Fixer Upper: The Path to Successful Flipping
This past week I read a blog article that a fixer upper had posted about their own personal journey on renovating a home. The blog is titled, "Why Chip and Joanna are BIG, FAT, LIARS (But we should all be watching their show anyway…)". It's actually quite a funny read (as I do love the writer's tone and language she uses telling us her true feelings). While this blogger clearly hit some snags working in their own fixer upper, there are some key elements to successfully go through a 'fixer upper' experience.
Fixer Upper: The Path To Success
Planning
Budgeting only comes whey you successfully plan! Period. In the blog, Cindy talks about how "Chip and Joanna generally run into one “minor snag” per renovation where they have to call the owner and ask for additional funds." Whereas in their fixer upper journey, they were shocked to discover, "... that you have blown your budget to crap happens daily. (In fact, if you’re seriously contemplating a fixer-upper, you might want to ask yourself if you’re okay with selling your plasma, hair, AND sperm – because the good Lord knows it’s gonna cost you EVERYTHING else…)"When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Period. Part of your planning should include:
- A design for EVERY space you will be tackling. Do you notice that Joanna ALWAYS has a plan she works off of.
- A budget to coincide with the design for EVERY space. Again, budget is ALWAYS talked about in the show.
Even with a design and budget, there are typically 'surprises' hidden behind walls. I call these type of things 'curveballs'. For this reason, when you are budgeting, you should be setting aside anywhere from 5 - 20% of your budget. The state of the home will determine whether you need to be budgeting closer to the 5% or closer to the 20%.
Fixer Upper: The Path To Success
Managing Trades
Once you have a plan in place, and a budget put together, then you discuss with the trades to provide their their timeline. In Cindy's blog, she mentions that Chip and Joanna, "...don’t have to wait three weeks for the dry-wall guy to show up, four weeks for the plumber, and an eternity for the carpenter who promised every day for a month he’d be there tomorrow…."
- For one, what you don't see on T.V. is all the wait time. We have no idea how long Chip and Joanna are waiting for their trades to show up and complete the work.
- In the non-T.V. world, if you have your design and your budget (meaning you have secured your trades and are happy with their quote), then you should have a renovation calendar. You know...a timeline that states who is going to be accessing the home, when they are going to access the home, and when they will be done. This calendar is one that a Project Manager would be doing if you hired one. If you chose not to hire one, then you - as a flipper - should be creating one!
- If by chance you are not using a single trade, you still should be creating a timeline. This is your guide to know how long the entire process should take.
Fixer Upper: The Path To Success
Know Your Limits
In the blog that Cindy wrote, the mentions: "Chipanna never accidentally rips out a support beam, or blindly drives a nail into a water pipe, or gets impatient putting polyurethane on the wood floors causing it all to bubble and have to be redone."Fixer uppers are not easy. If you are planning to do all the work yourself, I truly believe that you need to be fully aware of your limits. To 'accidentally rip out a support beam' is crazy! To me, that just screams inexperience and danger (all wrapped up in one). Questions you should be asking yourself are:
- Time: Do I have the time to do the work in an efficient manner to keep this renovation moving along? If yes, then go for it. If no, then start looking at who can get the work done for you (and by this I don't mean going with the cheapest trade.). Ensure you have quality worker(s) working on your home. This should all take place during your planning time PRIOR to a hammer ever being swung.
- Money: Will I be saving money on the budget by doing the work? If it's a job that you are not comfortable doing, then you need to consider what is more important. Spending extra time researching how to do the work and actually doing the work yourself and possibly extending your fixer upper timeline OR do you spend the money hiring out the work and getting the job done right the first time and maintaining a calendar to get you done on time? That call will have to be yours.
Fixer Upper: The Path To Success
Final Thoughts
I feel so bad for Cindy and her family as they lived in their own fixer upper and after 7 months, they were still not done. When we did our own renovation last year and lived through the entire thing, I had a very aggressive 5 1/2 week timeline to complete the entire main floor and upper floor (including a brand new, redesigned kitchen). Every day we had a list of what had to get done to allow the trades to come in and do their work (and yes, they were booked in advance). There wasn't a single day that work was not being done in our home.Renovations can take their toll. I was lucky enough to have a great husband who was educated with the plan prior to us starting. We talked and discussed our 'plan of attack' to ensure not a day was wasted. We really were on the same page from day one which was a HUGE help. While our reno was only 5 1/2 weeks, it is common to experience renovation exhaustion. I just firmly believe that if you have a plan, a budget and a timeline, your fixer upper will run smooth!
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