Concept
All Arounder
What it is
There are really three types of contractors. Specific-job contractors — painters, plumbers, roofers — they do one thing and they’re probably easy to find, which means they’re paying for marketing, which means you’re paying for their marketing. Laborers, who you’d have to find and pay hourly and basically tell what to do every step of the way. And then there’s all-arounders.
All-arounders are the guys who can put in the cabinets, put in the floors, do paint — heck, they’ll take out the trash if you ask them. They do a little bit of everything. They’re not the best at any one item, but they put a crew on the project and they keep working until it’s done. They’re not the guys you hire when you’re doing fancy stuff on your personal house — but that’s probably not what you’re doing on a flip.
These are the guys you want. They’re going to have a plain work truck, maybe a stick-on phone number on the side. No jacked-up wheels, no wrapped logo. If they’ve got a logo wrapped around their truck, they’re spending money on marketing and you’re going to pay for that.
Why it matters
Most new flippers try to save money by splitting every job to the cheapest specialist. That math looks great on paper and falls apart in execution. Every handoff is a risk: schedule gaps, scope arguments, blame when something breaks. “Not my job” gets said six times in a row on a job where six specialists are working back to back.
An all arounder eats the handoffs. Floors and base and paint and door install all happen as one continuous scope under one crew. The base goes on when the floor is done because the same people are doing both. The drywall patches get primed because the same crew is painting. You’re not coordinating between subs because there’s only one sub.
The other win is pricing. Generalist crews price bundles cheaper than a specialist-by-specialist buildup because they see volume and they value steady work. That’s the costco bid logic — more jobs to one crew equals safety net equals lower prices. An all arounder running three or four flips a year for you is incentivized to keep your pipeline happy. Avoid hourly. All arounders should bid jobs, not hours. Hourly billing rewards slowness.
How it shows up
On a typical cosmetic flip, the all arounder takes the interior cosmetic work — floors, paint, trim, doors, hardware, drywall patching, caulk, base, punch-list, interior demo, cleanup. Not the licensed trades (no electrical, no plumbing, no HVAC). Not the specialty-only crews. Everything cosmetic in one bundle.
Where do you find them? Home Depot and Lowe’s. Literally 90 to 95% of the contractors Ross works with come from there. “I just look for people that have drywall dust on their clothes and I start a conversation.” Gas stations work too. If you see a work van with ladders on top and somebody with paint on their pants, pull over and go introduce yourself. You’re not doing anyone any harm — you’re making friends. Referrals from other real estate investors are usually not worth it: “If they’re good, wouldn’t they be holding tight to that?”
The recruiting is a pipeline. Approach, follow-up, bid, working subs. You need to keep it full all the time. You never know when a good all arounder moves, prices himself out, or just gets too busy for you. That’s why you’re always recruiting even when you don’t have an open job.