Home Renovation: An Expert Guide

In most renovations, you’re going to hear nightmare stories of general contractors that don’t show up, the subcontractors having issues, delays with materials, every excuse under the sun. These stories result in project delays. When it comes to investment property renovations, time is the equivalent to money.

Green Ocean’s Renovation Process

Photo from @pvproductions of Freepik

Jarrett Lau, our founder, and CEO is also a general contractor. We do dozens of renovations for our clients every single year. So we’re sharing with you a little bit about the construction process and what we go through to make a smooth transaction.

Even before our clients purchase a property, we help them walk through the property to determine what needs to be done, how much it’s going to cost, and how long it’s going to take. 

We’d be happy to share our renovations with you in another article. It’s going to be a long process and that process is something that Jarett has perfected over the years. He knows how long these vendors are going to take to do the job they need to do. 

Renovation Process in Boston

Photo from @frimufilms of Freepik

In the city of Boston, what we usually do is go to the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) located at 1010 Massachusetts Avenue. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are additional measures for safety that we have to follow. But pre-pandemic, we just talk with the building inspector and submit the application and plans. They’ll review and make sure that the cost and everything involved are correct. Once done, they will sign the application and issue a permit which we have to pay for. We will then put it on a window, so everybody knows that we have obliged the city standards.

During renovations, there are going to be hours and days that we can’t work to not disturb the neighbors. In condo associations, you need to make sure that the board knows that you will be doing “work”. They also need to have copies of the insurance, not only for us but for all the contractors. Just in case something goes wrong in the building, they know who to go after.

Working with insured vendors

Photo from @prostooleh of Freepik

At Green Ocean, we only work with insured vendors. Every single vendor, we make sure that we have copies of their policies every single year.

Construction and 3D Tour Process

Photo from Freepik

We’re going to let the landlord know the timeline of the construction process beforehand. We like to also provide pictures on a daily basis, if not at the very least, on a weekly basis for status updates.

In addition, we’ll take a 3D tour of the property before and we’re going to take one after. In this way, the landlord or anybody can see how we have renovated it. We’ve done so many renovations that we’re able to use those 3D tours as a general layout for any marketing and advertising. We can also show the tenants the perspective process of other renovations that we’ve done that are very similar, that way, they can say, “Hey, this is what it looks like now, this is what it will look like.” 

Importance of Having Tight Timeline

Photo from rawpixel.com

The majority of the time that we will have tenants ready to move in is at least a couple of days right after the renovation. We do a timeline. We make sure that there is work being done from when we start until when we finish. Having a tight timeline saves our landlords money, headaches, and vacancy. 

Quality Work is our Topmost Priority

Photo from cookie_studio on Freepik

The quality of the vendors’ work is really important too! We always make sure that they do a good job. We coordinate with these vendors on a daily, if not weekly basis to make sure that their quality of work is top-notch.

We will also work with the city of Boston to have a rough inspection before we can close up any wall. This is all the stuff that gets done within the walls, like the plumbing and electrical, and after it has been signed off, we can now close everything up and put cabinets.

Lastly, we’re going to request a final inspection from the city of Boston. We’re going to provide you a copy of that as a landlord.

If you or anyone else you know is looking for a property manager that can handle a renovation for you, add value to your property, minimize your headaches and make the whole process streamlined and smooth, and easy for you, feel free to reach out to Great Ocean Property Management, where you get more than a property manager, you get peace of mind.

See our full investment property management services.