This is the craziest roof I’ve ever done and it didn’t help that my roofer only saw it necessary to bring one helper. The pitch is a very steep 12′ on 10′ so it makes walking on it humanly impossible. Not to mention that there were 3 layers including the original wood cedar shake shingle that needed to be removed before we could even install the new roof decking made this an all consuming job. It was slow going all week due to the steep pitch, they even had to hand carry the individual shingles up the 32′ ladder as we couldn’t load the bundles anywhere on the roof. It’s always good to pick your roof color to go with what exterior paint colors you’ve got planned, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen rehabbers make this crucial mistake, like a brown roof with a green house. I usually use the Owens Corning 30-Year Estate Grey but this time I went with something new its the Lifetime GAF shingle in the color called Slate. It’s mostly grey but with a hint of blueish green to make it look like slate on an old house. I think its going to tie in nicely with my paint color scheme. The roof on this house is real important to get right because its so visible. I took this opportunity to remake the historic scalloped decorative facia board also on the mini front gable and it came out sweet.
I also picked up my new wood historic style double-hung sashed windows by TM Cobb this week. These windows are so cool I wish I could replace all of them but the budget just doesn’t permit it. I’m putting in 8 new ones that are either unsavable or someone had already replaced with aluminum and refurbishing the rest of the original windows per the historic board guidelines. I cant put them in until I pass framing inspection. The electrician finished up this week so I’m now finally ready to call for rough-in inspections on framing, electrical, plumbing and hvac all at once. I think I’ve got 7 killer historic colors nailed down for the exterior, they are from the Sherman Williams Victorian House color collection. If the Historic Board approves it, I’ll be using a lighter green body, dark green trim, burnt orange accent on the sunburst, plum windows, medium orange for some accents, and light blue for the porch ceiling. There will also be a grey wood front porch to keep it period correct. These are some heavy colors but I think the Lady will hold them well as long as I use the accents sparingly and in the right places.
First and foremost, Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there! The coolest thing we did this week at The Painted Lady was to remove all of the 1970’s Sears metal siding, of course we recycled it to help save the planet. This is the third time I’ve done this on a historic house but I’ve never removed 2 different layers to get down to the original wood. It’s always a gamble because you never know of the condition underneath but its been my experience that the asbestos or vinyl that’s on top actually preserves and protects the old wood and I’ve always been surprised to see near perfect siding with minimal paint jobs buried underneath. The more the homes get painted over the years, the harder it is to prep so in this case when I found the original yellow paint job with nothing cracking or peeling I was excited. As we removed it, I found tons more hidden architectural details that these Victorian houses are famous for so I had to tell myself it must have been a pretty good salesman in a polyester jacket who was able to convince the homeowner with his “never paint your house again” pitch years ago to cover all the character of their house up. These cool details in the trim on the house are going to put my paint job over the top.
We also finally got the foundation poured, it took 2 full trucks with almost 20 yards of concrete total, as well as a pumper rig to fill up the spaces we left open around the house in the forms. Once filled we removed the forms while it was still green and hand troweled the finish. Its harder to work with but I used the 1.5″ rock aggregate although most guys use the pea gravel mix. Since the stem wall is 3 feet high in some spots I wanted it to be as strong as possible. This house isn’t going anywhere now for another 100 years. The Historical Review Board also asked me to replace the visable portions of the old chimneys in order to keep the house period correct. The old ones were crumbling and dangerous and I deleted them from inside the house to maximize my floorspace and intended not to re stack the exterior, they weren’t fireplaces inside but only basically a brick flue for stove exhaust. I found some used bricks on Craigslist and had them re-stacked just from the roof line up, I had to knock this out before the roofers show up on Monday.
I finally met with some sub contractor drama this week from one of my subs, I knew everything was going too good to be true. It’s crazy, but unfortunately I cant share the story although it involves the FBI. Hopefully he’ll have his helper finish up next week so I can call for rough in inspection and be ready to insulate and drywall after the new roof goes on.
Here’s a walk through to show the progress of The Painted Lady at week 6. After waiting 4 weeks for historical board approval we finally got the green light so we started calling for inspections. It was quite interesting to say the least, initially we failed both the foundation and framing because of a few small issues. The trench for the foundation was 2″ too shallow, the plans I drew noted a 24″ deep trench which is overkill because a 2 story house only requires 18″ deep footings but I wanted to beef it up a little.
I also upgraded the rebar size from the nominal 1/2″ as code requires to 5/8″ just do make it stronger. None of this mattered when the inspector showed up, he failed me anyway for lack of the 2″ to make it match what the plans called for. On the framing I was missing a few nails as the plans called for. I knew it wasn’t a big deal to make these few changes so it really didn’t bother me to fail. We fixed them quick and called the inspector back out 2 days later.
This is when I learned that nothing is going to just get signed off on that quick. When he arrived it took him all of about 10 minutes to measure the trench depth and check for the framing nails. He then proceeds to tell me that he can only pass me on the foundation but I’ll have to wait to pass on the framing. Really, didn’t you just look and see I made the corrections? I’ve heard that they commonly show up and will only sign off on one or two things due to time restraints. The framing inspection includes about 4 categories; roof, floor, wall construction and sheer panels and could take up to 40 minutes in theory. Although he already verified everything was o.k. he only passed me on the roof portion “so I could stay busy and put my roof on.”
As you can imagine there’s not much new construction going on, so last year half of the inspectors got laid off so I don’t think morale is at its highest level. With half of the staff now the inspectors are covering twice the territories so there’s not much time when they show up. When dealing with inspectors always tread lightly, give respect and remember not to rock the boat. The best rule is to close your mouth and just listen.
This is exactly why most rehabbers look for the cosmetic flips or sneak by without permits. Next week will be big, plumbing is now completely done, hvac done and electrical 75% done. Monday we are finally pouring the foundation after waiting forever for the City. Even with the slow downs I’m still pushing, small set backs are just part of the business.
Several other cool things in TomTarrant.com land for this week;
1. There is a new contest at REIClub.com that I am nominated for. It’s another Best Real Estate Investing Blog shoot out. I’m up against some really popular sites so please go and cast your vote for me. Voting doesn’t begin until Monday, June 13 and goes through midnight on Friday June 17. This one is big, I could win a $250 Apple gift card which my wife would love. I need your help on this one guys, if you like the info I share here for you, please take a second and go vote for me!
2. Joshua Dorkin over at Biggerpockets.com asked me to do an off the cuff Skype video interview for him where we’ll cover general real estate investing stuff and info about my house flipping business. Make sure and go by his site next week and look for the interview. I’ll probably spill all the secrets you’ve been wanting to know.
Even with the short week we still managed to get a lot done. The plumber is almost done now and I had the hvac guy come through and he roughed in the whole house in 2 days. I installed a Goodman 70,000 btu central heat system only with all new ducts. It was a breath of fresh “air” not to have to do the full central air system because in most areas in San Diego you don’t even need air conditioning. These guys don’t mess around in this town, he rolled in with 6 helpers and they knocked it out. What a change from “Land of Manana” as we called San Antonio, where most workers only did the bare minimum, never showed up and just squeaked by since the cost of living is so low there. Thanks to my buddy Curtis Gabhart from Gabhart Investments for the referral! Check out his site if you want to see how the big boys are rehabbing here in San Diego.
I always bring the hvac sub contractor through second, then finally my electrician will come Monday and start with my 200 amp rewire and new service. The best news all week was that I finally appear to have approval from the Historical Review Board. The City Planner emailed me late Friday and said I could come pick up my plans. My project has been under review for over 4 weeks now, luckily they stamped my structural and mechanical plans right away so I could get started. If everything was approved then I officially have the permit and I’m free to start calling for inspections and can move forward faster. I’ll call for the foundation inspection first so he can check our forms and rebar, then we can pour Wednesday. Next I’ll call in for framing inspection so I can then put the roof on. Finally I’ll call for rough-in inspections on all 3 trades so I can then hang insulation and drywall the house up. It seems like a lot but I’m really not that far away from getting it sealed up.
I was a little surprised about code differences between here and in Texas, seems with all the regulations here in California they would be a little more strict on the duct work but evidently you don’t even have to put “pookie” on the registers or plenum. In Texas with the summer heat they were really strict on the system install but then again this is heat only and no a/c. Right now it’s 68 degrees and sunny. Sorry, to my friends in San Antonio already sweating in 100 degree, 80% humidity.. its going to be a long summer!
The San Diego Real Estate market saw some price slippage, in May there was a 4% decrease from year-over-year prices. Nationally, the 20-City Case Shiller Metro home prices are already in double-dip territory but we aren’t there yet even with the large decrease. I attribute most of this to the artificial market and tax credit last Spring, if the government would just stay out of everything and let the markets correct naturally I think we’d be in a better place. Here’s a good article by Rich Toscano over at Voice of San Diego.org.
Lately I’ve been fielding some great questions privately and have always kinda thought everyone else would benefit from hearing my answers so I’m taking this email public as a test to see how it goes. It’s from Steve Parry, location unknown.
Hi Tom,
First off let me say I love your website. I’ve been following it for a while now and it is the most informative, honest flipping blog I can find.
The reason for the email is I’m a young guy. My dream has always been to flip houses. I went to Columbia university, majored in engineering, minored in business. I work now for a construction management company as a superintendent so I am getting more and more familiar with construction techniques. I have the capital to start but think I need more experience to be anywhere as close to successful as you are.
My question for you is:
1) How did you get started?
and
2) What would you recommend for a guy like me just starting out trying to get the experience to successfully do what you do? Would you get involved, hands on as a superintendent so that later down the road I can act as my own contractor, or as a project manager so that I know the contracts and estimation side of the job or an engineer so I can pull virtually every permit I need and stamp my own drawings?
Any other advice you want to shed on me that maybe you would have done differently if you started over now….feel free to school me.
I know you’re a busy guy so I’ll keep my many questions to just those two.
Thanks for taking the time.
Steve
Thanks for the comments Steve and I’m glad you find inspiration here. It sounds like you have a great start to building the skills you would need to succeed in house flipping. Engineering and business will both help you tons. Having the capital to get started is also something that alot of other guys are not lucky enough to enjoy and they still make it happen using hard money loans, so here’s another strong point you have on your side.
1. I never set out to become a house flipper. Its been told, do what you love and the money will follow. I grew up around tools my whole life and was lucky enough to have a dad (r.i.p.) that took the time to teach me how to use them. He always was taking on remodeling projects around the house although his profession was a computer programmer. I always found myself helping even if it was just cleaning up. At an early age I learned about tools and I think it led me to be more mechanically inclined than other kids later on in life. I’ve had a lifetime of other careers in sales, manufacturing, construction, marketing, real estate and more. I think at some point everything just clicks and you take experiences and skills you’ve learned throughout life and they all come together and your path becomes clear.
Having tool knowledge and odd construction jobs throughout college enabled me to take on my own projects when I first became a homeowner. I was never really taught the right way to do anything (except painting) but rather just jumped in and did it the best I could, figuring it out as I went along. I always say you can learn how to do anything you want by asking questions (at home depot). In addition to growing up around tools with my dad, I was also lucky enough to have a mother who was a Real Estate Broker. I didn’t realize it at the time but I was absorbing everything from my parents that I would be using today being self employed.
Don’t quit your day job to become a house flipper. Build it up slowly and jump in full time after you’ve proved to yourself mentally and financially you can do it. After buying and rehabbing several homes for myself I took on my first official flip while still working a 9-5 job. It was a full gut 3 bedroom, 1 bath house in my neighborhood. You can find a video of it here called The Probate House. It was in my neighborhood and I new the local market like the back of my hand. I spent evenings and weekends rehabbing that house and had all my friends help me. I made more from that house in those 4 months than my job paid all year. To buy that first house I sold all my fun toys to raise the down payment and rehab money. After the first one went so well I rolled straight into 2 more. All 3 I made great money on. I had once heard somewhere If you make money on your first 3 real estate deals then you’ve got it wired. Looking back on it that was a bit naive, but it gave me the courage to quit my job and jump in full time.
2. This is a great question. You see on my site that I do alot of the work myself. This business model is not scalable however, so in theory you want to just oversee everything at some level but be able to delegate the work. Not to say that its not valuable to get your feet wet on the first few deals by doing some of the work if you are capable. There’s nothing like knowing how its suppose to be done, even if you are overseeing it. In todays market its important to produce a good product so dont compromise on quality just so you can learn how to do tile jobs yourself. I found it appealing initially that I could do alot of the work thus saving me tons of money on the rehab budget and hedging my bet for making a profit. This model works, but you’ll never be able to do 10-15 house a a year. Most of the construction knowledge you need revolves around what order to do things in. It’s really not that hard to do a big rehab if you just break it down into steps and hire qualified sub contractors for each step. Being a project manager is great but you probably wont need an engineers designation and if you do rarely need one, you can easily pay a few hundred bucks. You cant do everything yourself and thats one thing I’ve rarely had to use. I’d say being a draftsman would rank very high on the personal skill wish list. Being able to use auto-cad and draw up your own floor plans would definitely aid you down the road. If you have time I would learn this. Just about every house we do now needs floorplan changes and being able to put it all on paper is great. My last recommendation for you is to get your real estate license. Knowledge in this field is just as, or more important, than the construction side. Also, network with other local investors and investment clubs. Its great to surround yourself with like minded people. Be prepared also to hear negative reactions from some friends about your new career idea, its best to not even associate with anyone who expresses negative feelings on this because it could make you second guess your actions. People don’t like to see you make money, especially when they are stuck in their crappy low paying jobs, that they hate, just waiting for the day they are going to get laid off. What I do is not rocket science, anyone who puts their mind to it, and has passion for it, can be successful.
Good luck in your future and thanks for the great questions!
