Are you thinking of hiring a general contractor? Your Landlord Tutor is a general contractor as well! So if you need general contracting services, here are the things to look for in a general contractor to take charge of your property renovations.
Why You Need a General Contractor
Now maybe some of you don’t need it. Perhaps your properties are brand new, and you don’t need to work on them. But in the city of Boston, getting a good property or one with good value will require some renovations.
You may have heard that general contractors sometimes aren’t responsive, are very expensive, or their guys don’t show up on time. Sometimes the costs go over budget, or the project goes over the timeline.
So how do you resolve that when picking out your general contractor?
What to Consider When Hiring a General Contractor
Here are some things you should consider when picking a general contractor to take charge of the work needed for your property.
1. Find a reputable general contractor.
When trying to find a general contractor, talk with several contractors. Check their references, go online, find some reviews, and even call up their former clients.
The key is finding someone you’re comfortable working with who will give you the service you need. You are probably spending a lot of money on it, so don’t just call one person who might claim someone is the best person in the world to do your work.
2. See their work in general.
If they know that they specialize in a certain area, go talk to the building inspectors even. Talking with them is a great approach to finding out how general contractors do their job.
If you’re new to the world of general contracting or just curious about the effect a change or delay can have on the process, ask them if they can provide a timeline. What happens if there are changes or delays? Do they get penalized at all?
The answers you get will give you an idea of how they approach their work and help you determine if they are the kind of service providers you want to work with.
3. Ask about their team.
How many people are they working with, subcontractors versus employees? You have to know this because they can control employees.
Most contractors use subs that are in their own world. When issues happen, they are not liable for it, and they are just going to pass that buck.
Furthermore, typical contractors bill by the hour. Many rookie contractors have never worked on a home improvement project before, so they have no idea how long it will take or how many people they need on their team.
You want a team that remains engaged throughout the entire renovation project to ensure that you finish on time and save money in the process.
How Your Landlord Tutor Can Help
Among my many certifications, I am also a general contractor. I can guide you through selecting one and looking through a renovation: seeing what you need to do, and looking at the numbers with you.
And if you’re in the city of Boston, I might be able to help you out because, at my property management company, we manage properties that we do general contracting on.
We only provide general contracting services for properties under our management. This allows us to control the timeline and the cost to know that the work will get done because we will be liable for more than just the renovation project.
The Landlord Tutor Promise
If you or anyone else you know is looking for help with renovations and guidance on selecting a general contractor, join the Landlord Tutor community and sign up here.
Renovations are essential to every real estate investment, but don’t let the costs scare you. We share with you some thoughts on making your property more profitable, such as turning it into an appealing home with renovations.
Why Commit to Renovations
With every dollar that you put into your property, you want to make sure that you get a return on your investment. And we help you do that by walking through the property and determining what aspects would add value.
We focus on what would add value not only to you, the property owner but also through the tenants. Tenant value can be added through improvements to the property and making it more desirable.
By conducting renovations on your property, you make it more profitable by being able to increase the rent as well as the retention rate of your tenants.
If tenants are happy and they love the unit, they are going to want to stay, which means fewer turnover costs. And fewer turnover costs mean more money in your pocket.
How to Do Renovations Effectively
At the end of the day, we don’t want to go crazy with our renovations. We want to have a suitable taste that is desirable across the board.
Of course, trends change from year to year. What we can always guarantee, though, is that:
Tenants love bright units, so we always make sure that the lighting is good.
They also love keeping things looking clean, and the big trend right now is white cabinets, so we do that with lighter countertops as well.
To match it all, we also guarantee stainless steel appliances.
This is our proven strategy after going through the unit and determining what needs to be renovated or repaired. Sometimes, we are able to do a renovation in less than a week. We also save on costs by just repainting cabinets instead of replacing them.
With this, we minimize the actual turnover time and get tenants back into the unit paying rent.
Why Landlords Should Renovate
A lot of times, landlords don’t repair or make renovations or improvements. Slowly but surely, your properties will deteriorate, and they will become less desirable. This is not what you want.
And I’m not saying that you want it at the top of the market, but you want to be competitive and say that your units are nicer. If there are two equal-sized units for the same type of rent, you want to be the one tenants would choose.
You should determine what type of minor changes can make curb appeal improvements. You can also focus on things like the kitchen and the bathroom. These are two areas of your unit that tenants will focus on and base their decisions on.
And again, as we talked about with kitchens, the big things to consider are cabinets, countertops, appliances, and lighting. With bathrooms, it’s the same thing.
Tenants just want something clean and functional. They want to have space to put their goods, to make you feel like things aren’t cramped.
Ensuring a Profitable Property With Renovations
Once in a while, we will go through the layouts with you and change what is necessary. But most of the time, what we will do is update, improve, and determine what the market is demanding and what tenants are looking for.
We will always talk with you about that. We will give you a few different options to work from. Our trusted vendors and I will help ensure that you get the biggest return on investment on any improvement money spent.
As a general contractor myself, I have done hundreds of renovations not only for clients but also for my own properties,
The Landlord Tutor Promise
To know more about renovations and how you can make your property more profitable, join the Landlord Tutor community and sign up here.
