Do Good Reliable Contractors Exhist for Smaller Investors with Big Projects?

Question

After flipping and rehabbing a few house I still come to you BP members with my BIGGEST problem in real estate. Soo, I am not big enough to run with my own crew. Contractors, if they are good are busy. I totally understand that, however............ what is up with contractors in general! Often they will come out to a site and if you ever get a bid from them it is a miracle! What, is that? Did they just feel like spending an hour of their time with me because...????srsly??Brandon o BP said, " you should find out who other people are using." Uhhh not so much Brandon. As it has turned out or at least for me, it is as though you are asking for directions to the Holy Grail. I ask everyone................you know what they tell me.............nothing. Everyone will share where they find leads. No one is sharing contractors!

If however you do find a contractor and even if you have worked with these guys before, and were willing to wait as they did a great job. I have found no consistency from one job to the next. Just today I found myself taking pics and sending it to a contractor telling him what needs to be fixed as the job was not good.

Finally, the time factor. I have listened to every podcast. Yup, sure enough I am losing $40 a day everyday that this project is not completed and this unit is not rented. The contractor promised delivery last Wednesday and it is now Tuesday, mostly done but it is a bad job to say the least. Can someone please give me some advise. I am soo frustrated and feel as though I have got to be missing something. Seriously, what tips can you give me to get me through some of these issues?

Paige

#Colorado Springs Contractor Frustrated

Leann W. · Answer

My husband is a semi-retired GC here in NC. Before we started flipping houses ( newbies with two successful closings under our belt!) I tried to get him to think about a "handy-man" biz for himself. When he was supervising for other companies back in the day, he also had a trim company on the side and was able to get most of the trim work as well. Point is- he has skillz. He enjoys painting and does a professional job. He is detail-oriented about everything he does and when he starts a project, he's like a dog on a bone... pushes hard to finish and finish well. At our own home, he rebuilt a dock, down to the piers; he installed a sprinkler system, he professionally spray-painted our kitchen cabinets, installed tile in the basement, refinished hardwood floors that had been hiding under carpet for 50+ years, etc. I think he could be a Godsend to most people who "need some work done" around their house. He doesn't want to mess with it. Why? #1- he doesn't want to compete with the guy who has signs out saying he paint a room for $75. He doesn't want to deal with people who don't want to pay for his expertise and labor.

Oh, and another thing. One thing my hubby always ensured when he had subs working under him... everybody got paid. They knew that when they submitted their bills to him (which he would submit to his boss)... they knew they were gonna get paid ASAP. VERY KEY to build loyalty. If you pay people well and on-time.... they will jump every time you call. It takes a little time to build those relationships. Good Luck.

Manolo D. · Answer

It is all about time management, and most small contractors are poor at that. You will have to up a caliber on your hunt, where they charge you $50-60/hr and have working superintendents on the jobs, they work more on jobs like commercial state or more than your regular joe that has tools and truck. I have at least 5 guys per trade that I could call, even with that, in some days, all of them are busy, and I had to call an electrician to do a plumbers job, not that they don't know how to do it, they are just slower than my plumbers, and they are of lesser quality in workmanship. On the bright side, they still get the job done at an acceptable level (for me at least). The higher the contractor charges, the more you get the job done quickly.

On another note, I am also picky on my customers, just because someone has a $100k rehab project, it doesn't mean I want to take it because there is money to be made, we had to look for workability, standard, expected quality, contracting knowledge of a client, we are screening you as you are screening us. If a client calls me and doesn't know what he wants, I won't bid on it, I don't want the headache of arguing with a bid I made on a countertop that costs $100/slab and he expected $400/slab.

Others won't give you recommendations, it might be that, they are using these contractors often and they don't want to fill their schedule. When I do not have work for my employees, they go freelance, after I call them back for a couple of week jobs, they immediately jump in, and on the first few days on the job, they are on the phone at least every 2 hours cancelling everything that they scheduled for, so yeah, I understand your point. The only difference is, since I am giving them more hours, then of course I get priority, the same thing goes with investors.

J Scott · Answer

Contractors are tougher now than a few years ago when the market was soft and even the great contractors were in need of work...

These days, you have two choices -- find perfect contractors and let them run with the project, or find not-so-perfect contractors and manage them closely. The first type will tend to be much more expensive; the second type will tend to be much greater headache. Your choice -- money or headaches?

Occasionally, you'll find a very good contractor that is not too expensive. Those are the holy grail, and you need to treat them like gold.

George P. · Answer

at least 99 percent of us have this issue. contractors are like bread. they are either bad from the start or go stale very quickly.

very difficult to keep working with the same guy for more than one project. of course there are exceptions

Paige Kelsey · Answer

So I guess the question is ..........is it better then to go with a GC and just pay to have it done right?? I have been the GC on the last couple of flips running back and fourth to regional builders etc but omg full time job! Also, what if a contractors is finishing the job a week or 2 later than expected. Do you guys put timelines in contracts and does that help?? Ps With regards to having jobs bid know that I am not changing my mind at all. I am coming with plans and an exact idea of what needs to be done. The problem is also that if one crew is off by a week then you can not schedule the next so the entire project is delayed. The bottom line is that if each crew is 2-7 days behind then your entire project could potentially take months longer.- thanks for your feedback everyone- mysery loves company?

Aaron McGinnis · Answer

All I ever want... is money and time... million dollar bills, and the tick tick tick...

@J Scott hit it on the head - if you want a good, reliable contractor expect to pay dearly for it. The bucks running around with a cell phone and a truck are guaranteed to screw it up sooner or later because they don't know how to run a business.... they also get desperate and stupid and will sign contracts with iffy P&L ramifications. (IE: Most investor jobs)

Meanwhile the guys with a real business who have real systems and employees to assure that things aren't getting screwed up learned LONG AGO that they had to charge about 5x more than the buck in a truck, and know better than to even sign a contract that won't assuredly pay them at the end of the day. (IE: Most investor jobs)

Nicole Pettis · Answer

I'm learning its difficult. Like @George P. mentioned sometimes they get stale at the end. My opinion is that most of them get into the independent contracting industry because they don't want to work for someone, but then they realize everything that goes with running their own business and its not the kind of stuff they want to do & you are still working for someone...the client;)

Or you can have someone like I do that doesn't want to listen to your direction and just do things how he wants them done, because he's been doing things for 20 years and doesn't want to listen to a rookie.

Majority of contractors are difficult. There are some great ones, but like others have mentioned, they are so busy that its difficult to get them on your jobs. So its just part of the territory that we have to accept as flippers. Just always have a list of people so if one falls out you can call another.

Good luck!

Do Good Reliable Contractors Exhist for Smaller Investors with Big Projects?

Do Good Reliable Contractors Exhist for Smaller Investors with Big Projects?

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