What is a good way to learn about rehab cost?
Most Popular Reply
David RobertsonBusiness Member
Flipper/Rehabber · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2010 · 757 posts · 778 votesI would start by reading JScott's Book on Estimating Rehab Costs to learn the basics. The pricing is outdated, but it will give you a general understanding of how to estimate the major repair categories.
Otherwise, this question get's asked ALOT, so I have created boilerplate list of the process of how you can learn to estimate costs. It's a process that takes time and experience:
#1 Read the Book on Estimating Rehab Costs
J Scott discusses the fundamentals of budgeting and pricing rehab costs and reveals the steps, tips, and tricks he uses to accurately estimate costs for 25 common trade categories and hundreds of repairs.
#2 Walk Through Distressed Properties and Spy on the Competition
Walk through a couple of rehabs that a local real estate investor has completed in your local market and study the types of repairs they made and the level of finishes they installed in the property.
Spying on the competition and understanding what buyers are looking for will help you determine what type of repairs and level of finishes you need to install in your own properties.
#3 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material Pricing
Walkthrough through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects. This will help you get a better idea of what tile, hardwood, carpet, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures costs for your rehabs.
#4 Contact Local Contractors For Pricing
As others have suggested pay a GC to walk through a few properties and provide budget pricing for typical repairs.
#5 Build Out Your Database in a Spreadsheet
Once you start to get a better understanding of Labor and Material costs you will want to store this data into a spreadsheet or software that you can use to help you streamline the estimating process.
#6 Practice, Practice, Practice
Walk through distressed fixer-upper properties (or find properties virtually online) and practice creating detailed scopes of work, quantifying repairs and estimating rehab costs for the projects.
This will help you get acquainted with common rehab repairs, rehab costs & estimating terminology.
#7 Get Your First Rehab Project!
You can practice all you want, but ultimately you will learn the most about estimating rehab costs by actually rehabbing a house. Getting your first rehab project will require you to create a SOW, talk to contractors, compare and review bid proposals, review budgets, & make countless trips to Home Depot.
You will inevitably make mistakes and underestimate things, but you will learn 90% of what you know by just doing your first rehab!
#8 Learn from Your Experience!
Once you complete your first house flip project, take some time to review your actual costs that you spent on the project and compare it to your initial estimates and budgets.
Reviewing your final numbers will help you gain a better understanding of how much you actually spent in each Category and identify areas where you underestimated cost and blew your budget.
When you buy your next house flip project you will have this valuable learning experience to help you build a more accurate estimate!
As your continue to do more and more houses, you'll gradually gain more experience and be able to develop accurate estimates quickly and confidently!
13 Replies
- Real Estate Agent · Kansas City · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes1y
Sit down with GCs, see if you can pay them for reviewing scopes of work. That would be a hard ask so the other option is analyze deals then pay GCs to walk before offering. You need to see actual scopes not broad estimates. In my area it's a few hundred bucks to pay a GC
- Member since 2025 · 5 posts · 0 votes1y
Quote from @Caleb Brown:
Sit down with GCs, see if you can pay them for reviewing scopes of work. That would be a hard ask so the other option is analyze deals then pay GCs to walk before offering. You need to see actual scopes not broad estimates. In my area it's a few hundred bucks to pay a GC
Thank you for your reply. Discussing directly with GC seems like accurate way to know. Would you normally hire GC to walk after inspection?
- Real Estate Agent · Kansas City · Member since 2018 · 4k+ posts · 3k+ votes1y
Quote from @Mike Shin:
Quote from @Caleb Brown:
Sit down with GCs, see if you can pay them for reviewing scopes of work. That would be a hard ask so the other option is analyze deals then pay GCs to walk before offering. You need to see actual scopes not broad estimates. In my area it's a few hundred bucks to pay a GC
Thank you for your reply. Discussing directly with GC seems like accurate way to know. Would you normally hire GC to walk after inspection?
I have a couple go to GCs that'll walk during the inspection. I estimate rehab beforehand then verify during.
- Member since 2025 · 5 posts · 0 votes1y
- 1yPeter MckernanBusiness MemberResidential Real Estate Agent · Irvine, CA · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
The best way to learn this is to get a few GCs, and start to check jobs out with them on the MLS/on-market. You will need to probably pay these people if they are just bidding jobs for you randomly for you to learn and not do deal.. If you are using one or a few, I would be upfront with them. The guys I use, I use them on a ton of jobs and refer them out too so they are getting paid by my jobs and others, so when we call they go out and give free bids all the time. If you are farther away from doing a deal, then I would tell them your goals and plans to get to start doing deals but this is a learning process.
The timeframe to get the numbers down is not quick so be patient and be sure to continue to do it you'll get better at it the more you have under your belt.
The McKernan Group4.957 Reviews - 1yDavid RobertsonBusiness MemberFlipper/Rehabber · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2010 · 757 posts · 778 votes
I would start by reading JScott's Book on Estimating Rehab Costs to learn the basics. The pricing is outdated, but it will give you a general understanding of how to estimate the major repair categories.
Otherwise, this question get's asked ALOT, so I have created boilerplate list of the process of how you can learn to estimate costs. It's a process that takes time and experience:
#1 Read the Book on Estimating Rehab Costs
J Scott discusses the fundamentals of budgeting and pricing rehab costs and reveals the steps, tips, and tricks he uses to accurately estimate costs for 25 common trade categories and hundreds of repairs.
#2 Walk Through Distressed Properties and Spy on the Competition
Walk through a couple of rehabs that a local real estate investor has completed in your local market and study the types of repairs they made and the level of finishes they installed in the property.
Spying on the competition and understanding what buyers are looking for will help you determine what type of repairs and level of finishes you need to install in your own properties.
#3 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material Pricing
Walkthrough through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects. This will help you get a better idea of what tile, hardwood, carpet, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures costs for your rehabs.
#4 Contact Local Contractors For Pricing
As others have suggested pay a GC to walk through a few properties and provide budget pricing for typical repairs.
#5 Build Out Your Database in a Spreadsheet
Once you start to get a better understanding of Labor and Material costs you will want to store this data into a spreadsheet or software that you can use to help you streamline the estimating process.
#6 Practice, Practice, Practice
Walk through distressed fixer-upper properties (or find properties virtually online) and practice creating detailed scopes of work, quantifying repairs and estimating rehab costs for the projects.
This will help you get acquainted with common rehab repairs, rehab costs & estimating terminology.
#7 Get Your First Rehab Project!
You can practice all you want, but ultimately you will learn the most about estimating rehab costs by actually rehabbing a house. Getting your first rehab project will require you to create a SOW, talk to contractors, compare and review bid proposals, review budgets, & make countless trips to Home Depot.
You will inevitably make mistakes and underestimate things, but you will learn 90% of what you know by just doing your first rehab!
#8 Learn from Your Experience!
Once you complete your first house flip project, take some time to review your actual costs that you spent on the project and compare it to your initial estimates and budgets.
Reviewing your final numbers will help you gain a better understanding of how much you actually spent in each Category and identify areas where you underestimated cost and blew your budget.
When you buy your next house flip project you will have this valuable learning experience to help you build a more accurate estimate!
As your continue to do more and more houses, you'll gradually gain more experience and be able to develop accurate estimates quickly and confidently!
- Investor · Prescott Valley, AZ · Member since 2017 · 27 posts · 13 votes1yI’ve been using David’s House Flipping Spreadsheet and FlipperForce app to estimate costs and analyze deals for a while now. Super easy and detailed. The free version has a lot to offer, especially if you’re just getting into it. Make sure to update the costs for your local market, which as others have pointed out, can be done by getting bids from local contractors.
Quote from @David Robertson:
I would start by reading JScott's Book on Estimating Rehab Costs to learn the basics. The pricing is outdated, but it will give you a general understanding of how to estimate the major repair categories.
Otherwise, this question get's asked ALOT, so I have created boilerplate list of the process of how you can learn to estimate costs. It's a process that takes time and experience:
#1 Read the Book on Estimating Rehab Costs
J Scott discusses the fundamentals of budgeting and pricing rehab costs and reveals the steps, tips, and tricks he uses to accurately estimate costs for 25 common trade categories and hundreds of repairs.
#2 Walk Through Distressed Properties and Spy on the Competition
Walk through a couple of rehabs that a local real estate investor has completed in your local market and study the types of repairs they made and the level of finishes they installed in the property.
Spying on the competition and understanding what buyers are looking for will help you determine what type of repairs and level of finishes you need to install in your own properties.
#3 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material Pricing
Walkthrough through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects. This will help you get a better idea of what tile, hardwood, carpet, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures costs for your rehabs.
#4 Contact Local Contractors For Pricing
As others have suggested pay a GC to walk through a few properties and provide budget pricing for typical repairs.
#5 Build Out Your Database in a Spreadsheet
Once you start to get a better understanding of Labor and Material costs you will want to store this data into a spreadsheet or software that you can use to help you streamline the estimating process.
#6 Practice, Practice, Practice
Walk through distressed fixer-upper properties (or find properties virtually online) and practice creating detailed scopes of work, quantifying repairs and estimating rehab costs for the projects.
This will help you get acquainted with common rehab repairs, rehab costs & estimating terminology.
#7 Get Your First Rehab Project!
You can practice all you want, but ultimately you will learn the most about estimating rehab costs by actually rehabbing a house. Getting your first rehab project will require you to create a SOW, talk to contractors, compare and review bid proposals, review budgets, & make countless trips to Home Depot.
You will inevitably make mistakes and underestimate things, but you will learn 90% of what you know by just doing your first rehab!
#8 Learn from Your Experience!
Once you complete your first house flip project, take some time to review your actual costs that you spent on the project and compare it to your initial estimates and budgets.
Reviewing your final numbers will help you gain a better understanding of how much you actually spent in each Category and identify areas where you underestimated cost and blew your budget.
When you buy your next house flip project you will have this valuable learning experience to help you build a more accurate estimate!
As your continue to do more and more houses, you'll gradually gain more experience and be able to develop accurate estimates quickly and confidently!
- Member since 2025 · 5 posts · 0 votes1y
@Peter Mckernan It makes sense I need to talk with local GCs to understand more realistic estimates. Before you built your relationship with your GC, what was the most effective way you used to find potential GCs?
- Member since 2025 · 5 posts · 0 votes1y
@David Robertson Thank you for such thorough instructions. I actually just purchased his book few minutes before reading your comments. I was a little concerned that this book was written in 2019 and I am assuming the cost has gone up significantly since then. But I'm glad it can still be useful. Once I finish the book, I will follow your step by step guide and hopefully I can be ready for my first investment.
- 1yDerek SimkinsPro MemberRental Property Investor · Asheville, NC · Member since 2018 · 42 posts · 18 votes
Following the gurus for underwriting theory is great so you have a better understanding of what to look for. Getting reps in with GCs is the best way to apply all of that and ask tons of questions
- 12 Penns Trail Suite 138 Newtown, PA 18940 · Member since 2023 · 1k+ posts · 319 votes1y
Everything is usually per sq ft . Best is to get 3 bids and divide the number by the square footage and you'll be able to gauge approximately what the market is per sq ft for a full rehab
- Member since 2025 · 5 posts · 1 vote1y
Howdy Mike! I agree that reading about different books on estimating rehab cost is a great start to become aware of the different costs and risks you could run into rehabbing a property. When I first started out I would go to active jobsites and literally give them a free's day's work just to pick there brain, learn their prices, and how it's supposed to be done right.
-What I found is it's very common to do use cost per sqft unless the property is under 800sqft (for ex. you can't contract your labor at $1sqft for flooring if it's only 500sqft. It would then switch to day labor rate, which is custom to the trade.
***BE VERY CAREFUL GOING SOLO, you can have those number's mastered and know it like the back of your hand. But if you don't really know the process you don't know the risk.
Using these average sqft cost for your rehab is great to get a idea if the property will still match your cap rate after your rehab cost. However, I always recommend a professional to take a look. All it takes is one mistake behind a wrapped wall or a roof line that you think might look OK.
I recommend to always continue learning the process, read books, talk to contractors, and even work with them. However, this is just to create confidence and knowledge in your field and what to look for.
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