Building Rentals Instead of Rehabbing: Our Experience So Far

[Chase Calhoun]

Good morning, everyone 👋

I wanted to share a little bit about what we’ve been doing on the build-to-rent side lately and see who else here is heading down a similar path.

About five years ago, I built my first two new construction single-family rentals, and it was a real eye-opener. Up to that point, most of my portfolio consisted of heavy rehabs — profitable, but always full of surprises and ongoing maintenance.

With new construction, I quickly realized a few things:

• The builds were more systematizable than rehabs — easier to repeat and scale.

• Maintenance and CapEx costs have been almost zero outside of normal turnover.

• Tenants love that they’re getting a “new” house — fewer headaches for everyone.

This year we’ve been leaning into it hard. We just wrapped up this duplex (pics below 👇). It’s about $240K all in, worth around $275K, and rents for $1,095 per side.

Even though our local rental market has slowed a bit, these leased up fairly quickly. Each unit is about 850 sq. ft., with 9-foot ceilings that make them feel more spacious. We keep the finishes clean and modern but cost-effective — LVP flooring, shaker cabinets, and simple trim details that photograph and show really well.

We’ve also built a few similar duplexes for turnkey clients, and they’ve had strong success with both rent-up and ongoing performance.

For us, this model has proven to be:

• Scalable (our team can handle more new builds than rehabs)

• Predictable (fewer surprises than remodels)

• Attractive to tenants and investors alike

Curious if anyone else here is building new construction rentals — how are your numbers looking in your market? Are you planning to keep pushing this strategy, or pivoting based on rates and costs?

Would love to hear what’s working (or not) for others.

[Ed O.]

We've done a bunch of build to rents.  Congrats on your first. If you're all in with no money or little to no money out of pocket at 87% level you've done pretty good in this climate. 

We've had a lot of success working with Lowe's and their pro programs. If you're buying in volume and bulk, it would absolutely be worth talking to them. We revise what we want and characteristics of the homes we build from time to time. You're wise being careful not to over build.

It's a good looking build!