was a little slow, but could handle a few jobs at once and do a good job. \u00a0However, on one of the last flips I had this contractor work on we ran into major problems.<\/p>\n He hired a worker who used to work for a HUD field service company.\u00a0 I know the kind of work many HUD field service companies do so I was a little worried about how it would work out.<\/p>\n The contractor let this worker do a major rehab that was over $40,000.\u00a0 New kitchen, new bath, rebuild trusses in the roof (because the previous owners had taken out a support wall), new doors, new paint in and out and a bunch of minor items were fixed on this house.<\/p>\n Immediately we had problems on this job including cabinets hung over an inch off level, horrible drywall finish work, bad paint jobs and more.\u00a0 I talked with the contractor and he admitted the work was bad and had it redone.\u00a0 The job also took almost 4 months to finish, which was way too long.<\/p>\n The worst part is the contractor told me the job was done three times; I drove out to the house 15 miles away and it wasn’t done!\u00a0 His worker was telling him it was done when it wasn’t.<\/p>\n I decided to give the contractor another chance, because he promised he would never use this worker again on my houses.\u00a0 He admitted he was good at plumbing and electrical, but not painting or drywall.\u00a0 He said he had other guys who could work on another flip I had ready to work on.<\/p>\n The new house took almost two months to finish and less than $10,000 in work was done.\u00a0 New paint, new bath, a few new cabinets and other minor times were all that were needed.<\/p>\n Guess what?\u00a0 The few cabinets that were added were hung crooked!\u00a0 The contractor used the same worker he promised he wouldn’t use for the entire job. When I asked him about it he said he never remembered telling me he wouldn’t use him.<\/p>\n Having to fire this contractor happened at a very inopportune time, because I had so many flips I was buying.<\/p>\n I used an old contractor for one flip who I stopped using because he got very expensive and slow.\u00a0 I started using a contractor who is a licensed plumber and who has been great to me as a plumber.<\/p>\n He wanted to go out on his own doing full remodels and I helped him get started with a job on one my flips. \u00a0I also hired a brand new contractor that I found through Home Depot.\u00a0 He sounded awesome, had a great crew, and promised short turn times.<\/p>\n Related:<\/strong> The Investor\u2019s Guide to Working with Contractors<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n The contractor who I used to use and decided to try again is being very slow, but getting the job done.<\/p>\n The plumber is doing awesome, but he is not big\u00a0enough to handle multiple jobs yet.\u00a0 He has hired another guy to work with him and I have high hopes for the future.<\/p>\n The new contractor is doing a flip, but his bid was higher than I hoped and he is taking way longer than he said it would take. \u00a0I had him bid two new jobs and his bids were astronomically high. \u00a0He also has been sketchy on getting bids back quickly and returning phone calls.<\/p>\n I bit the bullet and paid for Angie’s List last week.<\/p>\n It only cost me $7.99 for the entire year, so I wasn’t too upset about the cost (I remember it being much higher). \u00a0I am meeting two contractors in the next week I found off Angie’s List.\u00a0 I hope they can help me get some more properties fixed\u00a0and sold so I can buy more.<\/p>\nMy luck With Past Contractors<\/h2>\n
My Luck With New Contractors<\/h2>\n
The Results of the New Contractors<\/h2>\n
I Have no Choice But to Hunt for More Contractors!<\/h2>\n