Jumping the line in a contractor’s cue

[Alex Kolbo]

• How do you get a contractor to commit to doing a rehab job for you fast right after purchasing a property before you even have the property bought? (Like if all the contractors are scheduling 3 months out but then you are wanting to buy a property in the next month and then have it rehabbed the month after…?) if you have only used the contractor once do you pay them a small portion of your estimated rehab costs up front to hold a spot for your job before you even know what the job is?

[Aaron Poling]

Think of this from the contractors point of view. You want the contractor to put you on their schedule for a property that you have not closed on, and could get delayed or fall through. If this is a good contractor, they probably have plenty of work to choose from, so this is asking them to take on a lot of risk. They have to pay their employees, pay their bills, and feed their families. If you want them to do this, the answer is easy just shift the risk from them to you. Guarentee the contractor full payment for the weekly work, even if you don't close. In this way, you are taking on the risk if your project gets delayed or falls through. You may think this sounds crazy but if the contractor takes on the risk this is exactly what you are asking them to do, except in lost wages and payments that they need to pay without the income coming in. 

Good Luck! Aaron

[JD Martin]

A reputable contractor won't jump you ahead of other customers. They may squeeze you in somewhere if things work out in such a way that they have a small block available and aren't putting someone else off - materials are on back order, or someone needs to delay a project for some reason, etc - but any contractor who says "Yeah, slip me a 20 and I'll just put this other guy off" is a sleazeball that you wouldn't want working for you anyway. 

And if you asked me to do it as a contractor, I would probably not work for you at all because I would find you distasteful. There's no harm in asking if they have an open slot, or if you can work around their other jobs - that's different. Most contractors who don't know you from Adam won't do it, but if you get a relationship sometimes it works out. I had a trashed house that needed the hardwood floors redone before I could re-rent it. I called my flooring contractor, who I've used lots before, and he told me he was booked pretty solid for the next month. I said to him "I understand - how about this - the place is empty, and I'll give you a key. If you get any down time during that month or slots where you need something to keep a guy busy, you can go there and work any time day or night". He agreed to that, and as it ended up they had a guy get hurt on a job they needed 3 guys on and were able to slip my job in because it only needed 2, and I only ended up waiting a week instead of a month. 

[Sergey A. Petrov]

Long term relationships have always worked for me. A reliable customer who pays on time, doesn’t micromanage a project, and trusts the crew to do it right will always get a leg up, often at the expense of other projects being put on hold. And when schedule really is driving your dollars (whether it is high interest on financing, ability to move a tenant in at a certain date or risk losing them or something else) and the contractor is working with several other reliable customers you can offer overtime rates, timely completion bonuses, or just plainly ask them what you can do to get the top priority. The answer might be simple - they might dealing with a complicated something that you may have an immediate solution to within your network!

[Alex Kolbo]

I realize my wording was confusing and my question title was misleading, Oops. I was thinking I would Pay them 25%-50% 3 months before the job since they are booking 3 months out. So maybe that is cutting in line? but I would be reserving the spot in line with money up front like everyone else just not sure what the job looked like exactly.

Thanks @Aaron Poling!

Thanks @JD Martin I really like that idea of giving them full access to the house whenever to fit in what they can when they can.

Thanks @Sergey A. Petrov! That is a good question I should try first! 

[Mike Dymski]

Scale matters...a lot.  Us part time investors have to get in line whereas other investors have full time contracting staff or fairly dedicated subs.  It's just the nature of the beast and the cost of contractor availability and timing factors into our purchase analysis.