[Cubevan]

Does anybody here run another business part time along with your main contracting or handyman business?

 

[Nathan]

I work a full time job as a construction manager, own a painting company that does 4-5 homes per week, and run these websites... which is kind of a part time job?

 

[Glasshousebltr]

Had a restaurant....(bust) tough biz....now I have a partner in the laptop repair biz and still do construction.

Bob

 

[HanSoloWS6]

I remodel full time and I'm going to get into doing my own rehabs and flips. I'm also an auto mechanic and truck driver if things are slow.

 

[Grumpy]

Like Nathan, though I work alot less hours on the websites.

 

[Teetorbilt]

My businesses include remodeling and repair plus window treatments in the construction industry. In the yacht industry, I provide renovation, deliveries, electronics and other ships systems. My speciality is custom woodworking with exotic woods, this spans both areas.

 

[CogentRES]

My company is a contracting and real estate investment company.

So aside from contracting we do:

Home sale preparation, real estate investment consulting, property wholesaling, flipping and we usually have anywhere from 2-5 rental properties at a time.

Sometimes I think that doing many things keeps me from being the best at any one thing. I try to read so much about all of them, but I still think that in order to build a juggernaut of a company I may have to focus on a niche.

I cannot imagine owning another unrelated business. There is no way I could put the time into it to run it properly.

 

[mdshunk]

Do a couple flips a year and have a few rentals, but that's still pretty much construction related. Doing flips would be a good thing for any contractor of any type, since it can help the guys fill out a day here and there, or fill in a slow week.

 

[Cubevan]

I used to run a small lawn business along with my drywall/carpentry/painting business throughout most of the 1990's.

I don't think I would attempt doing flips with my back problems. :cheesygri

 

[J2Jonner]

I don't want to hijack so if this should be moved to a post let me know. Can you guys give more information on when you flipped your first house? This is exactly what I would like to do next, find a resonable property to flip where the work is cosmetic and I can "learn-the-ropes". The business end of the deal I can handle, as well as the work end, but it seems you almost have to be a real-estate agent to pick profitable properties, know the neighborhoods and such. How did/do you prepare for a flip, how long did to hold the property?

Cheers,
Jon

 

[Kevin]

I don't want to hijack so if this should be moved to a post let me know. Can you guys give more information on when you flipped your first house? This is exactly what I would like to do next, find a resonable property to flip where the work is cosmetic and I can "learn-the-ropes". The business end of the deal I can handle, as well as the work end, but it seems you almost have to be a real-estate agent to pick profitable properties, know the neighborhoods and such. How did/do you prepare for a flip, how long did to hold the property?

Cheers,
Jon

Good post.
This might make a great new thread, one that I'd be very interested in reading.

 

[AAPaint]

I'm a pimp on the side, does that count? LOL!! :cheesygri

 

[mdshunk]

I don't want to hijack so if this should be moved to a post let me know. Can you guys give more information on when you flipped your first house? This is exactly what I would like to do next, find a resonable property to flip where the work is cosmetic and I can "learn-the-ropes". The business end of the deal I can handle, as well as the work end, but it seems you almost have to be a real-estate agent to pick profitable properties, know the neighborhoods and such. How did/do you prepare for a flip, how long did to hold the property?

Nothing personal, Jon. I think that this is one of those "if you have to ask, don't do it" type of questions. Doing a flip for the first time without any prior knowledge of rentals, cheap code compliant repair methods, real estate prices and trends, and neighborhoods is a recipie to lose a lot of cash.

The condensed version is that I look for a distressed property in an otherwise decent neighborhood that I can purchase for less than 30% of its after repair value. Plug in about another 25% in for repairs, and you make around 100% profit. Remember, you can get a super cheap building in the ghetto, but after you fix er up, it still ain't worth crap. If you buy one for too close to it's after repair value, you stand a very good chance of not making any profit or even losing money. Even if it takes you a year to find the "perfect" property in which you can make a killing, it's worth waiting in my opinion. Most of the ones I find are not technically for sale until I start to dig and track down the owner. I look for ones especially with fire damage, water damage, mold damage, freeze damage, vermin infestation, vandalism, or all of the above. The typical DIY is scared of these.

 

[J2Jonner]

I won't take offence to anything you have to say, and I'm not in a possition to dispute the "don't ask/do it". What I am looking for is comments on the risk level you and others were prepared to take when you started flipping. i.e Did you lean towards lower profit margin flips that were safer sales to minimize exposure, or did you lean towards very low cost properties where the initial outlay would be less? Your 25%,25%,50% split sounds like it would be very favorable, you must know your market well! How much time do you spend on the "hunt" for properties to locate something of interest per week? Do you lean towards interest only finance for the short term, or did you save up x% before you started looking?

Cheers,
Jon

 

[Teetorbilt]

J2, there is a new thread for this topic.

 

[mdshunk]

Your 25%,25%,50% split sounds like it would be very favorable, you must know your market well!

Not really. Really run down properties can be had for cheap because, wel..., they're run down. They key is to find a run down one in a neighborhood that most people would actually choose to live in. Just start driving neighborhoods. Look for signs that maybe nobody lives there. I don't really make any special effort to hunt one down. I just always keep my eyes peeled. Sometimes I get a tip. I saw a show on TV where they flipped properties, kinda like a reality TV show. They were starting with a property that looked like it was in move-in condition already. I don't think that the profit potential is there on something like that, unless you live in a really upscale area.

Just my opinion. I'm surprised nobody's jumped on this yet. There's tons of ways to make money doing this. I know a guy that only does super short term flips. Sometimes he's selling them before he actually owns it. He looks for bargain basement properties and remarkets them immediately, sometimes doing a little work, sometimes not. Profit a few grand and do it all over again next week. This is his full time occupation, though. He covers many, many counties scouting for properties. He maintains a list of people willing to buy investment properties and finances a few of his flips himself for a little residual income.

 

[Guest]

Dear Cubevan,

I own and operate a computer business fixing laptops, desktops, building custom machines, servers, networking and the like. We also can do UNIX, SUN, Oracle DB, websites and the like and sell goods on consignment. At one time, we were the second largest Ebay sellers in New Jersey with 6 full time Ebay employees managing my account, but I have divested my time from this area and mainly going after service for laptops and computers. It takes me about 15 hours a week to run my other company, so this construction company is another venture I am pouring money into and I suspect should have great return on investment. I'm just an entrepreneurial type with a strong business background looking to have a competitive advantage over the local contractors that provide horrible service to consumers in my particular area. Gary

 

[JustaFramer]

I haven't got it running yet but I am about to make 80% gun receivers for some side cash. I also have a website that is still under construction but isn't about construction.

 

[carpenter 1st]

i build custom indoor and outdoor furniture, write music for local bands,and used to sing with a country band and play guitar in a rock one.no longer in the rock band due to the fact that my wife is the lead singer's EX-wife. this changing of the guard so to speak happened while i was IN the band. no longer in the country band because it consisted of several members of MY ex-wife's family. All of whom for some reason had a problem with the afforementioned changing of the guard.(yes i was married at the time.)LONG STORY!!!