All Forum Posts by: Aaron McGinnis

I may be able to help, please feel free to reach out to me.

Hire a stamped engineer who doesn't do any hands on work to do the evaluation and, if needed, make recommendations for repairs.

If your life partner isn't on board 100 percent you will not succeed until you split ways. I'm sorry but that is the truth of it. Find some other way to invest or find a new partner who will support you when things are rough and you break down twice a day due to the stress!

I may be able to help. Please feel free to give me a shout.

Depends on what business you want to be in.

Want to be a real estate investor? Hire it out.

Want to be a contractor? In-house.

As per usual, Senor Scott is correct.

A couple of protips here...

* A generator on a job like that is a major red flag. A real contractor has a temporary power pole, which takes a permit. The only reason to have a generator is if you don't have a permit, or if the job is going to be such a short duration that you'll be done before a temp pole would get connected (which usually takes... maybe a week). If you don't have a permit, you've got major problems.

* Atlanta actually has a superb online permit lookup system. https://aca3.accela.com/Atlanta_Ga/Default.aspx ... you can use this to verify permits and inspections. You can also use it to look contractors up by name and/or license number to make sure that they actually pull their own permits and have done so in the past.

* The job sounds like it was underbid to begin with. 

* Working on a historic house is challenging... in a historic district even more so. Many of the districts in Atlanta DO NOT PLAY (I'm looking at you, Druid Hills, Grant Park, Cabbagetown, and Inman.)

* I'll second what J says... contractors don't get better, they get worse. Fire this one while you're only a few feet deep in the hole and get someone in who knows what they're doing.

* If there weren't any permits to begin with, you can expect rework because I assure you... the work wasn't done right in the first place.

There's quite a bit of leaning into this field. The problem is that the cost of the 3d modeling is prohibitive for all but the most endowed projects.

Typically it goes like this...

10% starting funds

Draws after completed work like so...

* Contractor requests inspection

* Bank sends third-party inspector, who writes a report showing what has been done (AKA: NAILED IN PLACE)

* After getting the OK from contractor and owner, bank releases funds (Wire deposit is becoming common... usually the money goes straight to the contractor)

When we do work with banks that draw this way, I tell people to expect me to request 8-10 draws throughout the course of the project.

The contractor will need to be vetted by the bank, so things like license and insurance are mandatory. The bank will usually also require a permit to be issued before the loan closes. 

Don't quit your day job; you're delusional. 

I've been in this business for 10+ years, have a well-organized and trained TEAM, and a list of subs and vendors so long it would make your dizzy... we can run a a full on gut-out in 3 months or so, but everything has to run 'just right' including city inspections.

If he says he spent it on supplies, tell him to give you receipts and drop said supplies off at the house.