As an investor, you often come across properties that require lots of repairs or rehabbing. You must rely on the skills and experience of the contractors to prepare these properties before they are ready for sale or for generation of rental income. Money and time are of great essence in such projects and you want someone to carry out rehabbing in quick time without compromising on quality. Can you expect a quick rehab that is high on quality and low on budget? Let us find out.
Contractors repairing properties for investors do it for money as it is their full-time business. You can get top quality contractors if you have a high budget to be assured of high-quality rehabbing. But your options are limited when you have a low budget and want the work to be completed in quick time.
To get the contract from you, many contractors will make tall claims of best quality work in cheap prices. They will also promise to complete the work in quick time. You can expect quick work in less time, but you cannot expect high quality in such work. It is only select few contractors who can deliver all three to you. If this is the case, which of these three should you prefer while ignoring the third one? Should you accept quick rehabbing in low budget, comprising with quality? Should you pay more for high quality in less time? It depends upon your priorities.
As a Real Estate Investor, it is my thinking that high quality and money are far more important than time for any rehabbing project. It is better to get the job done properly in 15 days more than to have poor quality work in less time. Of course, you can save time and money by getting the job done in less time, but you know you have sacrificed quality in the bargain.
A good contractor will never agree to rush up things to get a project completed in quick time. If you are promised completion of project in short time, you can be reasonably sure that the contractor will skip or ignore some important aspects of work. Just keep in mind that you get only what you pay for. This is true for any work handled by contractors.
Make quality your priority
Now that you know that top quality in quick time and low price is just not possible, the next best option for you is to get it at a reasonable price and time. This is something that is quite achievable in the following way.
Look at your options
Do some research to find out contractors who can work inside your budget and deliver quality? However, do not become complacent as hiring same contractors again and again can induce a false sense of comfort. So, get estimates from several contractors every time you need rehabbing done in a property.
Use a system of bonus and penalty
Draw a contract where you promise incentives for milestones and penalty for low quality or cost over runs. You will find that contractors finish on time to receive bonuses from you.
Make sure to monitor the progress
Your contractors should not have a free run during a project. They should know that you can come and inspect quality of work anytime. Also, you can give inputs and solve problems as and when they crop up.
Do not interfere too much
No contractor worth his weight in salt likes to be told how to do his work all the time. You can raise concerns but leave it upon your contractor to supervise day to day operations.
If you’d like to talk more about property management, or you need help with Everest Property Management, please contact us at Everest Realty.
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As a top producing Realtor and Property Manager; Terry specializes in sales, extensive construction homes, rentals, REO’s, short sales, and all aspects of Real Estate. After graduating the University of Michigan with a master in MBA, Terry continued his endeavor and now has over 15+ years of experience in the Real Estate world. If there is anything that has to do with Real Estate and sales, you can always be sure of Terry to provide important, specialized knowledge.
