I've been listening to the podcasts and starting out as a real estate investor with a house hack. I bought a multi-family property that I intend to live in and got my offer accepted in Malden Massachusett!
Want to ask if anyone here has experience with drawing up plans, or know any good sub-contractors, electricians, plumbers, or HVAC professional in the greater Boston area. Or have any advice for starting a renovation project for someone who has no experience. Thanks in advance!
My name is Luis Reis, I am a licensed general contractor. I have been gut renovating homes in the Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington and Watertown areas for the last 7 years. I have a small team and a network of sub-contractors and also architects. Please let me know if I can be of help. DM if interested.
My name is Luis Reis, I am a licensed general contractor. I have been gut renovating homes in the Somerville, Cambridge, Arlington and Watertown areas for the last 7 years. I have a small team and a network of sub-contractors and also architects. Please let me know if I can be of help. DM if interested.
What work do you want to do? What needs to get done? How are you paying (cash vs loan)?
I have paid for a few renovations - and costs can vary a lot between contractors, so I would work on simplifying the scope (built in anything vs off the shelf is going to add cost).
And - systems are important. Like roof, plumbing, heating, and electric. If the home is 1900 and plumbing has never been touched, and electrical is old, you might want to replace vs slapping new tile over old plumbing lines. Also, better to replace tubs vs refinishing.
If your going exterior, interior etc that may be $150 psf+. True guts of 3 unit plus buildings may require sprinklers.
We have done skin deep renovations for much less (updating kitchen cabinets, appliances, bathrooms) without truly touching systems (besides any required updates such as electric to each appliance).
And - if you are renovating - determine best rental layouts - might not be the same as condo layouts.
Happy to connect you with contractors and architects I have used.
And permit processes can be a pain - but important to have.
Thanks for your response! Been very focused on talking to banks in the last couple days to find the lowest interest rate I can for my mortgage. My co-buyer and I will be paying for the renovations ourselves and also doing some of the work.
My next plan of action is to draw out the floor plan and think about how we are going to renovate so that when we talk with contractors we can give them more specific details on what we want to do.
There isn't much exterior work that needs to be done, most of it is interior.
Can you share more about the permitting process? When I talk with the town of Malden, do I just need to talk with the building and permits department? will they need drawings? or written description of what work will be done?
hey i'm also in MA! love to see other people investing in higher cost areas. my husband is a licensed and insured MA electrician: patrick 617-459-9402. if you don't have background in renovations/rehab i'd honestly hire it out, FAST. it's hard to find a GC that you can trust who's available and won't drain your bank acct. get at least 3 bids for the work, have rock solid contracts, pay weekly based on predetermined work being completed each week, etc. use local FB groups to get recs for great contractors. hope this helps!!
Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely contact your husband int the next week. I'm getting a full inspection to get a better idea of what we want to focus one when renovating/rehab. There seem to be multiple electrical systems so we definitely need an electrician!
As for permitting, if you are doing cosmetics renovation only...paint, floors...you won't need a permit; above that, everything else needs/must have a permit but it should be a fairly easy process as you are not doing any additions or exterior changes. If you are having layout changes you will need a simple existent plan and a proposed plan. For a full gut renovation you would need architectural plans, structural plans, HERS ratings.... feel free to go the city and talk to building inspectors, in my experience they are very helpful with homeowners, the contractor is always responsible for the permit application.
IMO you should analyse each area of the project, there are a lot of code violations in most of these old houses and once you apply for a permit to renovate a bathroom/kitchen you will have to bring everything in that area up to code, moreover, while a building inspector is in the project he has the authority to call out any code violation, specially unsafe ones.
You did mention multi-family, for three families and up, depending on what type of renovation you are doing, the city will require that you install a sprinkler system and fire alarm.