All Forum Posts by: Luc Boiron

@Tan Wang Welcome to BP. I agree, the podcasts are great. Are you looking to invest in Canada or the US?

@Audrey H.

@Claude Boiron is an experienced agent/broker based out of that area. I would definitely recommend him.

@Bruce Clark The point that @Deanna McCormick is very valid. If the contractor is busy with other sites and not showing up to yours, or doing sub par work, it's much harder to deal with and fire them. This is a very common problem, and contractors are usually the reason why some people take 1 or 2 years to flip a house that should be done in 60 days.

If you do partner with him, prepare an agreement as if you will need to divorce him. Have him provide a SOW of what the costs are for his labour for each part, and figure out a mechanism where you can fire him if he isn't performing, and only owe him for the labour for the parts he has completed correctly. I say figure the labour costs out ahead of time even if you aren't planning on paying him, because you hear of situations where a contractor is being fired after doing $5k worth of work and they say that their work is worth $30k and you owe them that if you are firing them. Figure it out ahead of time, just in case.

@Nicholas TenBrink I should add, the cost of tiling is mostly labour. You would only need about 75-80 sqft of tile, so if you pick up some inexpensive tile, plus caulking, grout, and mastik, you could tile it yourself over the dense shield for around $250, possibly less.

I would say your mastik or mortar would be around $50, grout $15, caulking $10, tile edge $20. The rest comes down to the tile - you usually find some pretty nice porcelain 12x24" tiles for around $2 psqft, or find some cheaper ceramic at a clearance store for perhaps less than $1.

The real cost is in the labour, in my market, a tiler would usually charge $700 and up for tiling a shower surround.

I think $250 is already affordable.

I usually tile the surrounds as the aesthetic is much nicer, but I would consider 1 piece surrounds in certain rentals as they don't usually leak as there aren't joints. 

Obviously, those usually come in the standard 60", I'm not sure about 58".

I think the three piece fiberglass surround might work, as you can cut it down to 58". I don't like those as much as I find they are more likely to leak in the corners.

You could also see what other waterproof rigid or semi-rigid sheets HD might carry. I know they have full sized sheets of a board that looks like white square tiles, and can be cut to size. I don't actually know if these are meant to use in showers, I have seen them in bathroom walls.

@Matt Geerts The book that @Roy N. is a great book to have as a reference, as a touches on a wide variety of commercial real estate topics. @Claude Boiron is one of the authors.

As for the legal perspective, I would recommend you look into prospectus exemptions.

The Ontario Securities Commission has a summary of capital raising prospectus exemptions. They are not RE focused, but aren't any different for real estate.

A few things have changed since I was in law school. I don't think the crowdfunding exemption will get you far, but I would look into the accredited investor, minimum amount, and friends and family exemptions.

These exemptions may allow you to raise money from investors, though there are regulations on how you can advertise for money, etc. Definitely speak to a lawyer if you plan on actually setting up a syndication, I am not practicing law and this is not my legal opinion.

As for my MF syndication, it hasn't happened yet and may not for a while. I'm currently concentrating on flipping, and I'm renovating 3 properties at once which is time consuming! Plus, I really need to get something in the pipeline, as all three will be done within about a month and I have nothing ready for after them.

I've never used the fake ones, but I find they are expensive for what they are. If I had the choice for around the same price, I would use real barn board.

Home depot recently started selling a weathered looking rough pine board at more reasonable prices, I'm planning on using that on a flip in the next few weeks.

Whether you sell to him, or do the deal with him, you should try to stay involved so you can learn the process from him for the next time.

If he is putting in the labour, you need to decide on a value for his labour. Are you proposing that he would get a share of profit only, or that he would get paid for his labour at sale then get a share of profit?

You need to take into account that you have a good deal. You could also have him provide the labour and the materials, and be repaid for materials at sale.

If you do pay him for labour, even at sale, you could give him a smaller split of the profit for delaying getting paid. Financially, can you afford to pay for labour and materials if you were to go with a contractor who you weren't splitting profits with?

@Irfan Saeed

I forgot, there are plug and switches are are compatible with aluminium. The problem I have had is that they do not come in the decora square style design, only in the round design, which I like less.

That's definitely the easiest solution though!

 I'm not sure what you mean, the method I suggested stays completely within the outlet boxes or the octagonal light boxes, none of it is visible unless you unscrew plugs or lights.