All Forum Posts by: Adam Oldham

I did try out the new BP "Rehab Estimator tool" and it looks like you have zero control over the cost of anything. All of the prices are provided by "Kukun" with no ability to customize the pricing or use your own prices.

The problem with estimating tools that "estimate for you" like Kukun is you have no idea how any of these prices are being calculated and most of the calculations are likely wrong for your specific project needs.

Every project is different and every investor is different, which is why every investor across the nation should have their OWN pricing sheet that they use that uses their specific materials and labor prices from their local contractors. You should not be using someone else's prices (or Kukun's algorithm), you should be using your own prices from your local contractors and using the specific material selections you picked for your project.

Here's an example of how bad some of the data is in Kukun and why it's not practical for investors that are wanting to create accurate estimates for their projects:

I added "Exterior Doors" to my project, and I was told that 4 single doors and 1 double door is $59,352 in Kansas City, MO which is 20x what I would actually pay as an investor.

I believe the above was a bug, but nonetheless there was no way for me to fix this issue or understand why or how it was calculating this value.

In summary, you don't need a fancy algorithm to tell you what something costs, you just need to know basic math and have a general understanding of how much materials cost and what contractors charge for specific repairs.

For example, if I have 5 exterior doors I need replaced (4 single entry doors, 1 french patio) this is how I would estimate the costs:

- Single exterior door labor 4 x $250/each = $1,000

- Single door material 4 x $300/each = $1,200

- French patio door labor 1 x $400/each = $400

- French patio door material 1 x $750/each = $750

Total = $3,350

Add 25% profit for your contractor and the quote should be around $5k for 5 doors.

Finding material costs is as simple as exploring Home Depot's or Lowes' websites and researching material costs.  The hard part is finding out what your contractors charge, after that it's just basic math that you can do in a spreadsheet.

Ask them what they charge for specific jobs, you should know what they cost and if they are overbidding or not. 

There is really no way to tell. You can try and ask over the phone what their range is. Most good guys will want to have a look at the project before they throw out numbers.

And note that you will turn off a lot of the best ones by asking this, it implies that you're only looking for cheap bids...that's a huge red flag.