Questions for Experienced BRRRR people

[Joshua Cole]

Essentially, I am a rookie investor in NC. I want to BRRRR properties in and around Charlotte area. The issue I'm running into is the NC law that says you basically cant DIY anything that you plan to rent. You can only DIY one property, the property that you live in, and then must wait a year before renting. The one year delay includes house hacking as well. You can only DIY cosmetic things, like floors, countertops, windows, etc... But if I wanted to do a real value add, like taking out a wall to extend a kitchen and add an island, even if there is no plumbing or electrical in it, you still must use a licensed contractor. Something as simple as sealing a concrete basement and adding dry wall, contractor... It seems that even if you're experienced in these fields, that experience is essentially worthless apart from assessing contractors. And if you chose to owner occupy, you would surely lose more money paying the full mortgage and renovation loan for 12 months + rehab time as opposed to just contracting it.

So my question is, how do you get around this? I understand this law is very similar in other states as well, yet I hear stories of people all the time doing major renovations on their own. Are they just unaware of the law and getting lucky no one found out? If they are, I'm assuming they're probably not getting permits either. The only viable solution I see is that you absolutely have to work with contractors. So you just have to take money, time and risk with each one to build a network of them. And get used to do nothing on your own other than cosmetic rehab. Another answer I would be interested in is how to value add without any of the major rehabs (plumbing, electric, structural, hvac). Any advice is greatly appreciated, sorry for the novel.