Invisible costs on a cosmetic flip can eat a meaningful share of budget before anything shows in photos

Worth flagging for anyone building a rehab budget: nearly every scope sheet has a line called something like site costs or general conditions. Dumpsters, portable toilet, cleaning, lock changes, utilities while work is underway. It's real money and it never lives in the pretty categories. 4,200 on a 26,000 budget is about 16 percent, and the range typically quoted for that bucket runs 10 to 15 percent, so this is a bit over, mostly driven by a permit item that wasn't reasonably foreseeable at the budgeting stage.

Yes, name it. The contractors who do this well carry it as its own line where the client can see it, because when it is hidden inside the paint number the paint number looks insane and nobody trusts anything after that. The snapped shutoff is a different category. That is the cost of touching an old house, and it happens whether you planned for it or not, which is what contingency is for. A 10 percent contingency on a cosmetic scope is thin. 15 is more honest. @carlos_nunez the thing to watch is that permits and what triggers an inspection vary by city and state, so the water heater one may or may not have been findable before closing. It is worth asking the municipality what open permits exist on the next one, before you are under contract.