Have you watched the popular television shows on flipping houses for profit? If you have, you have probably noticed that the one thing many of the people who don’t flip their houses very successfully seem to have in common is their inability to get and keep good contracted laborers on-site at their projects. On television, as well as in real life, you see a lot of people waiting around for various contractors who just don’t show up to give estimates or do the work. However, finding and keeping good contracted labor doesn’t have to be such an issue for you.
If the idea of finding your next contractor out of the Yellow Pages or local newspaper scares you, it should. This is simply the worst way to approach finding good quality workers! But, what alternative do you have? In reality, you have many great alternatives. Here are just a few to get you started.
Located in every area around the United States are businesses who sell specifically to contractors. By looking in your Yellow Pages under “Building Supplies†or “Electrical Supplies†you will find the businesses who sell to your local contractors. While the big box stores are fine for do-it-yourself projects, they are truly not where your local contractors get their supplies from; they get them from their own material supply stores.
On any given morning, at any given material supply store, you will find most of the contractors in your area gathered around the coffee pot waiting for their trucks to be loaded for their day’s work. If you want to find a local contractor or two to work with, hit the local doughnut shop, stop by the material supply store, and hang out for a while and talk to the guys who are standing around waiting. Take some of your business cards and let them know what you are looking for.
In addition to haunting the local supply stores, you can always just simply give them a call and ask if they can refer you to a quality contractor in your area. Get the name of the person you speak with so that when you call the contractors you can leave a message that says, “John over at ABC Plumbing Supply referred me to you, I am looking for…â€
If you have a great electrical contractor but all of a sudden develop a need for a plumber, ask your electrician if they can suggest someone. Most people in the trades know each other and will steer you in the right direction.
Finding good contractors is one of the most challenging parts of real estate investments which require updating or repairing. However, by thinking like a contractor, and visiting the places they are most likely to be, you can find good quality workers for a fair price. And when you take the time to ask for recommendations you really can’t go wrong because people don’t want to steer you to bad workers, for fear they might just hear back from you if you are not satisfied.
