Auto Adds

What it is

Auto Adds is one of the banks inside the Fliporithm. The banks are the quick six, the Auto Adds, Replacements, and Extras. The Auto Adds bank is the stuff that goes on every flip regardless of what the house looks like when you walk it.

Things like a landscaping budget, a handyman budget, a construction clean, and the cosmetic baseline — new floors, new paint. You’re doing those jobs. Every time. They’re not in dispute. That’s why they’re auto.

Why it matters

Two reasons I built this bucket.

One, I always tend to add budget as opposed to take it away. I can always come down and add a little contingency. If we end up being able to save some and reuse it, we just save budget. I’d rather have more in the budget than less. The handyman budget I set is 1,200 bucks — that way I have the budget worked in whether I end up using every dollar of it or not.

Two, it stops you from missing line items. New flippers walk a property with a notebook and try to think of every job from scratch. They forget the handyman line. They forget the construction clean at the end. They price floors in three rooms because the back bedroom has okay carpet, then discover at listing that the carpet looks awful against the new stuff. The Auto Adds bank just forces those items in before you can skip them.

It also scales with the house. If it’s 1,900 square feet, two full baths and zero halves, the square-foot-priced stuff updates on its own. You’re not doing math; you’re adjusting sliders.

How it shows up

When you’re running a property through the Fliporithm, Auto Adds lights up on its own. You don’t pick them. You confirm the house size and the bed/bath count and the bucket fills in. Handyman budget — okay, always have that. Construction clean — great. Landscaping — add a little more if we want to make it nicer.

Then you look at it and ask: do I need more landscaping for curb appeal? Bigger cleanout because the seller’s going to leave junk? Nicer finishes because it’s a B-plus neighborhood, not a C? You’re not deciding whether the jobs are on the list. You’re deciding what severity to set them at.

Related

fliporithm, quick six, jobs menu, scope of work, big three, contingency