I recently went to Texas to work on my problem property. Now this property has been a thorn in my side since the moment I purchased it. The contractor I used at the time charged me $16,000 to make some repairs. When I finally saw the property two years later I realized that he hadn’t done anything to the property. It looked a mess. It sat vacant for 10 out of 12 months in 2007. 

At the end of 2008 I acquired a tenant and he was great for the first 7 months. Then he suddenly decided that he wanted to skip the lease and just move out, which he did. Plus he was filthy and disgusting. The house was filled with roaches through every space in the house. And it’s not just a few roaches; it was a mound of roaches. Plus, he had about 5 kids in the house that knocked holes in the walls, toys all over the place and trash through every crack in the house. 

Like I said, this house has been giving me some problems. The next door neighbor used to own the house and said that at one point it used to be the jewel of the neighborhood. Well, I thought to myself, “I want top dollar for the house, and I am tired of driving back and forth from Atlanta to Texas twice a month. “ At that time I decided to fix the house and make it the reining start of the community like it once was.

I was really ambitious. I wanted the house on Section 8, and I thought the project would take about 4 days to totally renovate the house. It ended up taking a little over two weeks. I wasn’t able to find a contract through the newspapers or online when I was in Texas. So, when I got to Texas is when I really had the opportunity to get some help. Plus, I’m a junior carpenter, so I couldn’t quite really know if I was being overcharged by the contractor or if they are doing a quality job until after the work was done. But by the time the project was over I’ve become an expert of Lowe’s inventory and how much effort it takes to do simple carpentry/handyman work. 

Some of the lessons that I learned is to never pay a contractor by the hour. I had painters who were working for $10 per hour. When 4pm came they completely stopped where they were at and left. That frustrated me so much that I decided to ask them to not come back. I finished the work myself. And I still felt like I paid them too much for the quality of the work and the amount of work they performed. I had another contractor that I paid per the job. That worked much better because he didn’t leave until the job was complete because he knew that’s when he would get paid. 

My greatest lesson is to trust my instinct. When I first started the rebuild I felt inadequate and relied heavily on the opinions of the people who I thought were professionals. There were times in the beginning where I thought I shouldn’t do something, but the contractor said I should. I trusted that he knew what he was talking about. Big mistake! I’d rather make a bad choice than to listen to someone else and it costs me anyway. Plus, it’s so important to see and example of the person’s work before they start. If that’s not possible, make sure you look at their work and actions carefully in the beginning and throughout the process. If you feel uncomfortable with what they are doing, what ever it is, then address it. Right then and Right there! It’s your money and your project. Treat it that way! 

Overall it was a fun process of fixing up the house. I did get it on Section 8.  That came with a little excitement too. The inspector for the Housing Authority was upset with me because on one of the visits I’d scheduled an appointment with him and didn’t show. He gave me hell during the inspection process and made me fix a few problems that were not problems at all.  And I even got a tenant before I left to head back to Atlanta. I learned a lot and wouldn’t mind doing it again.