Pundari / Jonathan / et al,
Thank you for your questions and the subsequent information shared here regarding flooring contractors.
For more experienced investors (folks who've done several rehabs) the ideas posted here are ... interesting.
However, for the vast majority of investors (new, and those who do significant transaction volume) I suggest you search out contractors like the ones who sponsor our club. I say this based on my mentoring of new Real Estate professionals across the country, consulting for many more "old timers" to help them "take their businesses to the next level," and overseeing almost 700 rehabs.
When you are a new investor, seeking someone who has good pricing is important, BUT IT IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT DETERMINING FACTOR IN YOUR CHOICE OF A CONTRACTOR.
When you are new, you need contractors who's prices are in the bottom half of those offered, AND who have high integrity, service, and a willingness to teach you what you are doing, what you actually need, AND WHY.
I cannot speak for the other contractors y'all have listed on here. I'm sure they are fine. I CAN however, speak about iDeal Floors. They routinely over-deliver the qualities "newbies" and "old timers" need in in a flooring partner. Additionally, iDeal Floors is the only flooring company I know of in the Metroplex that has a dedicated QC staff to do follow-up / repair / corrections. AND they give back to our community, both in terms of sponsorships -- which makes training from places like the DFWREICLUB possible -- as well as by helping some of the less fortunate families in our market (I believe Kevin & Barb [iDeal's owners] provided FREE flooring installs for something like 120 families in the Metroplex last year.
As for "old timers," those of us who do significant rehab volume, I think most of us are experienced enough to spend our time maximizing our cyclic rate, rather than our per deal ROI.
Anyone who's been successful in this business for any time at all quickly learns the key to long term success is outsourcing as much of the grunt work as possible to trusted partners. This allows us (investors) to spend our time strictly focused on doing what only we can do - deal evaluation and negotiation.
Having the ability to call a partner like iDeal or Finishing Touches Remodeling or any of our other club sponsors, and give them an address, a door code, and instructions like "Use our company standard install and invoice me when you're finished," is phenomenally more valuable than me wasting my time playing General Contractor and coordinating a purchase from one company, an install by another, and a clean up / make ready from a third. The savings gained by wasting my time doing that do not come close to the increased profit I make from doing even a single extra deal per year - which I am more than able to do by focusing my time on doing deals.
I mean no disrespect to the other posters on this thread, but for the newbies who read it, they need to understand most of you are middle-career investors - not newbies, but not investors doing high transaction volume (50+ deals a year) either. This means y'all have a rare skill set to apply - you have the knowledge to know what you are doing and tons of free time to manage those transactions. Most readers of this thread won't have that skill set.
Pundari / Jonathan / et al, please do not hesitate to let me know how I can help you grow your business. Best of luck to you all!
-Greg
Greg Wilson
The Real Estate Investor's Mentor
