Mission Impossible: Finding Quality, Reliable, and Inexpensive Contractors for your Rehabs – Not!

I am often asked how I find contractors for my renovation projects that work so inexpensively. I respond with, “It comes with a lot of hard work and experience” – Not! I simply know where to look to get contractors to do work for a reasonable price, and you can too with a little clandestine handy work. So put on your tuxedo and give me your best Tom Cruise impersonation (jumping on your sofa qualifies as an impersonation) because we are going to dive right on in (Mission Impossible theme music in the background…)

 
1. New Track Home Subdivisions – Most of you have a Ryan’s Homes, Mitchell Homes, Pulte Homes , or a DR Horton Homes in your area. These are regional or national homebuilding companies. These companies spend a tremendous amount of time and effort to get the best and the least expensive contractors to do work for them. They promise the contractors volume so they usually do a job way cheaper than they would normally do it for. You can literally any time of the day, drive these newer subdivisions and see the guys working on houses and approach them and tell them what you do. I once paid $2000 for a roof on a rehab project that would normally costs $4500 using this method!
2. MLS Sniping – You can literally have your real estate agent pull up a list of houses that are on the market that look like they have been recently renovated . You can then get the listing agent’s phone number and call them up. Ask them if they can get you in touch with the owner that did the great job on their listed house (a little flattery goes a long way). Then you call up the owner and ask them for their number to their contractor . Sometimes they will tell you sometimes they won’t. If they won’t, there are other ways to find out. (Mission Impossible music playing in the background…)
3. “The Dumpster Effect” – You can drive around and look for houses with dumpsters in the yard. You know those big old 20, 30, or 40 yard dumpsters. When you see these more times than not  there is a rehab going on. You can stop  and introduce yourself to the contractors (FYI – I would ask the owner of the property’s permission first). If the owner is not there and there is a permit posted in a window or on a post you can read the contractors name and phone number off the permit and simply call them up.
4. Supply Houses – If you are trying to find a certain trade to do work you can call the place they get their supplies! You just call the local supply house for that trade and ask for referrals (most cities have several). I like this method because typically the supply house workers are only going to refer contractors that pay their bills on time and frequent their business a lot. To find these supply houses in your area just google the name of the trade (i.e. electrician or electrical) and the words “supply house” or “supplies” and your city or county name and state.
5. “The Daily Record” – Most municipalities have a newspaper that tells you what has been filed at the courthouse that day – deed transfers, mortgages, liens, bankruptcies, divorces, permits pulled – Stop right there… Did I just say permits pulled? In my area we have a paper called the “Daily Record”. Any day of the week you can get your hands on this newspaper and see who pulled permits for what house. I know you can probably see where this is going. You look at who pulled the permits for what house. Log the address in your GPS. Drive by the house during the day and BAM you have your contractors.
6. Running Ads – When I first got started in real estate investing I ran an ad in my local newspaper and on internet classified websites that read: Local Investor looking for Quality Contractors to do Multiple Jobs in the (blank) County Area, Call Me @ 251-. I had several people call me but one guy stood out. To this day, over 5 years later, he does the majority of my rehab work very inexpensively.
7. Your Local REIA: This is pretty much self explanatory. You can network at your local Real Estate Investor’s Association (REIA) – The one in Mobile and Baldwin County, AL is called Port City Real Estate Investor’s Association (PortCityREIA.com). Most times investors, real estate agents, mortgage, and title professionals that come to these meeting are willing to share with you their quality inexpensive contractors that they use on a regular basis.
8. We Buy Houses signs – The people that put these signs out are obviously investors looking to buy houses. Some of them already have contractors in place they are willing to share with you if you share some of your contractors with them.

That sums it up! I hope this article gave a you a glimpse on how you can find good, quality, inexpensive , reliable contractors to do you renovation projects for you.

Get tips like this and other valuable resources to help you become the best real estate investor you can be by going to my website at www. JoinMyREIMastermind.com

Lawrence Roberts

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