Remodel ourselves, or hire contractor?

To pay or not to pay a contractor?

This is something that we struggle with constantly. We have the know how and experience to do all of the remodeling work on our flips. But is the best use of our time? We like to do the work on our own houses, but this is a business and we have to make decisions that benefit the bottom line not what we "like" to do. Here are some of the pros and cons that we have come up with.

Doing the work ourselves

We like to work with our hands and get a lot of satisfaction out of seeing the completed remodeling job and knowing that we did a quality job. The job is done correctly, exactly how we wanted it and it is cheaper. There are no issues with scheduling or babysitting contractors. The problem with this is that the time we spend on updating and remodeling houses might be better spent looking for more deals.

Hiring contractors to do the work

A professional contractor that you can trust is critical, but finding one is half the battle. Once you find a good one, you will not have to babysit or worry about the quality because they want your future business. You want someone that will team up with you and help you out in good times and bad.

Is it cheaper to do the work ourselves?

Yes and no. On paper if you are looking at one project yes, but you have to look at the big picture. Here is an example, let's say that your contractor charges you $40 per hour for a job that takes 40 hours to complete. You can do the job in 60 hours and can pay yourself nothing, which is a $1,600 savings. Right? NO! How much is your time worth to you? At the minimum you should figure $15 an hour, which cuts the savings down to $1,000. Now let's say that you hire Joe contractor to do the work and while he is working you are looking for your next project. If you were to find a deal on a flip that will bring you $20,000, what is your savings now? Would you have found that deal if your were elbow deep in paint making $15 an hour?

We are investors, we make our money off of finding houses to fix up and sell. We have found that companies like Reliable Remodeler are the best way to find reputable contractors to do their thing while we do ours.