How Long Does It Take You...

Question

To estimate a rehab? I went out and looked at a couple properties today and it took me about 45min to an hour to estimate a house rehab. I felt really slow haha. My Realtor was great about it, but I personally want to just get quicker. Any tips?

-Manuel

Aaron McGinnis · Answer

It really depends on the size of the house and the complexity. (Fair disclosure, I've written about 200 estimates in the past 12 months.)

Bizarrely enough, the bigger the job the less time it tends to take... It's easier to say "Full rewire for 2000sqft" than it is to say, "Rewire kitchen GFI, bath GFI, add fan to living room, blah blah blah"

It's easier to say, "House is 2000sqft and requires entirely new carpet and vinyl" than to say, "Living room - new carpet, Bath 1 - new tile, Basement, vinyl flooring..."

New construction is REALLY easy to ballpark, but isn't not for sure until you get solid plans in front of you.

Simple jobs for small houses (Paint, carpet, new fixtures) look a lot like me walking around counting doors, windows, toilets, flush lights, etc. on my fingers and toes. It's boring but goes pretty fast.

Pro tip - get a rolling tape measure (The big wheel type, not the small wheel type) and a laser tape measure. It will cost you a couple hundred, but it will speed up your estimating process significantly. It also makes GLA estimates easy as pie and measuring for privacy fences a snap.

The laser measure makes taking interior dimensions super fast and simple.

For measuring cabinets, however... I still use a standard reel tape measure - when it's a game played in half inches you need the accuracy.

J Scott · Answer

As others have said, it takes practice.  The first rehab I did took me about 5 months to accurately estimate...  :)

The second one took me several days.  Now I can do it as quickly as I can walk through the house, and within 10% of the actual costs nearly every time.

That said, when I encounter a house that is atypical for the type of rehab I typically do, it still takes me a decent amount of time...that will probably always be the case...

Jesse Tsai · Answer

Just keep practicing, and with time and experience, you'll be able to nail it with reasonable accuracy.

Some tips I would suggest:

Be able to eyeball the square footage of an area.
Get to know how much things like flooring and paint cost per square foot.

With those two, you just multiply the cost per sqft by the number of sqft that needs work for a quick estimate

Get to know how much it costs to replace common fixtures such as plumbing, electrical etc.

Once you have those down along with a few other things I may be leaving out, you can quickly add up all the line items to come up with an estimate.

My partner, assistant, and I can quickly come up with a repair estimate off pictures alone, but thats after a lot of practice.

Manuel A. · Answer

John  Espinosa Just pure flipping. I could understand what you mean when you say a quick $5k. One property did need carpet, tile, paint, new cabinets in the kitchen and baths (with granite tops). And I was thinking around $20k. Another house needs basically the same except it's bigger and needs some plumbing which I feel safe with $30k. But I'm not sure if my numbers are grossly overstated or understated, but I'll find out once I get the contract and get actual bids. It'll be a learning experience for sure. Today was a good day!

-Manuel

John Espinosa · Answer

Manuel,

Are you a wholesaler or a flipper, or a mixture of both?

I don't try to rush an estimate because whatever I come up with will affect my offer price. Ofcourse the longer you've been doing the faster you'll get. But I have yet to know anyone who can glance over a property inside and out and have a reliable number everytime. Only time I see this done is when you or someone have already flipped an identical property like next door or something and the properties are identical in the work needed.

I can understand when its several properties daily you are looking at, if thats the case maybe step it up on the due diligence before you even come out to any house therefore your not wasting time on the skinny deals.

But if you are a wholesaler, I appreciate you taking the time to do this for your clients. I hate hearing from someone "quick 5k rehab, paint and carpet and your done"

Keep up the goodwork and dont try to be too fast that you miss things.

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

Tip #1 - Keep doing it.  The more you do something, the faster you'll get at it.  Do it for houses you wouldn't even purchase, just to gain experience.