Why I choose to do most of my own work on our rentals
We all love the stories about how landlords are able to sit back and relax while outsourcing property management/repairs to other people. But, what if you don't own a ton of units and have to do most of the work yourself? Is it really that terrible? Here's are some reasons why I choose to do my own work, with approximate numbers from my last turnover:
1. Painting and preparing a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment for rent: $5000 saved
2. Painting the roof, roof retainer wall, redoing roof deck: $10,000 saved
3. Replace carpet on staircase: $1,000 saved
4. Next, plant front garden, build garden box: $2000 saved
Total money saved: $18,000.
Total time spent on projects: 15 days, 8 hours a day (usually less), on top of my W2 job.
$18,000/15 days/8 hours a day = $133 per hour, conservatively.
Bonus: I got lots of extra exercise, vitamin D, a slight tan, and I cut down on another pound of fat, reaching my weight loss goal for the month several days early.
I think it was worth it. What do you think?
Comments (1)
As a new investor, I think working on your units is a great idea. My husband and I are in the process of painting and we removed carpet from our unit on our own. It was not terrible! It is a good idea because you use a bunch of energy and save a lot of money on the project.
Karoline Kaon, almost 8 years ago