Pipe-dreaming Inquiry - Building Multi-units.

bob_cntrctr

Gentlemen,

Every couple of years I buy a property that needs work, fix it up then rent it out. "Fix it up" usually means gut it down to studs, maybe reframe some walls, and everything including wiring and plumbing made new. That's gone very well so far, partly because it's no-pressure, it's all just me on the work front - maybe I hire a couple of guys for a crew - and the financing is pretty basic.

Every now and then, though, I day-dream about taking on an actual new construction. This week my real estate agent called me up to tell me about a real nice building lot and it got me thinking about it, again.

But there's no way I can build all by myself, obviously. So, in my uninitiated view of it, I'd be the GC and hire all the trades. Some things I'd do myself, with or without a crew depending on the job. For example, clearly someone else is doing the excavation and foundation, and framing can be whipped off a lot faster than me by an experienced framing crew. And I've always believed in the value of letting drywallers power through the drywalling on big jobs.

To get the most out of this, it'd be multi-family. I'm thinking four units in one building. Either townhouses or those funky places that look like a huge house but is really four units in a two-storey cube.

The town has already indicated they'd be cooperative 'cause they want this kind of housing built.

There'd be architect, engineering drawings, etc.

Right now it's just a pipe-dream, but maybe.....

So, I have questions.

Like how does bank financing work on a thing like this?

Just how hard is it to get the trades all scheduled properly so things are done in the right order and without huge delays between steps?

Is it better to hire a single contractor for a trade who works his way throgh unit-by-unit, or a contractor with a large enough crew, or multiple contractors, to have their phase done quickly all at once?

For my reno projects, materials just come from HD or the local building supply. For a larger project are there any avenues for savings on materials in larger volume?

What potential issues don't I even know enough about to ask?

Let the savaging begin.

Thanks.

Anti-wingnut

Not very hard at all

No, stick with HD

ArtKit

Thats absurd! Don't just stick with Home Depot!
Ok first thing is first, addressing the issue with getting finacning on a project like this.... well first of all remember we are in a tough finaiacl economictime and and its hard for anyone to secure a loan. Now that you actually secured your loan start with getting all the initial trades up and running like an architect and an enginer. Once they started on the design and planning process start researching the cheapest places to buy materials from, cause for now you have at least 2 months before you even break ground!!! So no dont stick with the local supply shops unless they are cheaper then the big boys like lowes and home depot.

As far as contracting diffrent trades and you mainting the title of the GC, thats agreat idea, you will be over seeing them do the work, just don't take to much work upon yourself while you have others working in the house. I can not make it more clear that research is the way to go. Research every material, research building processes, research research research! Google should be your best freind =]`

Hope I was of some help!

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You can read more about my opinions about kitchen designs for vacation rentals over at my blogs.