Not sure if you are making a shot at me or not but it doesnt really work here becaus I live off post and do no live in a house built by a government contractor.

Nope, I thought you lived on base. My bad.

Forgive the typos. im typing on my tablet and its a pain to go back and correct.

and Ken, welcome back

No problem and thanks!

Do you have a problem buying a used car from someone who's not a mechanic? "Most of the time" a flipped house is nothing but maintence. New shingles... a paint job... granite countertops. They were able to buy the house cheap and fix it up for sale. Most people won't understand, or be terrified of working on plumbing or electricity. They'll get people that know how to wrk on it generaly. 9 times out of 10, a flipped home is just cosmetics. Putting lipstick on a pig.

Caveat emptor. (something like that) But it's a legitamate way to make a buck as long as it's not dishonost.

KRW

Flipped houses are cool as long as the flipper does quality work. There the problem arises. Do you trust the flipper? Experience tells smart folks not to trust anybody when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Especially some random guy who stands to make money off you.

Assume that what you can not verify sucks.

If I had a contractor that did great work at a reasonable price that I trusted, I'd be tempted to buy a clunker and fix it myself vs buy a house newly rehabbed for sale. Even if the fixed up house was done reasonably well, I'd get to pick out the fixtures and do it my way instead of paying for what someone else though a buyer might like.

If I had a contractor that did great work at a reasonable price that I trusted, I'd be tempted to buy a clunker and fix it myself vs buy a house newly rehabbed for sale. Even if the fixed up house was done reasonably well, I'd get to pick out the fixtures and do it my way instead of paying for what someone else though a buyer might like.

"Fixer uppers" are fine and a great way to make a house a home. All of the personal touches add so much. But you've hit on the problem.... a contractor that does great work at a resonable price. IMO, impossible to find unless you are friends with one. There is much that a layperson CAN do to improove their home on their own, but who do they trust when starting a project that's over their heads? No one wants to get taken to the cleaners by a pro or have subpar work done by an amatuer. It's probably the very reason for flipped houses getting a bad rap.

Most guys I've run into in the trades that are only workers give a good days work for a good day's pay, they typically want to give a good product. It's when the company heads try to squeze every buck that shoddy workmanship usualy happens. (get what you pay for) It's most common with tract homes where pennies saved on every home built leads to good profits in the end, but an inferior product. Custom built homes are the best IMO, but damn near impossible to find any more. Houses are touted as being custom built, but a differant elavation on the front of your house does not make custom built. It's basicly the same house as any other in the neighberhood made with the same cheap materials. But in the end ... we're buying a house. As with any transaction, the more knowledge we have of the product we buy, the more power we have.

Flipped houses are cool as long as the flipper does quality work. There the problem arises. Do you trust the flipper? Experience tells smart folks not to trust anybody when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Especially some random guy who stands to make money off you.

Assume that what you can not verify sucks.

Good advice.

Exactly. I'd imagine most of your flips deal with cosmetics and maybe a few structural issues (on structure I expect you know a bit since you're liscened). You also farm out the work you're not capable of handling.

In the end, I bet you have a good product for sale.

KRW

That's it, we use quality materials and are above code with many of the improvements. We stand behind what we do as well. We had this one house that had an addition that kept giving us grief with hot water forced heating. What seemed like random leaks along the system that kept showing up over a few days only in the family room, not in the 2 bedrooms or bath added. After replacing the system in the family room, it still leaked. It had us baffled. Come to find out, the leak was a 6 year old with a turkey baster getting back at his stepmom for punishing him.

Talking about shoddy work and bad buisiness is a good thing. It may help warn potential buyers.

That's it, we use quality materials and are above code with many of the improvements. We stand behind what we do as well. We had this one house that had an addition that kept giving us grief with hot water forced heating. What seemed like random leaks along the system that kept showing up over a few days only in the family room, not in the 2 bedrooms or bath added. After replacing the system in the family room, it still leaked. It had us baffled. Come to find out, the leak was a 6 year old with a turkey baster getting back at his stepmom for punishing him.

Talking about shoddy work and bad buisiness is a good thing. It may help warn potential buyers.

Absolutly. As you mentioned, using quality material is paramount. Often the product is what makes me look so good. Vynal windows are becoming all the rage out here but I refuse to use them. Yeah they're cheaper, but they just cannot hold up over time to the Arizona sun. Especiely on the south and west sides of the house. I'll spend the extra money for metal frames.

Now those windows may be perfectly acceptable elswhere in the nation, but the heat in the dessert does not bode well with them.

We've been lucky that we have a contractor for a friend. When Hurricane Ike ripped apart our back patio we had the insurance money and could've replaced the exact same outdoor covered patio. But when we hired our contractor friend he gave us other suggestions and now we have a half outdoor covered and half screen room with insulated roof.

We should talk about this. I have quite a few stories on crappy construction. There are many houses out there that have problems that people intentionaly hide to make a sale. I don't agree with that practice at all.

Trust me, I know there are good and bad contractors out there. It just seems like there are alot that are bad or just don't really care about the quality of work.

Belive it or not I do think that doing construction/contracting work is an honorable profession when they take pride in their work. When they realize that they are building/working on people's homes...not just houses that they can make a profit on or flip for a profit.

I have family members that are in the business. My Uncle is a painter, my grandfather that just passed in November owned his own decorating/finishing company up until he retired. I have cousins that have similar businesses in the Chicagoland area. SO trust me, I know there are good ones out there that take pride in their work. I also know that there are others that don't give a shit about anything other than making profit, hence they build cheaply and cut corners.

Here is a link to my cousin's business. Just to show that I'm not bullshitting. I know something about the business. Until I decided to go to college I was going to work for him full time versus summer work I had been doing.

http://www.cotedecorating.com/htm/home_page.htm