subject: Rehabbing Houses A Silent Job [print this page] Rehabbing houses, they say, should be a discreet job. Not that you have anything ghastly to hide. It will only be better if you dont attract attention while you are doing all the repairs and improvements.
When it comes to this business, it is important to keep your schedule. You must set a deadline and meet it. The longer the property stays with you, the bigger your expenses will be. Thats why rehabbers must avoid all possible sources of distractions, including passers-by and curious people, when making repairs.
Lets say an average of five passers-by and neighbors check the property for five minutes in a day. That means some work will be disrupted for 25 minutes daily. Thats more than two hours in five days. Do the math if it were a month. Those hours will be wasted only because you did not want to be rude to the neighborhood. After all, they only want to know whats happening near their property. The best way to prevent this scenario from happening is by rehabbing houses silently.
How will you mum the sound of a hammer pounding or an electric drill boring a hole? You cant. But there are ways to make you rehabbing more discreet. First thing, rehabbers must cover windows with cloth or newspaper. People will know some construction or renovation is ongoing inside the property when they see covered windows. At the same time, covered windows also give the impression that nosy neighbors are not welcome there because of the ongoing activity.
Before you start the gutting, make sure you have some place to throw the trash in. Dont just dump everything outside the house. Talk to the local garbage collector. Tell him that you will need to dispose of a lot of stuff on a certain day. It will be better if you can give him the exact time you will take the trash out of the property. You can pay the collector a few bucks for his effort. This way, passers-by will not see piles of black garbage bag dumped outside a property.
Another tip is doing interior repairs first. Painting the exterior of the property and the roof should come last. So before your neighbors notice that you are repainting the roof, youre already done with repairs on the interior. Should they decide to check the interior, they can just go inside and rehabbers wont be disrupted by their inspection.
