Key Considerations for Fix and Flip Rehab Project Planning

For real estate investors, home flipping continues to be a popular form of investing. According to an article from the Mortgage Bankers Association, house flipping continues to grow even during an eleven year high. Taking a distressed property and renovating it into a beautiful home not only improves communities, but is also a great way for investors to earn additional income. Since you will be making repairs to the home it’s important that you understand how to plan the rehab schedule. There are several different factors that go into completing a rehab project and you’ll need to have a solid schedule in place to help the rehab process be as smooth as possible.

Below are three essential tips to efficiently plan your fix and flip rehab schedule. These three rehab property tips offer insight into how to plan a schedule and the best practices to complete your rehab to ensure a high return on investment on your property.

1) Hire a reputable contractor for rehab project planning

One of the first things you’ll need to do is hire a contractor for your flip. Unless you plan on doing all of the work by yourself, you’ll need to hire a contractor to assist and manage the planning of your rehab project. Finding the right contractor is critical because you don’t want to continuously cycle through contractors, as this will only slow down your project and eat away at your profits. To ensure that you’re hiring a reputable contractor, you will need to get references from previous clients who can attest to the overall quality of the work and if there were any red flags. Once you have found the right contractor, they will be able to give you an estimate of costs and give you a strong sense of how the rehab will be laid out in the most streamlined way.

2) Create a schedule and checklist for each stage of your fix and flip rehab project

As you move toward beginning work on your fix-and-flip project, you’ll need to make sure that you have a schedule and checklist for each stage to keep things moving smoothly. For instance, if the first thing you plan on doing is cleaning up around the property, ensure to include it in your fix and flip rehab checklist and schedule ahead of time to have a set deadline for the completion of the clean-up. After the clean-up is finished, within the allotted time on the schedule, you can move onto the next stage of your rehab. Now take painting the home for example, if it takes a week to paint the house, you’ll most likely need to schedule for a week and a half to account for delays. You can continue this process for each stage of the rehab and make tweaks as the rehab starts to take shape.

Completing this step for each of these stages is something a quality contractor can help you prepare for. They will have a good understanding of how long it takes to finish each stage of the rehab, and the order in which you should create your schedule and checklist.

3) Order materials in advance for your rehab project

Another way to keep your schedule tight is to have the materials you’ll need ordered in advance. Having your paint schemes, materials, and appliances chosen and ordered allows you to make a smooth transition between each stage of the rehab. If you’re ordering granite countertops and it will take a month to have it delivered, you’ll need to make sure that you line up the arrival time with that stage of the rehab; this way you can avoid having the house sitting for an extended period of time while you wait for your materials. The faster you’re able to complete each stage without extended downtime, the faster you’ll be able to flip the house and increase your overall profits.

Accurately planning your rehab goes a long way towards a successful fix-and-flip investment. Having a good understanding of what to expect from your contractor and knowing how the project will flow from stage to stage greatly increases your chances for success, and helps you hedge any unforeseen issues that may arise over the course of the project. As you look to move forward on your next successful fix-and-flip project, utilizing these three tips can put you on the right path and help you effectively manage your project.

Successful Real Estate Rehab Projects

Thorough project planning and execution is essential for success in rehab real estate. Take a look at some real life examples of successful fix and flip rehab projects from Lima One Capital.

Fix and Flip Rehab Loans at Lima One Capital

Lima One Capital is the premier lender of providing financing solutions for real estate investors, including fix and flip rehab loans. We make it easy to finance all of your fix-and-flip, rental property, and multifamily investments. We are a national hard money lender lending in 46 states as well as Washington, D.C. We have a passion for real estate and helping real estate investors become successful in their pursuit of their entrepreneurial goals. Learn more about our FixNFlip program today.