Rehabbing houses, when your new that can be tricky at best. Contractors are typically the biggest problem when it comes to renovating the house. I have see them all, dealt with them all, and hired and fired more than I care to say.

So I figured out what to do, how to see if they are good and competitive or not. I would hire them to do a small job only, like say build new steps. They would see the ugly house and realize much more work or paydays could be for them, with emphasis on ”could be” on the horizon for there pockets.

So if they could complete a few minor jobs, in the time they said the would, with the quality they said they could and cleaned up their mess, within they budget we negotiate, then they could advance to bigger tasks in the house. 

I have found this a sure fire way to prevent them from not showing up, over charging and being drunk on the job, yes drunk.

That said, I pay well, when good work is done. Some realized this, and chose to work on my houses, yet other ones realized they could not get anything over on me and would leave, or they would be invited to leave.

So try that next time, only give them a small task and see how they do! First before you allow a contractor to assume they have a big job. Another reason for only giving them a small job is this.

Once they have secured your house to rehab, they promise to get right on your job, then they search out 4 other jobs work at their pace on each of them. They work on there time, jumping from house to house. That will not work if your on a schedule or especially if your paying on  hard money loans!

So chew on that a bit.

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