Laminate VS Carpet & Vinyl Floor coverings

Jefferson,

It looks to me like you’re paying retail for all your materials and labor. That may or may not be bad, depending on certain variables and opportunity costs.

My theory on contractors is that they all possess 3 qualities in inverse proportions:

  1. Good

  2. Fast

  3. Cheap

Pick two. You can have good, fast and expensive; cheap, fast and poor quality; good, cheap and slow; etc. Pick two, but you’re not likely to find all three qualities in one contractor. Your guys sounds good, fast & expensive.

I would also recommend looking into setting up some wholesale accounts with materials vendors. Usually it doesn’t take any more than filling out a credit app. Sometimes you might have to buy in bulk to get the best prices, but often you don’t.

I recently set up an account with a plumbing wholesale company and save, at a minimum, 1/3 off what I was paying for PEX & fittings at Home Depot. Any time I buy laminate from Home Depot I buy their “end of the season” color and negotiate a whole sale price for buying all of it that they have (usually 1 1/2 to 2 pallets). This saves me money and keeps them from ending up with 5 cases at the end that they have to mark way down b/c its’ not enough to do a full room.

Never be afraid to negotiate. That’s the best part of the whole business!!

All the Best,

Michael(KCMO)

P.S.

You mentioned in your original post that you do “better-than-average-quality” lonnie deals. Why? Not that that there’s anything wrong w/ your plan, but I’m curious why not do cheaper deals that don’t require as much capital?