HIRING SUBCONTRACTORS CHECK BOOK IRA

If there’s one thing I learned while remodeling and flipping 50 houses in the South Bend Indiana, it’s that subcontractors can make you or break you.

I had my share of mistakes but I did eventually learn. What I’d like to share with you in this Manager Report, are the most important points I gleaned from that experience. If you will listen, these things can save you thousands of dollars and much indigestion.

 
Make sure that you have seen their work. If they were recommended to you, does the person that gave the recommendation know what they’re talking about? You don’t want a novice to recommend a worker. If you hire them from listings in a paper you’ll need to check them out first. Once I had to redo a cement foundation because I listened to a “contractor’s” hot air instead of looking for myself.

USE MOONLIGHTERS

I hired people that had day jobs. They worked at night and on the weekends on my projects. They had a lot of experience, they did quality work, and they were hungry. For example, my furnace guy was a schoolteacher. My tub refinisher was a police officer at night. Our electrician still worked full-time professionally, but he had nights and weekends open (and a new baby).

PAY ‘EM ON TIME

Be sure they understand they will get paid as soon as the job is over. This will move you to the top of their list, pronto. After a while I was simply able to leave them a voice-mail message, tell them what I needed done, what the address was, and then I’d just leave them a check. I was always first on their list and got top-quality work. It certainly eliminated my headaches.

The nice thing about the control of the Check Book IRA or the IRA LLC structure is you have the flexibility of a real estate LLC with the tax treatment of an IRA.

Feel free to share some of your tips with us.