How To Estimate Repair Expenses
I am looking to wholesale properties. Since I plan to notify potential investors of these properties I want to "flip", I need to know how much the repair costs will be before I consider an offer. How do you estimate the repair expenses for a home without having to contact a home inspector? I want to be able to do a quick look myself and estimate the cost. If I decide it is one I "might" be VERY interested in, then I would get a professional to take a look at the property interior and exterior. That said, I would like to know how to estimate the following: 1) Floors (Carpet, vinyl, tile, etc) 2) Paint (interior) 3) Paint (exterior) 4) Fences 5) Roofing 6) Ceiling 7) Windows/Doors 8) Heating & Air 9) Electrical I don't need to know the rocket-science behind it, but a ballpark way of determining the expenses would help. This way, I can look real quick and - knowing the square footage or lengths - I can figure the approximate cost to redo these items (if necessary). This would help me determine if it is even worth flipping to another investor. Thanks, Richard [addsig]
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Try to get at least three estimates on the repair subject any less and you won't really be able to compare them properly.
Many of the major hardware stores can help with estimating repair cost as well.
Difficulty in estimating prices is each home and job is different. Building codes and practices vary from state to state and county to county and will affect the cost.
Below are a few web sites that may help:
http://www.contractors.com/cost_estimator/free_estimates.html
http://www.homeinspectorlocator.com/resources/Costtorepair.htm
http://www.stargroup.com/ResidentialInspections.htm?costs.htm~mainFrame
http://www.homespecny.com/docs/homeimprov.html
http://housecraft.com/costguid.html
[addsig]
1) Floors (Carpet, vinyl, tile, etc) - this one is easy, go to a big flooring store and start talking to a salesperson. Tell them you have a rental apartment and are wondering what the cheapest stuff they have is. Start there and look into incrementally better carpet, then look into lino and tile. Pretty soon you will have a pretty good gestimate that starter carpet installed might be $2 a sq foot, medium grade might be $4 a sq foot and really top stuff $7 a sq foot.
It all takes lots of time and work.