Do you have a remote interior designer you use to show a GC what you have in mind?

Question

I'm reading all these books on flipping and sure I can find motivated sellers, driving for dollars, mail letter campaigns, etc. Heck, even just using the MLS I can find stuff listed for sale. A quick email may find out if they want to accept lower payments if it needs reno/rehab. However, I'm doing a lot remotely (have to keep the full time job as well) so I'm wondering if I can take photos (or use listing photos) and some measurements to send it to an interior designer to get a design idea and send that to a GC prior to going under contract to get a rehab cost.

There's a lot to take in and I'm trying my best - I won't be pursuing any flips for a few more months yet (unless something really jumps at me or I actually get an answer on my hail mary contract emails) but determining the cost of repairs or modernization and finding properties that need some TLC but not major reno and estimating costs is my hurdle. For instance, it's easy to look at a property and know the walls, floors, appliances, etc all need to go and I'm looking at $60 on an ARV of $150k and working around that.

It's much harder to find a 180k ARV listed at $175k and negotiate that price down based on knocking down a wall, redoing some cabinets, and replacing some flooring. I feel like the less reno there is the tighter the margin and the harder it is to pull off. Having interior design to create images and such to show a GC will help accuracy and speed of quotes for all involved.

Thanks in advance!

Alan F. · Answer

Contractors bid off of blue prints, email them out in PDF. Attach  spec sheets for finishes and accepted alternatives.

Renee Krystek · Answer

You’re totally on the right track, and it’s great that you’re already thinking about rehab estimates and design early in the process. And yes, so much of this can be done virtually now, which is a game-changer for remote investors.

We’ve worked with a few investors doing something really similar: they’ll send over listing photos, floor plans, or even just a walk-through video along with their goals. From there, we help them develop a design concept that’s both GC-friendly and budget-conscious. It’s helped them avoid surprises and tighten up cost estimates before going under contract.

It’s definitely possible, it just depends on your budget and the scope of the project!

James McGovern · Answer

Isn't that the purpose of wives and girlfriends to be interior designers for your real estate

Jason Eyerly · Answer

The stress of a relationship isn't worth it. I like interior design I just don't have the time.

Evan Polaski · Answer

@Jason Eyerly, flipping is not a "remote" job in my experience.  If I were you, I would try to find a partner where you are the money (or part of the money) and they are the local project manager (hopefully also with some money).  Maybe you put in 2/3 of the money, project manager puts in 1/3, and profits are split 50/50, since PM is doing all the oversight, touring properties, etc.

Specific to design costs: given the price points you reference in your examples, you don't have budget for any designer.  A cheap finish selection designer will likely cost you $5-7k.  They will give you cabinet, paint color, tile, light fixtures, and maybe some floor planning services.  But they are not going to go into detail about which walls are load bearing or not, which have electical and duct work in them, all of which will greatly impact the cost to implement their design.

And if you want full service design to actually account for all the issues that will actually arise, you are likely looking at 20k+ for design work + 5-10% of total rehab cost.  This would be on top of any GC costs, and is to make on the fly changes when demo uncovers issues that were not known, and need to be accounted for.

Jason Eyerly · Answer

There are people doing it! Successfully! All over biggerpockets.

James McGovern · Answer

Finding a GC in this manner is risky especially if English is not their native language. Likewise if a GC discovers something wrong on site send photos back and forth will burn a lot of daylight