Knoxville, TN Full Gut w/ addition
Rental Property Investor · Knoxville, TN · Member since 2011 · 701 posts · 531 votes
Hey y'all, I purchased this gem recently and decided to post it here as a diary, both to share my experience with the community and to more selfishly use it as a learning tool to help improve my business. I'm currently reorganizing my business and the processes used to acquire, organize, and manage my rehabs in the most efficient manner. Since this is a larger project I know it will serve as a great reference tool for me once the project is complete, I hope it can be of some use to others.
The house is a 1925 colonial that has been sitting vacant for at least 10yrs. The house is being gutted to the studs, there will be a 2 story addition on the west side that includes a 2 car garage and a 500sf master suite on the 2nd floor and a porch conversion on the east side. There is also foundation and structural repairs to be done.
Welp, I need to update this as I committed to following through to the end. It's been 27 days since my last update.
The plumbing delay ended-up delaying the project longer than 2 weeks. The schedule had the carpenters going between 2 of my projects which was working smoothly until the plumbing delay. The plumber delay altered that schedule so they understandably took another job to stay busy. This added another week delay to our schedule which has created a 3 week delay overall now.
As of today we've completed all framing, installed the roof, MEP rough-ins, installed the windows, and have waterproofed the foundation. We have insulation, backfilling, and start yard work this week and with sheetrock starting by the end of the week hopefully but likely next Monday.
Once we have the sheetrock start date confirmed we'll re-schedule the trim crew. The paint, tile, and flooring crews are pretty flexible but with the hot market combined with local wildfires this past summer it has become difficult to get carpenters, especially good trim carpenters on-site in my area right now. Fortunately I have a good relationship with my trim crew but I may still run into another small delay if they're finishing up another house. Getting the next 2-3 phases re-confirmed this week will be a priority.
@Christopher B. This is a great field report! I've learnt a lot (had to lookup some terms as I'm a newbie). Keep up the great work. Looking forward to reading more about your progress.
Best of luck.
@Omar Khan Thanks and I'm glad my project could provide some insight. I'm in the process of moving so haven't had much time lately but will follow-up with an update soon. I expected to be done in early June and we're just now finishing sheetrock, I'm not happy about the delays. Even though I've done numerous large rehabs like this I still made some mistakes that has been costly on my schedule. I'll get into that more in later posts, hopefully it will highlight some things to be careful of and prevent mistakes for others.
@Christopher B. Looking forward to it. Greater insight will always be appreciated.
Want to learn how to plan for these kind of activities before hiring GCs and handymen. This way, I can get an idea of what's going on, what areas to expect delays and learn from mistakes in a pro-active manner.
@Omar Khan, that's a smart approach.
We just finished sheetrock and the first coat of paint. Floor repairs/install has begun with tile starting Monday.
Why it took 4 months to get here.
1. We started off fast, the GC and framing crews blew through the 2 additions but bogged down a bit in the interior framing repairs. It's difficult to list every little detail when doing a rehab like this on a 92yr old home. I didn't have some items on the SOW, the main framing crew left, and the 2nd crew had other obligations before they could get back around. = Delays. So work very hard to make sure your SOW is detailed. Walk the project with your GC and/or subs and verify everything is accounted for before you finalize your SOW and sign contracts.
2. As mentioned in a previous post, the issues truly began when my plumber walked-off the jobsite the morning he was to begin rough-in. This still surprises me and the situation is a bit long to post here. I don't feel there was much else I could have done to prevent this event, it is obvious he was frustrated about some things or he wouldn't have walked. Lesson: keep up with your guys, take care of them, keep your good ones happy, and let them know they're appreciated. Have relationships with 2-3 subs for each trade for these situations because as much as you try contractors will come and go. This cost me 3 weeks in time and $2k in additional costs as I didn't have anyone else to call.
3. Failed framing inspection. This is only the 2nd time I have failed a framing inspection and the first time was a small concern (extra fire blocking). There were 2 primary issues, 1)an LVL was missized in the garage by the supply house and,2) the wrong sized headers were installed in the kitchen. The GC took 50% of the responsibility and cited our contract structure as a reason he didn't feel responsible for the 2 wrong headers. He repaired the LVL's at his cost and the headers at a reduced rate charged to me. I wasn't happy about this as I felt the GC passed the buck but with the delays my focus was to get the project to the next phase. The GC had done good work and managed the project well I felt until this point. Sometimes you want to speak your mind a little more clearly to people but have to focus on getting the best outcome in your situation. This cost another week delay and about $1500 in additional costs. Lesson learned here is contract structure and clarity on the front end. Your GC and professional trades should always be 100% responsible for passing your inspections, they're the professionals and are asking for pay as such, hold them accountable here and don't let this happen to you. Make sure it's in your contract and point it out when signing.
4. Sheetrock delayed 2 weeks. The first week is because the house was in limbo due to the failed inspection. We couldn't commit to an exact date as the inspector was giving us a hard time on some items so the s.rockers understandably took other work. Once ready the house stood idle for 1 week waiting on sheetrock to begin. The 2nd week of delay here was due to the skeleton crew sent by the sheetrock company. I believe this was a good example of a sub putting their more important customers, GC's, ahead of less important customers, in this case me. This will happen when you break timelines with your subs so work hard to try to meet the schedule. The sheetrock was supposed to be done in 2 weeks, it took over 3.
5. Trim crew, an additional week delay. My trim crew is a family business and they informed me about 5 weeks ago about their planned vacation. The goal was to get the majority of the trim work completed the week prior to them leaving with 1 guy finishing up by himself while they were on vacation. With the delays we can't start until they are back which is 1 week after it will be ready for trim.
6. The siding isn't done yet. Subs are especially hard to find here right now due to the wild fires we had last summer and I didn't take this into account. My regular installer was unable to squeeze me in as he initially thought he could due to commitments. It took me 2.5 weeks to find another installer. We will still get the siding done without further delays but it will give us less time for landscaping, etc before closing.
This has been far from my smoothest rehab project. I expected to be done by mid June and now am projecting early August, approximately 6 weeks behind schedule. I got caught with my pants down more than once and was reminded how important it is to have relationships with multiple subs for each phase. I had become too comfortable with using the same subs and didn't have a good person to call when I got caught in a bind. I was also reminded of the importance of clear contracts and expectations. Don't be lazy or laid back, clearly define everything about your project and discuss this with all your workers. Not all contractors are well organized but it is not because they don't want to be. The legitimate contractors you want to work with will appreciate and respect you more for being organized.