The Best Supplies for House Flipping Renovations

1. Paint

Paint is an essential supply when renovating a house flip.  It is important to choose the right paint colors, because they have a huge effect on selling the home. The first step to choosing paint is to select a paint specific store. The issue with going to a home improvement store for your paint needs, is time and convenience. Home Depot or Lowe’s will often have long lines with many individuals attempting to coordinate paint colors, which can be a timely process. In the house flipping business, time is money. My contractors need to get in and get out, which is why we choose a paint specialty store such as Sherwin Williams, Benjamin Moore, Porter Paints or PPG.

The house I am currently renovating is 1200 square feet and required an entire repaint of the interior and exterior, including the trim. The total cost of paint was $2,400, but because I was left with some leftover paint to use on a future project, I will average the cost out to approximately $2,200 in paint alone.

I always choose the same paint color for all of the homes I flip. It is called, “Touch of Sand” by Sherwin Williams, with a white trim. For the outside of the house I always choose a white trim, but the color of the house might change slightly depending on what color the neighbor’s houses are.

2. Flooring

The next essential supply when flipping a house is flooring. I am a huge fan of luxury vinyl plank flooring. I used to use laminate in my rental homes, but then I discovered vinyl plank flooring that snaps together and is completely 100% waterproof. I use this flooring material in pretty much every room of the house; the living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and even the bathrooms.

For smaller houses, flooring is a key detail in making the house feel bigger. By using the same flooring in every room, without any seams, you can give the illusion of a larger space. I use this vinyl plank flooring in all of my flips, but I do not purchase it at Lowe’s or Home Depot. I purchase it from Lumber Liquidators, Georgia Floors Direct, or other flooring specialty stores because they are not subject to some of the constraints that Home Depot and Lowe’s have. The selection and material availability is much better at a flooring specialty store. The 1200 square foot house I am currently renovating cost approximately $3000 in luxury vinyl flooring.

3. Kitchen

• Counters

Ensuring you have a wonderful kitchen is very important when you are flipping houses. When I am renovating a kitchen for a house flip, I use laminate counters instead of granite, because it looks great, is cheap, and you can easily  find it at any hardware store such as Lowe’s or Home Depot.  Purchasing granite or quartz can be a very timely process, because it has to be measured out, and custom ordered. Time is money, so the more time you can save on a project, the better.

• Back splash

I am not 100% positive that backsplash will truly give you the value for your money, however the flip I am currently working on is for a vacation rental, and my wife wants the kitchen to have the “Wow Factor” that backsplash provides. The backsplash we chose was around $10.00 a square foot, so if your flip has an enormous backsplash, it can be a little expensive. In any case, the backsplash does look great and helps provide a “Wow Factor” for potential buyers or guests.

• Cabinets

For the kitchen cabinets, I choose a low end cabinet that you can find at Lowe’s or Home Depot. I typically prefer the low end cabinets over attempting to paint over old cabinets, because it just looks and feels new. This is a major ordeal when you are attempting to flip a house because buyers love new. Most people that purchase house flips, are first time house buyers who are especially keen towards a kitchen that looks “New”. As you may have seen in a previous blog, builders are pricing new homes out of the starter home market, so as a house flipper, you need to convey a sense of newness to these first time buyers.

• Fixtures

Next, there are some simple fixes that go far like your kitchen sink. I let my contractors choose whatever is easiest for them. The sinks I used on this current flip are metal because they are kept in stock at most home improvement stores, and much cheaper than white cast iron sinks. I focus on the speed of things and do not like to wait on items that are not regularly kept in stock.

• Appliances

As far as appliances go, I always order directly from an appliance store. I have a nearby contact that knows precisely what I need, because I always choose the same products in each flip. I just request what I need and within two days, they have it delivered to the property. I always choose inexpensive appliances, however I also ensure that they are always fresh out of the plastic new.

4. Bathrooms

Just like with the kitchen, I always purchase new fixtures for the bathrooms. My contracting team is amazing at tiling so I always run with all tile in the bathroom, sometimes even all the way up to the ceiling. This helps give the bathroom a fresh and new look that buyers love. You can find everything needed for a bathroom rebuild at  Lowe’s or Home Depot right off the shelf.  I like the brushed nickel look the best, but you can also use bronze. Bronze works awesome, especially if you’re more into the mountains. We are near the beach so we choose brushed nickel.

I purchase most my bathroom renovation items from hardware stores nearby, because even their low end items are still great quality at a reasonable cost. A specialty store might have higher quality and unique items, but that will cost you.  You can also set up pro accounts or contract level accounts with the huge box retailers like Lowe’s or Home Depot to save significantly more money.

Total Rehab Costs

• House Purchase: $100,000
• Labor costs: $19,000 for the whole venture
• Material costs: $16,000 (That’s roughly $2400 in paint, $3000 in florring, $600 in dumpster runs, and $10,000 for everything else.)

I still have a couple more things I need to purchase such as appliances and landscaping, so I will actually have $37,5000 worth of rehab costs in this flip. I paid $100,000 for the property with the seller paying my closing costs.

Vacation Rental vs House Flip

The reason I am doing this rehab as a long term vacation rental instead of a fix and flip is because of the property’s location. There is an unobstructed view of the intercoastal, which is exceptionally uncommon here. Usually you have to pay significantly more money to purchase a house this way, but since it was in such disarray, I was able to get a great deal.

This property is also zoned as a commercial property so there’s a ton of other land uses I could use it as. I am in the deal at an aggregate cost of $137,500 and I could flip it for most likely $175,000 or significantly more depending on the purchaser and what their use would be, yet will hold onto this long haul because of the amazing view.

Those are the best supplies for fix and flips so in case you’re renovating houses or hoping to get into it, I advise you take in some incredible tips on the best supplies to use.