It’s All in the Details – Part 1

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The details of a rehab project could either save you a lot of money or cause you to lose a lot of money.  Not to mention a lot of frustration, headache, time, and bickering between you and the contractors.  When walking through a property it’s ok to estimate repairs to get a general idea of what your total project cost is going to be.  This will help you  determine if there is any profit potential in doing that particular rehab.  With the initial walk-through, therefore, you don’t necessarily have to know exactly what tile you will be putting in the master bathroom or what type of carpet will be going in the living room, etc.  However, once you sit down to write out your scope of work, it is very important to be extremely specific.

It is important to be specific for two reasons. 

1. This will ensure that your contractors do the job the way you intend it to be done (it’ll be done your way…not their way).

 

2. You will save money by having your contractors quote your job based on the materials you will be using.  Let’s talk about reason number one first.

When writing out a scope of work for your rehab project, you need to essentially pretend that your contractor doesn’t know anything.  Make believe they have never done what you are hiring them to do and then walk them through the project step by step.  Don’t assume anything!!!  Don’t assume that the painter will sand the existing semi-gloss finish on the trim before he puts your new top coat on it simply because that’s the right way to do things.  For many contractors there’s the right way to do things and the short cut way to do things.  Which one do you think many of them will pick?  Don’t assume that the flooring contractor is going to take the baseboards off before starting to lay the new floor down.  Instead write it in the scope of work.  By doing this, you know the job will be done correctly and it leaves no room for argument.  When you stop by to check on your rehab and realize that your general contractor didn’t use bullnose tile as finish pieces for your backsplash and you didn’t specify that in your scope of work, guess what?  You just lost some time and money because he’s going to tell you that you didn’t specify that you wanted bullnose and if you want him to redo it, he’s going to charge you for the work all over.  The bottom line is, it is better to be too detailed and specific than not, when writing your scope of work.  Even though it will take you more time to write out your scope of work, in the long run, it will save you time as you manage your rehab…not to mention the money you will save as well.  We will discuss reason number two in my next posting which will talk about another way creating a specific scope of work can save you money.

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