Creating a design guide for contractors?
BP! Here is the situation:
I am a first time investor and and am looking to purchase a foreclosure to rehab and resell. I have been really working on creating my systems to ease the process of a flip, as well as set up my business in a way that it can scale. I have decided for my first flip I will be using a GC because I feel I would be overwhelmed when estimating rehab costs for subcontractors. To ensure I do not go underwater on my first deal I have decided to just eat the extra cost of a GC, but make sure I get my money's worth by learning from him and his guys as they work. I fully intend to have myself and my eventual team manage rehabs completely, but for now I will be mitigating risk and maximizing my learning.
For my rehabs I am thinking of making a laminated packet that consists of a very in depth breakdown of how I want the rehab to look. I want it to include which materials to use, their product numbers, what each room needs to have in it, etc, all with pictures and descriptions making it basically fool proof. In BP Podcast 232, Nathan Brooks mentions that he does something similar and by constantly pounding how he wants his properties to look in his contractor's heads, the process becomes easier, quicker, and done better. I would have the GC and his guys pick up the materials on their own, but it would be the items I specify in my design packet. My hope is to have all my houses in a certain area be pretty much identical so the rehab process works like a machine once we've done a few flips with the same exact design scheme. The vision I have with this is me, my partners, agents, lenders, and contractors all know what our houses require material and labor wise every time (because they're all based off of the same design sheet) so everything is done fast and of great quality.
Is this system of doing things effective? Is this something that other investors are doing? I would love some insight on this and also on processes you have automated into your own business!
Thanks!