fliprent

Today my contractor on the Old E. Baltimore project decided that this job “wasn’t worth it” in his own words.  Hey maybe he’s right.  It’s not worth it for him.  In fact it hasn’t been worth it for me either.  Needless to say, I had no problem with it.  It’s been way too long and he is trying to juggle too many jobs.  Good thing is I don’t have a lot left to do.  Bad news is, its time to get another crew in there.  Parting ways, with no hard feelings, is just fine with me.  I may loose a few more weeks but it’s better than the ensuing battle at the end.  The search begins…  Hey…do you know of a good TRUSTWORTHY carpenter in the area?  Drop me an email if you do. This ought to be fun!  

I’ve been around the block just enough times to decide not to agree to anything in business with a simple handshake.  If I don’t have a contract I don’t write a check.  In the current economy, this is more important to me now than ever before.  here a lot of “hungry” contractors out there right now, which can be both good and bad for investors.  The good news is that the prices have come down considerably.  The bad news is really the same as its always been but a touch worse.  For instance, some contractors will tell you any price to get the job.  After they get the job…well you know the rest after reading this post.  However, once Ive worked with someone long enough I may let up just a smidgen.  

 It seems the smaller contractors don’t like writing contracts.  Some of them even prefer that I write them up.  That’s a scenario that I welcome as an investor.  Since I already have a template, the only things I need to change are the project scope, contractor information and the dates.  The basic protections are in every contract so I don’t need to adjust those normally. You can find more information on remodeling contracts in some of my other posts.   Don’t be afraid to write the contract yourself, in fact insist upon it. 

I have received some emails questioning why I have my comments turned off.  As some of you know I was not updating for a while mostly due to some health issues.  Well while I was away spammers decided that I had an abandoned blog and as you may know, spammers love those.  Once I get this spam under control I will re-open the comments sections of my new posts.  Feel free to leave a comment on any of the previous posts as they are still open.

 Thanks,

Vernon

The never ending battle between contractor and real estate investor continues.  No matter how many times you seem to use a contractor there will almost always be a time when the contractor wants to be paid and the investor is not satisfied.  Well..that’s the nice way of putting it.  More than likely, it’s that the contractor wants money before he/she finishes the job. 

I will never understand why it’s so hard to find a tradesman that just wants to do the job the way it was agreed upon and THEN ask for the check. 

Yes, Yes I know… there are those investors that don’t pay on time (if ever), and the contractor has to look out for himself… Really?  So asking for money early somehow protects him against being ripped off?  I’m guessing asking to be paid prior to finishing, won’t help very much.  What are we to think is the real reason they want to be paid early?   Here is a “short” list of reasons:

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Most of the electric is done on the Old E Baltimore project and the meter was installed a week ago.  I’m constantly reminding the contractors to turn off the lights when they are done for the day.  The last thing I need is to add more bleeding to this project.  Hvac and plumbing repair is close to being complete so its about time to get it section 8 ready.  This means making sure all the trades are up to code, banners installed, no paint chips exposed (lead), outside railings front and rear, windows are caulked, doors are installed, fridge, and oven are working.  If it still sounds like lot of work, it is.

Still nothing more from the city on my Hopkins area rehab house.  It looks they want to blame the economy for the fact that their projects are so far behind and lack of funding.  I say karma may have something to do with it.  You reap what you sow.  EBDI has made a mess of this project and they walk around like they are doing people favors.  They would have been behind schedule economy or not.  You can read more about that house here.