How to time buying a property with contractor availability

Question

Hello, BP community!

My name is Jeff am I'm a new investor. And by new investor, I mean I'm soaking up all the knowledge I can from BP books, podcasts and forums, as well as using the BP calculator to begin practicing my deal analysis.

Interested to hear from you all your experiences of buying real estate without having your own contractors dedicated to only your properties. How do you line up contractor availability with the purchase of a rental property without also having your own property management team that's waiting on the wings to get in and get your property ready for tenants? I imagine that it also depends on the amount of work needed. This would probably be harder with more distressed properties that need fixed quickly rather than properties that require fixes we could do ourselves.

I'm a homeowner of a home I will be renting out one day soon (BP calculator tells me it has the potential to cash flow a bit) and I know that getting on a contractor's calendar can take months! How are you all working through this reality?

Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences and wisdom!

Jeff

Napoleon DeCiutiis · Answer

^^^ This is the best reply in all of Building/Contractor Land.

I am currently developing and the only way to keep on schedule/ahead is to pay them immediately and let the loans pay you back on the end.  Contractors/Subs are like any other business/service...no one likes working on credit, because the bills don't wait.

You could hit up the GC's in your area, see what their availability is, tell them what your plan is, and see if they can accommodate you.  Human interaction is the best - break open the yellow pages and contact them all.  Good luck- it's doable and there are a plethora of people on here who have done harder.

Matthew Paul · Answer

You dont time  buying a property based on contractor availibility . If you have to wait on a good contractor , thats what you do .

As a contractor , I dont care if you are an investor , landlord , or homeowner . Its all the same price , same margins to us .

@Jeff Gala You wont have a team in place until you start handing over cash , and those team members wont move quickly until you fork over more cash .

Jeff Gala · Answer

Hey, Matthew! I appreciate your perspective as a contractor! And that makes sense - would absolutely rather wait on a contractor that I’ve relied on before and that’s great instead of trying to get whoever I can in to do the work.

Also something I should build into my deal analysis for sure. Thank you!