All Forum Posts by: Wesley Davis

@Tim Greenfield  Hey Tim.  How are the gutters on the home?  It has been my experience that if the gutters are bad, or clogged, and not working properly, that can cause basement leaks.  If they are clogged or just bad in general, I'd try cleaning them or replacing them if it comes to that.  Also, see if the surface water is running away from the home.  If the surface water is running into the home, or if the gutters are bad, or both, those are two easy and MUCH cheaper fixes.  This, in my experience, has helped with 90% of the water problems that I have come across in basements 

If you know anyone who has had work done on their house, particularly large projects, ask them for a GC reference, assuming they had one.  If you can't find one that way, going to supply houses, particularly lumber yards, and they usually have a wall or a billboard for business cards.  

References are the best way in my opinion

@Alex Varner  we typically do a 40/40/20 split.  So the day we arrive to start the job you pay 40% of the quote. Then once the floors are finished or the cabinets are installed, which ever comes first, we bill another 40 (Drywall, and all the rough-ins are done at this point).  Then once the job is completely done and you're happy we bill the last 20.  You could bring that up to him if that makes you more comfortable.  

If the contractor was a referral from someone, you're probably alright.  If he wasn't, then you're KIND OF rolling the dice.  If he has a legit company, pays insurance and all that, then you're probably fine.  It's not common for contractors to screw people over, at least around where I live, but there's always a few bad apples.  The contractors that typically screw people over are the ones that aren't running legit company's.  Therefore, they can charge lower prices which some people tend to gravitate to, and there's not a big consequence to them like it would be on a legit company for screwing someone over.    

Ask him what his contractors # is and look it up.  If he's registered, you're probably fine but it's not guaranteed.  If he doesn't have you sign a contract that should be a red flag.  It doesn't have to be some long lengthy lawyer wordy type of contract.  Just something saying you're paying this and he's doing this.  

I bought my first house (the one that I still currently live in) without a realtor.  I went to staples and just bought an agreement to sell real estate contract, and that's what we used.  The lawyer does most of the leg work.  A realtor does make life easier, but they aren't necessary.    

@Tina S. For whatever reason, it’s not uncommon for panel boxes to be outside. Just put it in a place where it is easily accessible

It depends on far far you want to go with it.  We've had everything from 35,000-250,000 rehabs on properties that size.  I know that this doesn't answer your question.  A quick tip from me would be to once you complete this project, document how much the whole project costed you and what was done.  When you find another project, say its 1300 sq ft, you can get a rough estimate based off of your last rehab if the homes are in similar condition.  The best advice I can give you is get a GC and pay them $100 cash to do an estimate for you and suggest that if the project goes through that they take that 100 off of the final bill

Hi,

Has anyone invested in Jonesborough TN just outside of Johnson City?  If you have invested there, what have been the pros and cons?  If you thought about investing there but didn't, why did you not invest there?   

We are looking at a 6 unit apartment building there, so any information is greatly appreciated.  

It's a great idea.  There's a guy around here that does it part time, he doesn't actually have a "company" to do it.  He just charges a percentage of the job.  So if it's $100,000.00 job I think he charges 7% or something.  I don't know what his actual charge is but I know he does really well for being a part time middle man.  I think he actually works with sub contractors and he has a list of GCs that he calls on when one of his clients/subs needs more work.  I'd try going for it if I were you.  That's a problem my Dad had before I got old enough to help him.  He did bathroom and kitchen remodels when he wanted to build houses and do large remodels.  We do that now, but I have no doubt in my mind he would have used someone doing what you're trying to do.

I can't speak about your experience in home remodeling because I don't know what it is, but a good rule of thumbs is, if you have none or a limited amount of experience, hire a GC.   Another rule that I have recently learned, almost the hard way, is if the question ever comes up, Should I hire a *enter trade here*?  Then the answer is almost always yes you should.  You'll spend just as much money by not hiring a GC, even though it doesn't say that on paper, as you would if you did hire the GC.  Most projects also take longer to complete without a GC.  This is largely because GCs have connections and have built relationships with subs.  GCs are also better equipped to  handle the surprises that will eventually pop up during a rehab. 

The main issue for not hiring a GC is that subs will be making multiple trips back because of something that you missed or because you thought you were ready for the sub to show up and you actually weren't ready.  Good subs will charge for multiple trips, as they should because it's their time.  

You can find good subs or GCs on Home Advisor, but you're also taking a risk.  The best way to find a good GC I think is to ask for referrals.   Maybe from people that you know that have had large projects done on their own house or from other investors.  

It'll be hard not to get retail price from someone that you haven't built a relationship with.  Typically, even once the relationship is established, you'll still be charged retail, but the GC will trust you more and therefore will do more to help you out and give you more of his time. He might even stop charging so much, but I wouldn't count on that.

I personally think hiring a GC is the way to go.

There are GCs who just do remodels and such like that.   I would wager it maybe is the same thing that your referencing to as "remodelers."  It's really hard to get a FULL scope of the work when evaluating a home because you cannot see into the walls.  You could get going and during the demo you find that an entire wall or part of a wall needs replaced due to rot when during the evaluation it wasn't seen.  It's hard to find stuff like that during the initial inspection.  There's almost always a surprise during a remodel.  It's best to just plan for them and have some wiggle room in your budget for if/when one does appear.