My drywall sub is now my inspection guy in a market I've never driven

I've framed and hung board for twelve years, so the one thing I thought I'd never have to outsource is looking at a house. Turns out the market where my calls are actually landing is 600 miles from me and I'm not driving that for a maybe.

So I'm paying a sub I've worked with before, he moved out there two years ago, $150 a walk. Four walks so far. He sends 30 to 40 photos and a rough number on what it needs. One of the four is under contract at $96,000 with a buyer I think lands around $105,000.

Where I'm stuck is two things. First, his rehab numbers come in as one figure, like "55 to 60 all in." That's how I used to talk on job sites too, so I know what's behind it, but I can't hand that to a cash buyer and expect them to trust it. Second, $150 flat means he has no reason to care whether the deal closes, and he's already pushed one walk back four days because a real job ran long.

I'm thinking about switching him to $100 a walk plus $500 if the deal assigns. My worry is that the second I attach a bonus to a yes, his photos get friendlier.

Has anyone actually run boots on ground with a trades person instead of an agent? And did you keep it flat or make it contingent?

Answer

1karen_whitfieldPG4APRO7

Keep it flat. The moment his pay depends on the answer, you are paying for an answer, and you will not be able to tell which walks were honest. I hold land and I have the same problem in reverse, my guy who checks access roads gets a flat fee whether the parcel is buildable or a swamp, and that is exactly why I believe him.

If you want him faster, pay more per walk, not more per outcome. $250 with a 48 hour turnaround written down is cleaner than $100 plus $500.

On the single rehab figure, ask him to split it into three or four buckets with a range on each. He already thinks that way, he just compresses it when he talks.

2 replies

1carlos_nunezActive

orchard is right on the flat fee and I'd add the boring fix on the photos. Stop asking for photos. Ask for one continuous video, phone in landscape, him talking the whole way, starting at the street and ending at the back fence, plus a slow pan in every mechanical room. Photos are chosen. Video is what was there.

I've had two walks where the still shots were fine and the video caught standing water in a crawl the guy never mentioned because he didn't think it mattered.

The $150 is going to break, by the way. Not because he's greedy. Because he's a tradesman with real work and your walk is the thing that moves when a job runs long. I keep two people in every market I touch for exactly that reason, and I still miss windows.