How do people keep flips from blowing the budget?

Where flips actually go over

• The electrical panel, and everything a bad one drags with it.
• Plumbing material — polybutylene or cast iron changes the whole plan.
• The roof, which is also an insurance problem for your buyer.
• An unpermitted addition that has to be legalised or removed.
• A slab or framing issue found the moment the flooring comes up.

None of those are visible on a walkthrough, and all of them are knowable before closing.

What to do before you buy

1. 1Get a real inspection even on a cash purchase. You are buying information, not protection.
2. 2Pull the permit history on the parcel so you know what was done legally and what was not.
3. 3Write a line-item scope from the inspection, not a lump sum from a hunch.
4. 4Add 15% contingency on top of that scope.

Make three contractors bid the same thing

A scope written well enough that three bidders price the same work is what makes the numbers comparable. Without it you are comparing three different projects and choosing the one with the most exclusions.

The verification and payment terms are the same as for any other job: how to check a contractor is legitimate and what deposit is normal.

Fix the unsexy things

The appraiser and the buyer inspector will find the panel, the roof and the plumbing whatever you spent on the kitchen. On a resale flip, the money that protects your exit is in those, and in the permits that make your square footage count: which renovations need a permit.

I scope flips for investors across Seminole and Orange County, as a contractor and as an agent, which means one person prices the work and the resale: get in touch.

The exit decides the scope

Work out what the finished house sells for on that street before you decide what to put in it. The ceiling price sets the finish level, and it is the discipline that keeps a flip from becoming somebody else's dream renovation at your expense.

• Match the neighbourhood, do not exceed it.
• Spend on the items a buyer inspector will find, because they become price reductions.
• Keep finishes durable and neutral, which also photographs better.
• Close every permit before listing.