The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs: The Investor's Guide to Defining Your Renovation Plan, Building Your Budget, and Knowing Exactly How Much It All Costs (Fix-and-Flip, 2)

This book condenses years of experience into one clear and concise guide, preventing every rehab newbie from making years of costly mistakes. For each component of 25 different types of work on a house, the author details the nature of the work and the statement of work line items that each type generates. Then he breaks out a discussion of "Cost Guidelines," "Determining Your Local Prices, " and "How To Pay for the Job." For an example of the intense level of detail given, in the "gutters/ soffit/ fascia" category, he breaks out $ estimates for cleaning gutters, replacing gutters, and replacing soffit or fascia, giving his reader costs per linear foot estimates for each type of gutter or soffit material- aluminum, steel, vinyl/ plastic, and copper/zinc, as appropriate. For cleaning gutters, he tells us the costs will depend on linear feet of gutters, the height and steepness of the roof, and whether downspouts need to be detached to be cleaned. If we know generally these three things, we should be able to get accurate, local head to head price bids. He goes on to warn NOT to use uninsured gutter cleaners because it can be a dangerous job, and that we are most likely to get the best pricing bundled with the roofing or siding contractors, if we are doing that kind of work on the house. He also comments that since this is a one day job (as opposed to one justifying a draw or a materials upfront payment) the contractor should be paid only once the job is completed. To a person experienced in housing construction, this all may be 'old hat,' but to a person new to home rehab, it is extremely valuable! This book pulls every aspect of repair cost estimation into manageable chunks so that none is overlooked or unaddressed in a detailed scope of work or budget. It addresses a very complex topic in the most thorough, detailed, and practical manner possible. Alerts to local costs (e.g., union labor in NY/NJ, building code variability by climate/weather circumstances) and seasonality are all over the place. This is a great book- highly recommended!

There are a lot of books about flipping, buying rentals, etc. This book addresses a key pain point for new investors and is masterful in doing so. When you start out down the path of investing, whether it be renting or flipping, you will almost immediately come to the "and then I put _blank_ into it to get it ready to rent/sell." and then you realize...how in the world do I know what ___blank___ is?! This book systematically breaks down all areas of a property and the types of repairs that one could encounter and then systematically goes through the range of cost for each type of repair, units of measurement for each repair (by square foot? by sheet? etc) and generally prepares you for dealing with contractors and getting estimates for anything you could think of. If you don't know about construction and contracting costs it can prepare you to ask intelligent questions when getting a quote, know what to expect, and empower you in unfamiliar territory. If you are familiar with various construction costs and related considerations, the systematic approach laid out by J Scott will help you "do your thing" in a repeatable and predictable way, which is the goal. This is a unique book in the field of real estate. If you want a book to read through by your fireplace to give you an overview of real estate investing, this isn't it. If you're moving beyond "theory" and taking your first steps into practice, this book is a must. If you're in practice and want to organize and systematize your rehab plans and cost better, this book is a must. I started with this book did any rehab, and have used it throughout a handful of rehabs now, and am amazed at how consistently accurate estimations from this book are. Once you figure out where your area fits in on the cost range for the ranges presented in the book (for instance our area work we've done tends to be in the lower 25% of the range j. scott presents), it becomes very easy to estimate a lot of unknowns. This is the book for when the rubber meets the road in your real estate investing journey.

This is the second book I've bought written by the author (the other being his book on house flipping). It's excellent for what you might call a "serious beginner" because it's detailed, yet it's understandable and not overwhelming. The book is in a very good format that includes narrative as well as corresponding tables for the multiple components of a house (e.g., plumbing, sheetrock, roofing) to help estimate prices, and the author always gives a good overview of what these components are for, which is a big plus for someone with not a lot of construction experience. For instance, when discussing roofs, he breaks down that there are three parts of a roof (sheathing, underlayment, shingles), and then explains the purpose of each of these parts; After the basics of "how a roof works," he explains the options for these components (i.e., for shingles can do asphalt, wood, metal, tile, etc.,) and what the corresponding price range would be for each type. Being that all houses are different in levels of repair, labor and material costs vary by part of the country and quality of materials used, etc., it's impossible to have exact costs for each type of repair until you actually start the rehab. However, so long as you do your homework, this book gives an excellent basis for how to estimate rehab costs accurately enough so that you know what you're getting into and won't be blindsided by huge surprises.

This is a really good book for anyone who doesn't really know anything about construction. It helped me realize how much I already knew and reinforced my confidence. I really like the last section, primarily because that is what I really needed. Costs are the one thing I do struggle with in terms of rehabs, but SOW comes easier. Thanks for the hard work!

Great book, great shape

Gives you a general idea of costs for different parts of an house/apartment.

Very good book packed with experience ! It’s one guy’s experience about rehab but it allows you to accelerate 100x learning curve about what will cost you money and what won’t. Some things could be improved, i will add this for the author for the next version : for example separating houses from appartments (book mostly covers houses). I’m thinking that buying in a big building also has its particularlies about what you can and cannot do. Both considerations would be useful. Would have been great to have metric conversions and euro conversions also. Maybe next release ! In all cases you can buy the book with closed eyes it’s packed with learnings that will save you money.

It's not worthit it for other countries outside of usa

good