House #3: Week 8 Update

It’s been a while since I posted an update on The Second Chance House. This isn’t because there’s been nothing interesting going on with that rehab…just more to do with all the activity around the other projects…

Here is an update:

• As you can see from the title of this post, we’re into week #8 of this project, despite the plan for this one to be a 5-week project. Our GC has had some personal/family issues, we’ve had some days where no-one has been working (for no good reason), and we’ve hit a couple issues that have caused a bit of additional work; all these things have pushed the schedule out about 4 weeks. I’m not very happy about this, but when it comes to cost, quality, and schedule, the schedule is at the bottom of my list of priorities. First, most of my buyers will run into the 90 day rule if we finish too quickly, and second, I’m a push-over when it comes to pushing my guys to hurry up. I’m not at all a push-over when it comes to cost or quality, but I’m just not very good at micro-managing my contractor’s schedules. I’ll add this to my list of personal things I need to improve on…
• In terms of cost, things are right on track. While I’ve added some items to the budget (additional landscaping, upgraded flooring) and there were some minor surprises (some termite damage and a break-in/robbery), I was financially very conservative up-front, and most of these costs are upgrades that I’ve chosen to add. In fact, my “surprises” budget is still mostly in tact, and I’m hopefully there are no major surprises on the horizon.
• In terms of quality, I’m thrilled at the level of quality my GC and his subs have brought to this project. While I’m not happy about the many days where no-one has been on-site, the crews are all very professional, very skilled, and very detail oriented. After having to “beat up” my GC on The Corn House because of his inattention to detail, it’s a great pleasure to deal with contractors who get things right the first time. I’m hoping this trend continues throughout the last two weeks as we start to work on the finishings (floors, cabinets, paint, fixtures, etc).
• As I touched on above, there was a break-in at the house last weekend. Based on what I can tell, it was likely some neighborhood kids (or maybe even adults) who were scrounging for anything of value. In the end, all they took were a few new-in-the-package bi-fold doors, worth about $200. They left a couple new, but unpackaged doors sitting out, they didn’t touch any of the unattached fixtures sitting on the floor, and other than putting a few dents in the wall, they didn’t cause any damage. While I’m not happy about the burglary, at least there wasn’t much lost. We’ve been investigating portable security systems, and just purchased one that we hope will decrease the likelihood of this happening again (more on that in a future post).
• We’re getting down to the finishings on this one…Friday we start laying hardwood floors and constructing the back deck; next week, the tile gets laid, carpet gets installed, we install all the trim, paint the interior, and stain the floor; and then we put in cabinets, countertops, appliances, vanities, and fixtures.
• We’re currently scheduled to complete this project in two weeks. We’re hoping to get the property staged by Friday, Dec 5, on the MLS that same day, and hold open houses that weekend. I expect this will be one of the nicer homes in this subdivision, and will be priced right in the middle of the pack; that said, in today’s market, that could mean 2-4 months before we get an offer. I’m curious to see how this one plays out.