All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

I just worked with a couple who bought a house in NH and went through a rehabilitation loan on a foreclosure. There is a lot of paperwork required and you will need a contractor who is capable of filling it out, getting it notarized, and willing to work on the terms laid out by FHA. This means you might wait up to 60 days fort the final payment. Find a contractor that will work with this and who understands how it works. It will save you a lot of headaches. If the contractor does not understand the process, he might get annoyed by the duplicate paperwork and slow moving. Guys who do it know that it is money in the bank. It is my understanding that the loan is based on the After Repair Value and it is an opinion that is made by the appointed appraiser completely beyond your control so be conservative in your estimates as you plan. Be patient and persevere. Good luck!

I am currently in New Hampshire so I am unsure which Tri-State Area you are referring to.  If you are referring to the NYC tri-state area, I have been gone for 15 years and no longer follow that market in a way that would be useful to you. 

People selling property will wait and see what offers come in on a new listing.  If they are asking too much, they won't get much activity.  If they are asking close to the fair market value (the value where seller meets the buyer) they will have activity and that leads to offers.  The longer a property is on the market, the more realistic the sellers view will become.  Much of it depends on their motivation to sell.  If you are a cash in hand buyer, if offer is not dependent on too many contingencies and if you can close quickly you stand a much greater chance of getting a really good deal. 

If you can find a property before it goes on the market, there is less hassle, less preparation for the market and no commission. These are all things that will give you a certain amount of leverage in your offer.  Thinking what you would do if you were that seller will give you the best answer.  The better you understand the needs of the seller, the more likely you will be successful in your offer.

My name is Darrell.  I work currently in the Wolfeboro area as a contractor and carpenter.  I have a previous life as a Realtor licensed in Connecticut and New York.  I have a lot of residential renovation experience.  I specialize in kitchens, baths and interior finishes.  I have a huge interest in earth sheltered homes.

Contact me even just to talk about any of this. 

Hi Brad,

I have been a contractor for nearly 30 years. I have worked in all levels of construction both commercial and residential. Unfortunately what you are seeing is a sad but true view of the people in our industry. Of course, this is not every contractor.

Not all contactors are going to be bad and of the good ones, not all will be a fit for you. Contractors are as unique as real estate. Of they guys you spoke to, probably quite a few were performing the work themselves. It is a physically demanding occupation and not many guys have the ability to do work and then go home to sell, estimate and do their books.

I think these tips for finding a good contractor will be useful to you. I deal with other contractors all of the time. It seems I find a good one for about every six I try. Knowing how to use their strengths and abilities is important as well. Occasionally I have a customer that thinks I am just a middleman and try to cut me out of the process expecting to save money. They often find that these contractors work better for me than for them. This is because I connect the service where they are inefficient. I have the experience to preemptively solve potential problems.

First, find a good lumber yard with good service. Ask which sales inside person gives the best service. Explain your project and ask that sales person to recommend someone. They know who is responsive and customer service orientated. This will not work well at a big box store.

Don’t deal with guys who do not call back or have poor communication skills. They may be skilled at their work but you will not get what you want. Guys like that are better suited as subs.

Contractors with web sites or literature are usually better communicators. The more information they are willing to provide (this is true of their estimates as well) the more sure they are of what they are doing.

Don’t deal with guys who don’t understand the intent of your project. I often find good trades people who think that they have the best quality and that their way is the only way. In my work, I try to provide the project that is right for the customer. While we are capable of very high end work , this comes at a premium for detail and material. There is a concept of like kind and quality. I try to give the customer the best quality and value for the subject property that provides them with a solution to the problem that prompted their inquiry to begin with. In other words, you never put a high end kitchen in a low end rental.

Don’t do open ended (time and material) projects unless you are extremely knowledgeable. Get a price. If the contractor tells you this will get you the best deal, then ask for a “not to exceed number”. I have a policy that extras are something the customer asks for. My knowledge and experience should provide ample protection against unforeseen problems and I will warn my customers of these potential issues prior to contract.

You will know if your contractor has the ability to manage your expectations. Eliminate contractors quickly who think that the purpose of a customer is to keep them working.

Ask your contractors for references. Check the references. Ask about their work habits, deadlines and quality. Ask your contractor to see their work in progress. You can tell a lot about a contractor by visiting a site.

One more thought on asking the supplier for references is that you will more likely to get a guy who is paying his bills. Even a good tradesman will be dangerous to work with if he is in financial trouble.

I hope some of this helps.

Darrell

Hi Andrew,

Since you have decided to go ahead and work your own plans, you should know a couple of things.

First, the HVAC contractor would probably take the plans to the supply house and have a system designed for the house. This would be true if you had an architect or not. If you do not have an HVAC contractor, you can probably get a few recommendations while you are at the supply house plus you will be able to get a bid based on a set of specifications that you control. This makes it much easier to compare apples to apples.

Electrical plans are good to have but local building code will determine most of it. You need to decide what things you might want like under cabinet lighting, central vacuum, and garbage disposals to name a few items that are often overlooked during the bidding process.

Since you mentioned it, one of the biggest mistakes I see in plans designed by owners or bought from one of the many plan books is the garage. Most plan books assume you have a perfectly flat lot. Grades for the garage need to be figured from the top down. This often requires adding length to the bottom of the wall. The lower you go, the more difficult the interior access from the garage to the house can be. You need ample space for steps. An experienced builder can help with this but it is a common pitfall.

In my area (New England) you can expect to spend 3000.00 for a qualified designer who might need an engineer’s approval in some cases to 8000.00 for an architect at the high end. You could end up spending 3000.00 at a plan company once you have applied the changes to meet the requirements for your location. Changes would be to add full foundations or reversing a set of plans for example. Those changes would be made by someone who never viewed the lot.

One other thing, rather than going on line to find plans, go to your local book store. You will find many of these books in the magazine rack with hundreds of designs. I find this much more usefull than the online sites. Have fun.

Darrell

Hi Don,

If you havn't solved you problem yet, you can go to Rockler.com and they have forestner bits to bore for barrel hinges. Be carefull not to drill through the front of the door.

Darrell

Hi Dale,

I definitely think that it is a confidence crisis and if you were to ask most people, they don't think money is available to borrow for home purchases.

I believe there is another factor when it comes to old homes and that is lead and mold.

Lead can be a compliance nightmare and there is a real financial exposure for landlords and contractors in houses built before 1978. In the past year they have added some real teeth to the legislation and real complication to the regulation.

Mold related illnesses are also in the sights of attorneys. Just getting caught up in a lawsuit (win or lose) can take the profit out of a project.

I am certified for mold and I am an EPA certified lead renovator and I wonder sometimes how these laws and regulations will end up affecting the equity of people who invest in older homes and multi-family units.
Darrell

Hi James,

I was a fire damage restoration estimator and project manager about 10 years ago and I had to use Exactimate because it was becoming the insurance industry standard for insurance adjusters. It gave insurance companies control over the pricing.

Exactimate is accurate in terms of the reports it provides and the areas and lineal feet it calculates. The insurance companies had a lock on what they were willing to pay in each of these categories but the pricing could be overridden (it shows up in red when you do)

It can be a very useful tool if you can find the pricing required to hire in your market but more importantly, it makes you think of every small item you may need to complete the job. If you did not include every item, the pricing would work out to less than minimum wage.

We would have to include for things like masking, removing and resetting fixtures, removing and resetting furniture, cleaning, wall protection, floor protection, caulking, disposal etc. Scaffolding and equipment could be charged for (even though the contractor may own it outright) and this would help to make the price more reasonable. If you were to just get in a basic drywall price (for instance) you would get a number that would not work.

Also, there was an area for general conditions that would include overhead and profit (insurance companies would limit us to 10% and 10% on these. This is a useful cost factor when hiring a company to do work and makes the numbers more reasonable.

When I figure pricing on a job, I have to perform that work to my customer's satisfaction for a price. I rarely use square foot pricing. Every job is unique. The distance to the tools on the truck, how many flights of stairs, how far away will my equipment be from the actual part of the structure where am working on are all factors.

One big thing that I look at is how cut up is the work. A square foot in a long straight run is much different that a square foot in multiple short sections that all need to be measured and cut. These are judgments that can’t be made with a program. Exactimate understands this because they have different pricing for work above 8', etc.

Exactimate can be used at a profit if you understand the variables. If you are in doubt on a square foot price, call a subcontractor and get a range price.

At the end of the day estimating is not a science. It is an art. When I give an estimate to a customer, I stick to the price but sometimes it costs me more than I think and sometimes it costs me less. Competition causes me to keep my numbers tighter. The only way to reduce the risk is to pass it on to subcontractors that will give you firm estimates they are willing to back. I realize that can be difficult if you don't already own the property.

Darrell

You might want to do it from underneath anyway if you can squeeze some access. The structural repairs are inexpensive. The money comes in repairing the finishes such as flooring. You might be able to remove the damaged parts or just sister them. Remove all that you can.

At any rate, you will want to get estimates so that you can put a value on the extent of the damage. This will give you a real idea of what the cost is. Remember that this is the type of project where there can be widely varying pricing so in this case you want to get estimates with details.

Good luck,
Darrell