House flippers: anyone do regular work for these?

Lee_Henderson

New member
So i get a call today from this lady whose flipping houses around my area. She says she's flipping 15 to 25 houses per month, and she could use me quite a bit. So my question is, A. Has anyone done work for these type of reality investors, B. Is the money good & do the pay up like they should. C. Anyone ever have a problem getting paid from a flipper? Also, any idea's on how to close it up? Should i call her back and offeer to come out and do a demo? If this works out right it could be just what i need to get the ball rolling!
 
15 to 25 houses a month?!!! I seriously doubt she is flipping that many per month. I did some work for 2 guys and they tried to squeeze me on everything and promise me tons of work. Well after i did three house for them that was it. They told me they dont have it in their buget to have me clean all thier flips. I would go into it with caution and price as you would normally.
 
I would seriously doubt someone is flipping that many houses in this economy.

I have talked to a couple of guys that tried to work for people flipping houses but they both had a very hard time collecting besides getting beat up badly on pricing. They decided to not work for them again, too much b.s. and hoops and not enough money.
 
Forgot to mention, it also sounds like the old carrot and stick routine where they are making it sound like a lot of work to get cheaper prices from you with the promise of a lot of future work which never happens, don't fall for the b.s. or promises of future work.

When I hear the lines "I can get you a lot of work" or "Give me a good price" or "I know a lot of people that will give you a lot of work" I just walk away now, not worth my time to listen to the b.s. they are trying to say, heard it way too many times already, fell for it 1 time in the beginning.

The last time a guy tried to tell me how he could get me a lot of work I told him "Is that the best line of bullshit you can come up with to try to get cheaper prices from me with the promise of future work that you cannot get or guarantee?"

He looked puzzled as I returned to working, I guess he had not met someone who was aware of the scam before, that or he did not know what to say to me knowing he was full of crap.

You will hear this kind of thing often as people will lie and say whatever to get cheaper prices out of you for promises of future work. Nobody out there can guarantee future work.
 
So i get a call today from this lady whose flipping houses around my area. She says she's flipping 15 to 25 houses per month, and she could use me quite a bit. So my question is, A. Has anyone done work for these type of reality investors, B. Is the money good & do the pay up like they should. C. Anyone ever have a problem getting paid from a flipper? Also, any idea's on how to close it up? Should i call her back and offeer to come out and do a demo? If this works out right it could be just what i need to get the ball rolling!

I use to flip residential lots before the market shut down. Made a good bit of money. 15 to 25 houses per month is a bit high. Treat them like a regular customer. If they like your work at full price they will call you back. Then your can give them a volume discount. It helps to build a relationship of trust and sell yourself. They will get a higher selling price and sell it quicker if the property looks good! That is your hook.
 
Got a call a couple weeks or so ago from a realtor that refers me a lot of work. Said he had two addresses for me that needed prices for Roof Cleanings. Said they were for a Corporation that buy's 20-25 houses in the Houston area a month. Went out and looked at the houses and submitted my price. A week later I heard from the representative from the Corp that is buying the houses. He explained that of the 20-25 houses he was probably going to want about 1/2 of those to have the Roof Cleaned. He also stated that he had been told by some of his contractors that the cleaning of roofs was a sham and that it causes damage. After doing some research on his own he has come to the conclusion that that his contractors are probably wrong and his having me do his personal home today as a test. He will be there to watch and see how we do it and then will decide from there if he want's to proceed with the other houses. I am charging him full price today and he know's that. It's a one story easily walkable roof. He also understands that if he does come through with the anticipated 1/2 of the 20-25 houses that he buy's, and that payments in full are made as agreed upon, future consideration can be made about price or a free driveway cleaning, or cleaning front of the house as part of the roof cleaning, etc.

I do work for a few other House Flippers here in the Houston area. Doing Roof Cleaning, House Washing, and Odor Removal. Not a lot, maybe 1 or 2 a month but They all pay me on the spot when I am done.

Check the House Flipper out, do your due diligence. Ask him or her for references. And call them. Also, Seems like every time I would go out to do a bid, there would be other subs there, so I would ask them what it was like working for that Flipper. Do they pay on time? Are they nice to work with? DO they beat you up on price every time? etc etc. You can learn a lot from them.

The relationships I have had and have with realtors/flippers so far has worked out great. They pay on the spot, return my phone calls quickly when they don't answer and I theirs, and I haven't had a single one question me on price. The Good ones understand that what we do is very important to the success of them selling houses.

BUT, I PROCEED WITH CAUTION ON EVERY ONE and I check their references. You'll be surprised how much they respect you for doing that. There are some cheap low balling house flippers out there, these are the ones that don't really know what they are doing, watched to many shows on TV or books about flipping houses, etc. But there are also some very smart business people doing it too, making very good money doing it.

As for a Demo, if you think that would help you close the deal, sure. But remember she contacted you, so she already knows what you can do and a demo is probably not needed.

I agree with Riley, test the water on this one, you'll know if it doesn't feel right. Don't promise anything until you have seen them come through with what they have promised, which is houses and roofs for you to clean.
 
Great advice. Thanks guys. Keep u posted on what happens next.
 
A similar sitution happened with me. Older lady, with TONS of rental apartments and homes had held the carrot with the stick in front of me. Wanted me to quote her for a quarter of what I normally charge because she was going to throw so much work at me. I gave her deep discount on my normal prices and she still tried to beat me down further. I told her there was just no more wiggle room and had to decline.
 
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