All Forum Posts by: Dutch Langley

@Larry Turowski  I have used self levelers to even out floors, then went over top with floating plank flooring, tile, carpet, etc.  Works very well.

@Michaela G.  That's funny.  I have said that over and over when renovating bathrooms.  I had a husband/wife client that I was redoing their master bathroom for.  The husband was insistent on a 16" rain shower from the ceiling.  I told him that was fine, but women didn't always want to wash their hair every day or in that way.  Obviously we put in an additional shower head for her on the wall to use separately as she wished.

@Phillip S.  We are a GC.  (with building forensics, home inspection and CIE background).  We also rehab/flip (moving into that pretty heavily).  For me to drive out, do an estimate, write a scope and do it diligently with detail can easily take 4-8 hours depending on detail.  Investors are pretty upfront with the fact that they want my numbers to negotiate the deal with the seller.  I appreciate that.  So for investors we do it for a fee.  A lot of investors don't want to pay for the service.  That's perfectly ok.  Some understand that we can save them thousands by seeing stuff they don't see.  Some don't.

@Jacklyn P. Got you beat there! I'm 57, my husband is just about 60 (he hates when I say that!). We have spent years renovating for other owners and investors...never for ourselves (except for our personal residence). So knowing what we know now, jumping in with both feet! Already gone to contract with 2 properties just this past week! We spend a lot of time networking and looking for JV partners, private lenders, wholesalers, etc.

Yes, we say all the time "we wished we knew, studied, investigated....blah, blah, blah" Better late than never...and now instead of taking my time dipping our toes in the REI world....we are all the way in and fast tracking it!

We are taking our renovation experience, our project management experience, and our BIC license and going to have a ball!  

(and in the end, isn't that really what its all about?  doing something you love to do anyway?)

@Mike Reynolds  Those are great!  I have a client where I did a massive renovation but the one thing they kept that was built by the former owner was the shower that stuck out into the courtyard.  To each his own!

@Jameson Hooton  We were just at an event the other day and a couple who had flipped a house actually added up their hours invested to determine an hourly rate.  My husband asked if we should do that.  Hard pass....I am with @Joe Villeneuve on this one.  While mildly interesting for 30 seconds, I agree that I am looking more at what my return on investment is.

So here is a funny picture on someone who decided they needed two things -- a different 

way to vent for cooking purposes and a different way of hanging up utensils.  Bahahaha.....Share yours!

@Account ClosedWe used to own a home inspection company and rarely did the costs exceed $500.  But unless you know what to look for and can estimate repairs yourself, wouldn't you at least want to know so you don't end up making a bad purchase?

@Jack B.So here's to hoping a bunch of investors decide to wait in my market...then I can come in and scoop them up.  Perhaps I might not be able to make as much of a spread, but some is better than none.  Going to close on one in a couple of weeks!

@Steve K.  True that this is can be a no-no especially in cold weather climates.  We however use vapor permeable paints that allow it to breath.  It allows the moisture to release so you don't have the issues that can be caused otherwise.