fliprent

 Although this is techinically day 14 , these pictures are from day 10.  The first floor tray ceilings are in and they look really good.  We dropped the ceiling by 6 inches and created a 10 by 10 box in the middle.  The then cut a 2×6 and nailed it in each corner to create an octagon look in the ceiling.  I like to use this design in all of the houses that I rehab.  Flipping houses can be fun when rehabbing the property.  You can use all kinds of creativity that adds your own touch.  Most house flippers in the area seem to have their own trademark that they use in all of the properties.  This tray ceiling is one of mine.  

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I’m a little behind on the pictures but I will attempt to show them in chronological order.   This first shot is of the first floor stairwell (empty), going up to the second floor.   The stairs have been ordered and should take one week to be delivered.

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I said before that I was not going to go into detail about the hassles that I have been receiving from certain individuals responsible for overseeing the large development project going on around this property.  At this point, I am not going to use the names of the organizations or persons.  I’m simply going to vent a little (really just a little, I promise) about the continued harassment of myself and my contractors, especially when this organization is at fault for the current situation to begin with.  But that’s a story for later. 

What kinds of things are they doing you ask?  Things such as telling my guys that they don’t have permits when they do.   Attempting to find fault in processes in order to make it appear to be something that it is not.  Taking pictures of an item in an attempt to make the situation appear to be something that it is not.  It’s ridiculous how callous these people can be about other people’s lives, when there is something to be gained.  I’m sure the games will continue so be sure to stay posted as this could get interesting.

On a lighter side, things are moving along with the construction.  We should have the roof framed by Monday and some of the interior framing is in progress as well.  I forgot my camera today so I used my phone camera, and the shots don’t look so good.   I will upload some good pics tomorrow.  

 The lesson for today is to be persistent and move in a straight line until you reach your goal.   Don’t allow setbacks to halt your progress! 

Well the guys only worked about half of a day today on the Hopkins house because Home Depot decided not to leave the delivery like they normally do.  Actually my contractor should have been there but that’s another story.  He says they delivered at 6:30AM…   Flipping houses is fun when everything goes well but when it doesn’t …. well you get the picture.    They say they made some good progress today anyway (I don’t know because I didn’t make it to that site today).     The days are a little longer now, so that’s a plus.    I’ll surely be checking up on them in the AM.

I consider myself to be a nice guy in this game of house flipping.    Almost every other investor/flipper I know is aggressive and, well… not so nice.    I guess it’s something that comes with too many years in the game.     Just dealing with tenants and contractors alone can drive a sane man crazy.    I ran into an investor friend today that is one of the worst.  This guy is a cross between Vince Vaughn and your cranky old granddad .    I can’t take too much of him in such a short period of time, so I made up an excuse and kept it moving.    I had too much on my plate today anyway and now I need to get back to work.    It’s 5:47pm and the second half is just getting started.   

Progress is right on time.  We ordered the second delivery of lumber including the front and rear exterior doors.  The team has done quite a  bit of demo work including the rear exterior wall, fireplace, and more interior brick work.  They are moving along nicely and I’m really satisfied thus far.  We did a “no-rain dance” today so hopefully it works.  Luckily the only rain has occured over the weekend however,  the interior still becomes fairly wet.  Once we get the roof framed, we won’t need to worry as much about the rain. Sorry about the size of the pictures but I don’t have my image editing software with me in the field.  Flipping houses requires a lot of hours spent outside therefore, I typically post from  my laptop. 

rear shot of house

As you can we did not demo the existing footings but we will need to repair them and add more concrete and do some brick work.  We can rebuild the rear of the house on top of the existing footings and avoid a major expense.

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Some folks have requested pictures of the project at Johns Hopkins biotechnology park.  I’ve decided to create a series of posts, naming each of them according to the project.  The first project of this series will be titled ”framing day(n)”.  Today is day one of framing and things went fairly well.  The lumber was delivered at approximately 7:30am.  The guys were running a little late but the driver delivered the materials anyway.  They did arrive shortly thereafter and began to unpack the lumber.

 framing floor joists Read the rest of this entry »

I know it’s been a few days since my last post but I promise I have some really good tips coming soon including this one.  Considering my “negligence”, I’ll let you guys in on a secret that only the pros know about.  When I say pros I mean remodelers, rehabbers, developers, house flippers, investors and others who buy building materials frequently.  It’s called the home depot pro bid room. 

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I don’t think I can remember a time when I would call a contractor one day and he would show up the next day.   A few years ago, when things were good, contractors were busy.  Getting through each phase of the job quickly was a challenge for GC’s (general contractors) and investors.  I would call my plumber, tell him I was ready and his response would be something like “I’ll be there next Monday”.  Now when I call them it’s, “I’ll be there tomorrow”.  

My concrete guy Adam was one of those “always busy” contractors.  His services were always highly sought after and business was good.  He owns two restaurants, a laundry mat and his concrete business.  I remember waiting two weeks to get him back to finish a job.  Yesterday I called him after church and at seven o’clock this morning he was there.  This Hopkins project just might make it on schedule.  We’ve got a long ways to go so’ I’m not getting my hope up too soon.       

Good subcontractors are happy to give you the names of other contractors.  It’s a great way for them to get referrals.  If you find one that you can trust, he usually knows of others that he likes to work with.  Just today, my plumber gave me another framer and concrete guy that he often does work for.  Contractors run in the same circles and prefer working with someone they have experience with.  Flipping or rehabbing houses requires that plumbers, heating contractors and electricians communicate. Things like trunk lines, ductwork, and pathways need to be planned especially without a architectural diagram.  It can make your job a lot easier just finding one good contractor that will give you the names of others.If you’ve established a relationship with a subcontractor, you can often get the inside scoop about the others as well.  Things like who’s having financial difficulties, dissolving partnerships, going through a divorce, kids in college, a bad drinking habit, and the list goes on.  All of these little things will make a difference on the job that he/she will do for you.  In most cases, I only need to ask a simple question  “What’s his deal?”.  Before you know it, you’ve got the guys life history.  This information is valuable when it comes to negotiating a contract as well.  If you know the guy is trustworthy but needs work, you are in a good position to get a decent price.  Be careful not to go too low.  Even the most honorable person will resort to drastic measures to pay the bills.  If the situation is really bad stay far away no matter how good he is.

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It’s looking more and more like I will need to bring in a general contractor on this Hopkins Project.  I normally act as the general contractor for my flips but this one is taking too much time from other projects.  Also, it is a larger job than I originally thought which is not unusual when doing complete rehabs.  The rear wall of the house is being held up by a single header approximately 6×12 inches and 10 feet long.  I have several options, none of which will be cheap.  I can take the whole rear wall down and rebuild it or I can try and replace that header with steel.  Both are risky and will require someone with previous experience.  Also the rear addition on the house needs to be rebuilt. I can either re-brick it or tear it down and build it back up with wood.  Flipping houses is somewhat easier when you are not rehabbing them.  The margins are usually larger with rehabs but you need to have the stomach for this kind of work. 

I’ve met with about five general contractors and I haven’t been overly impressed with any of them.  You can however, get some good ideas about how they would tackle the particular problem.  It’s always a good idea to get as many contractors as possible to see the job.  It slows progress but it’s worth the time and effort.  On a side note my plumber was supposed to start today but the business manager never sent me the contract.  The plumber is now calling me to start work.  Imagine that I’m going to give him a check to begin work without a contract!  Even if you have worked with someone before, do not get so comfortable that you leave yourself vulnerable.  This market is very bad for contractors right now.  A lot of them are hungry, so to speak.  House flippers need to make sure that you use common sense at all times.  Anyhow, I have a meeting with an architect and another contractor this morning. My wife has a “honey do” list just to top it off so on with the day I go.