I worked for Jim and Craig (business partners) in the Sacramento, California, vicinity from 1997-2011. Craig said, "I made more money with you remodeling my houses than I have with anyone else."
1. When I first started working for them, the economy was low, so they bought 70 year old houses in a bad section of town, fixed them for renting, then rented the houses until one of renters were ready to buy it. I would do basic remodels on these homes every time a renter moved out, because the people who rented in these areas actually damaged the property on purpose when they moved out. A basic remodel consisted of bringing the house up to living standards, replacing the carpet, fixing the holes in the walls and doors, replacing fixtures that were stolen, repainted both the interior and the exterior, fixing stoves and heaters, and brought the lawn back to life.
The most impressive at that time was the tiny, old mining cabin in the country from the 1800s, which the owners added to as they could afford it, all way under code by the latter 20th century, completely cut up and 3 different levels. I jacked up the house so it would all be on the same level, poured a new foundation, moved rooms around so that the house would have a natural flow, and re-plumbed the house from stem to stern. I put a big beam in and separated rooms, replaced the roof, wood-burning stoves, re-sided and painted the exterior, and replaced the old insulation (which were old newspapers and Montgomery Ward catalogs - I really was entertained by reading them).
2. When the economy started picking up, Jim and Craig bought lower middle-class homes. Before they bought the houses, I inspected them for termites, powder post beetles, dry rot, fungi, and anything that would cause the house to not sell or be refinanced. This was done mostly in attic and foundation crawl spaces. After they bought the house, my job was now to bring the house up to current standards for selling, including replacing and spraying if anything from the above list was found. I would fix all the plumbing, doors, sheet rock, repair or replace all cabinetry and bathroom vanities, repair all rotting floors and sheet rock, ceilings, etc, paint everything, put new flooring in the whole house, and replace tubs/shower stalls when needed. I replaced quite a few roofs, put in new sod and cleaned up the yards. Of course, moving a wall here and there was standard.
3. In the height of the economy, Jim and Craig bought run down old houses in upper class neighborhoods, and I transformed these houses into (average) half-million dollar homes. The most impressive was the 2-year project Craig decided to move into with his family, which he bought $250,000 and refinanced for $800,000. It was on 4 acres with a small pond on the top of a hill, surrounded by a great neighborhood. It was a 100-year old, 1200 sq. ft, 3-bedroom farm house that was last updated in 1950s. We added 1600 sq. feet and excavated and built a 2 car garage with block and cement.
OUTSIDE: They had no overhang on their front door, the door was rotted and sun-bleached. Bill and I built a 12x12 ft. half-round porch with a 12/12 pitch roof, 2 grand pillars, stuccoed the house, and put a cobble stone driveway in. We put stone on the outside of the house as a wainscoat, and we put a fountain in. We put in new plumbing for their well pump, and we built a deck in the backyard for the pool and hot tub. We also drained and resurfaced the pool.
INSIDE LIVING SPACE: Over the 25x32 ft. new garage, we built a 25x32 ft. entertainment room with wiring for a projector and built a restroom nearby. In the old house, we replaced all the windows and upgraded the two single-pane sliding glass doors. We put beams in so we could take out walls and make them into archways in all nine entries to the large living room, kitchen, and dining room. We double-thickened the walls in the living room and dining room to make archways for cosmetic appeal. We put a 16x22 ft. travertine floor in the formal dining room. We rewired the whole house, upgrading the electrical panel and running new cables from the nearest telephone pole underground to the new service.
We didn't like the too-long, too-narrow spiral staircase, so we moved a wall and built a new 4-ft wide, 7-stairs staircase. We removed the old bathroom and some walls in a bedroom closet to make the bathroom bigger. We had to move the main sewer line in the bathroom to accommodate the larger bathroom, and finished the whole bathroom (walls, bath surround, counter, and floor) in travertine 18-inch square tiles. The entry WAS an 8x8 ft old flagstone entry that used to be outside and remodeled later to be inside.
We took out the old flagstone entryway/porch, repoured concrete, then put a travertine floor inlaid with oak in a diamond pattern with a small marble stone at every corner. Very nice and a conversation piece!
INSIDE KITCHEN/LAUNDRY: I transformed the old root cellar, that had access from the kitchen, into a laundry room, and transformed to old laundry closet in the kitchen into a pantry. I tore out all the old cabinets and drop ceilings and rewired the kitchen, because the old wiring was in the drop ceilings. I replaced the old cabinets with knotty alder cabinets, and installed black granite slab counter tops. I took out linoleum and put in real oak flooring.
4. When they started to feel the effects of the recession, Jim and Craig stopped buying homes and decided to finish the rest of their houses and turn them into rentals, going back to basic remodels. This time, old houses in decent areas lost in the economy. At this point I only needed to get rid of rot, change the floor, and make them nice enough to sell. Of course, we still moved walls make them flow. In one tiny house, I had to tear out the entry room's collapsing floor and rebuild it with all new framing. I also built the full attic into a bonus room.
