DIY vs. Hiring a Contractor – What's Your Approach?

Question

For those of you working on fix-and-flip projects, I’d love to hear your thoughts on managing the rehab process. Do you tackle most of the work yourself to save costs, or do you prefer hiring a general contractor to handle the project?

What are the pros and cons of each approach in your experience? Looking forward to hearing how you all manage your flips and any tips you have for others!

Ying Tang · Answer

I did a lot of things myself for my own house. My flooring guy ran away to another state after he started. I quoted around and people just raised prices because they knew I was desperate. I then bought a lot of tools, the saws that I've never seen in my life and finished the project with the help of a friend. I was installing hardwood flooring over 10 hours a day...I paid so much attention to the details to make sure everything was done top quality, and I can proudly say that the work quality is better than 90% of contractors. But...it's an experience I would never want to revisit again... just write a check and hire someone would be my future choice...unless they quote me crazy high price and I know I can do it at a fraction of price..

Matthew Tyson · Answer

I have yet to find a GC that allows me to be hands off or been a complete bozo. I am in San Antonio. Not saying they don't exist, just not my luck. I swore after the first flip, even though it was incredibly profitable, I would be more thorough on the hiring and interview process. Didn't matter, he was worthless. I swear he must have gone to 5 grandmother's funerals in 3 months. Now I Sub everything out myself. I have a few select trades that I swear by, my Electrician, HVAC, Roofer, Plumber, foundation crew, and select and sub out the rest as needed. Not sure I am saving money due to the cost vs. time aspect but at least I have more control and oversight and can hit a harder timeline without the added B.S. In a perfect world I would hand complete my full scope of work, open it to GC bids, select and do a weekly check in to write checks, just haven't been that lucky.

Juan Cristales · Answer

I feel your pain! It's like you're telling my story. People call me a control freak, I like to call myself a "control enthusiast." (talking about me personally by the way...) All jokes aside, mastery in this field requires that you get into the weeds of it because it's only then that you know what good looks like. I'm sure you can probably do a rehab in your sleep and hitting HARD timelines in my opinion is good for my mental health and budget.

Peter Mckernan · Answer

Hiring a GC unless you are going to eventually get your GC license is a time and money saver. A solid GC that will be at the project every day and handling any unforeseen issues that were not seen on purchase, managing the guys and getting permits done will save you so much time and money. I know that this is tough to think about when the GC could be taken 15-30% roughly of the project cost for their own business, but that is a number that you need to build into your numbers when running the analysis on a property. I would hire one and do for my flips.

An example of this... I was remodeling a place (primary) almost three years ago. I was using a licensed contractor. We did not pull permits on the remodel and a neighbor called the city on us. We got red tagged and the projected stopped. The contractor that day went to the city and sat for SEVEN hours to get permits pulled while getting everything completed with the city to start the process again. He also met the inspector each time they came out and also made sure that the project did not get significantly delayed (before permits 6 weeks projected finish, after permits only took 2 extra weeks).

Juan Cristales · Answer

You're right about the inspectors being generous, especially if you're upfront that you're a newbie and could use some guidance. They WANT investors like us to learn how to do it right.

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Juan-

Jules Aton · Answer

This was similar to our experience early on when we really just didn't have the money to spend. We hired someone for the mechanicals and tried to do the rest ourselves while living in it. After doing three that took far longer than is even believable we started hiring a GC.  I've done deals in three cities, two states and they have all had their pros and cons. There was only one time that I had minimal babysitting and no surprises but it was also extremely expensive. Fortunately overall it has worked out ok but definitely not passive anything.

Steve Smith · Answer

I don't lift a hammer for my rentals or rehabs. Hire it all done, some with handymen and some with licensed folks, depending.

But i could argue to get enough experience, perhaps hands on, to understand what goes into projects, how long they take, what's required and be able to troubleshoot issues.

Your time making another deal is far more valuable than wasting  it on construction labor.

Juan Cristales · Answer

Yeah man.. it's tough at the beginning to learn how to assess rehabs without having some level of experience in either doing it yourself or hiring people out.

Juan-

Juan Cristales · Answer

Too true.. once you go through the process, you get an appreciation for the work and you quickly realize that our time is better spent elsewhere. Appreciate you being transparent about it!

Juan-

DIY vs. Hiring a Contractor – What's Your Approach?

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