In order to budget for a rehab you first need to put together a scope of work. You then use that scope of work to create the budget and schedule. If you plan to hire a GC, then have 3 or 4 of them all bid on that scope of work. This way you are comparing apples to apples. If you don't know how to put a scope of work together, then you need to learn that first and foremost.

See here:  Your Real Estate Scope of Work: The Drama Eliminator

And here:  Our Flipping Journey: The Scope of Work

I also recommend reading these two books:  

The Book on Flipping Houses

The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs

You can get them both here:  Flipping and Estimating Bundle

Check out the file section on BP also:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files

There are many files there that may help you, such as this one:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/drobertson/file/sample-contractors-scope-of-work-documents

And this one:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/user/JasonScott/file/13-rehab-analysis-spreadsheet---basic

And see these:  https://www.biggerpockets.com/files/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&term=scope+of+work

Hope that helps! Best of luck to you and happy investing!!

Hey Pete,

The budget for a rehab depends on the scope of work and repairs needed on the property.  In order to budget a rehab, you first need to create a detailed list of the repairs and then put a price to each repair to calculate a total budget.

Here is what I would recommend to learn how to estimate costs for rehabs:

#1 Read the Book on Estimating Rehab Costs

JScott's 'The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs' is a great resource for new rehabbers to learn how to Estimate Repair Costs on 25 common rehab repairs.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/store/the-complete-g...

#2 Explore Lowes and Home Depot to Learn About Material Pricing

Take a tour through Lowes and Home Depot (or their websites) and look at finishes materials and fixtures that you will consider using in your rehab projects. This will help you get a better idea of what tile, hardwood, carpet, plumbing fixtures and light fixtures costs for your rehabs.

#3 Contact Local Contractors for Pricing

Call local Subcontractors and get budget pricing for common repairs on your typical rehab project.

For example, call a roofer and ask what their average cost per Square of Architectural Asphalt Shingle Roofing would be on a 1,500 sf house, with a 6/12 pitch.

Note: Some contractors will be reluctant to share pricing without seeing the property, but tell them you are just looking for a rough budget number you can use on future projects.

#4 Compile Your Prices into a Spreadsheet or Estimating Software

Once you start to get a better understanding of Labor and Material costs you will want to store this data into a spreadsheet or software that you can use to help you streamline the estimating process.

The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs comes with a spreadsheet that you can use to help you populate your own database of labor pricing and material pricing. Or you can download my estimating templates I have in my Biggerpockets fileplace:

Simple Estimate Spreadsheet

Detailed Estimating Spreadsheet

There are other Estimating Softwares available as well which can help you manage the Estimating process as well...

Here's a Video Case Study on the BP Blog I just posted which walks you through how to estimate costs on a 3 bed, 2 bathroom property.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/7110/84733-video-case-study-how-to-estimate-rehab-costs-3-bed-2-bath-1-500sf

OMG thank you so very much for your advice. This is huge!!! It will help me immensely as I am looking to invest in properties close to colleges. Thanks again. 

Would love to stay in touch. 

Pete Hundley