How to find contractors for your rehab projects?
When working on rehabs, finding a contractor can be an overwhelming tasks, but if done properly you won’t have as many headaches.
The goal is to find a contractor with 3-5 people working with him at all times.
Please don’t get a one man show, as you have a 99% of probabilities to get in trouble with delays, and when doing rehabs, quality and time are very important to your bottom line
Here are my 6 favorite’s methods to find contractors for your rehabs.
1 – Home Depot
This is the best place to find contractors, just make sure you get there before 8am. There you will see contractors picking up materials for their projects and a bunch of trucks and vans parked outside. The ones early are usually the most reliable as they are looking for materials to start their projects early in the day.
2 – Driving thru neighborhoods
Drive around the neighborhoods where you know is going thru gentrification or drive in areas you know investors rehab all the time. When you see a dumpster stop by and ask for the person in charge. Sometimes, you will only see the workers and they can give you the main contractor name. Also, walk around the house and pay close attention to the work they are doing and look for detail work.
3- Craigslist
Another way to find contractor for your rehab projects is using Craigslist. Go to “labor Gigs” and post an ad, “Looking for General Contractor”
Your phone is going to ring, so make sure to ask the following questions to filter the good ones from the bad. Just remember these questions are just to create an initial conversation and not to make the final decision. 1) How long you have work in this line of business?, 2) Are you insured?, 3) Do you have your own crew or sub contract the work? 4) How many projects you have right now?, and 5) when can I go check the work?
Daren, my business partner likes to add another set of questions like how much do you charge per square on roof or price per square foot on paint or sheetrock? Usually the guys with experience will tell you a number almost right away, and the ones with no experience don’t have a clue, so how do you expect they will come up with their budget for a rehab if they don’t know the cost of paint.
4 – Angie’s List
There you can read the reviews from the users and determine if the contractor can do quality work, it won’t get any easier than that. But remember always verify by visiting their current projects.
5- Ask for referrals
Call and talk to people you have met at the investment clubs, especially the ones that have done 1 to 4 rehabs in the last 6 months, and ask them if they can refer you to a contractor they trust. Sometimes they will be happy to share that information and you will know they are reliable and can get the work done.
On the other hand, just a word of caution, if you ask the same questions to an active real estate investor, doing several rehabs a month, more likely, they won’t share their contacts. Why not? As a rehabber you need to know you can count on your contractors to start your project on time, but if they share their information with other investors, the contractors will be very busy working on other investor’s projects delaying your job. It takes months of work and sometimes years to develop a great relationship with a contractor so you do not want to give them away.
6- Real Estate Clubs
In every real estate club that I have been to, there is almost always a contractor that sponsors that club. These are very well known contractors with good reputation and can get the work done.
Just keep in mind they are $7,000 to $10,000 above general contractors as they do turnkey work. Some people like to use them as they never have to show up to the house and they get the keys at the end. although, it is very convenience comes with a price tag.
Regardless of which method you use, make sure to check their work before they can bid on any of your projects and if they can allow you to talk to some referrals it will be even better.
On last thing when trying to find contractors for your rehab projects tell them, you are a real estate investor that will keep them busy over time so please provide quotes for your projects with competitive pricing and not retail pricing.
Happy investing