JB PARCELRehab Budget Calculator
A repair number you pulled out of the air is how flips lose money. Build it line by line, add contingency and overhead, then check it against cost per square foot before you write the offer.
How this calculator works
The budget is built in four layers. Hard costs are the physical work, everything from the roof down to the appliances. Soft costs are permits, dumpsters, utilities during construction, and staging. Contingency is a percentage on top of both. General contractor overhead and profit is the last layer, and only applies if your line items are subcontractor and material costs rather than GC bids.
That last distinction causes real errors. If a general contractor gave you one number for the whole job, their overhead and profit is already inside it and you should leave the GC field at zero. If you priced the trades yourself and plan to hire a GC to run it, add fifteen to twenty percent.
Contingency is not optional and it is not padding. On a house you walked with your contractor, twelve percent covers the normal surprises. On a vacant property with unknown plumbing, an unknown roof deck, or anything behind finished walls, twenty percent is more honest. Every experienced flipper has a story about the line item they did not know existed until demo day.
Cost per square foot is your reality check after the fact, not your estimate. In most Tennessee markets, a cosmetic refresh runs roughly $20 to $30 per square foot, a solid full rehab $35 to $55, and a gut renovation $65 and up. If your line items total $22 a foot on a house that needs a roof, HVAC, and a kitchen, go back and find what you left out.
Worked example: a 1,450 square foot full rehab
A 1970s ranch needing systems and finishes, priced as sub and material costs with a GC running it.
| Hard costs (roof through appliances) | $93,300 |
|---|---|
| Soft costs (permits, dumpsters, staging) | $7,400 |
| Contingency at 12% | $12,084 |
| Total budget, self-managed | $112,784 |
| Cost per square foot | $77.78 |
| Same job with a GC at 15% | $129,702 ($89.45 / sf) |
Seventy-eight dollars a foot self-managed, and $89.45 with a general contractor running it. Both are gut-renovation territory, which tells you something the line items did not: at this scope you are approaching the cost of building new. That is a signal to cut scope, to renegotiate the purchase price hard, or to walk. The per-square-foot check is doing exactly the job it is there for, and the $16,918 gap between the two rows is what hiring the GC actually costs you.
Questions investors ask
How much should a rehab cost per square foot in Tennessee?
As a rough frame: $20 to $30 per square foot for a cosmetic refresh (paint, flooring, fixtures, light kitchen), $35 to $55 for a full rehab including a system or two, and $65 and up for a gut. Labor costs vary noticeably between Nashville and rural West Tennessee. Use these to check your line items, never as a substitute for them.
How much contingency should I carry?
Twelve percent on a property you have walked with your contractor and where the major systems are visible and understood. Twenty percent on a vacant house, on anything with an unknown crawlspace or attic, or on your first few projects. If you find yourself arguing that this house will be the one that comes in under budget, carry more, not less.
Should I include general contractor markup?
Only if your line items are sub and material costs. A GC's all-in bid already includes their overhead and profit, so adding fifteen percent on top double-counts it. If you are self-GCing, leave the field at zero but understand you are taking on the scheduling, the permits, and the risk that a trade does not show up.
What line item most often blows up a budget?
Foundation and structural, then plumbing under a slab, then anything requiring an electrical service upgrade. All three are invisible from the street and expensive from the moment you find them. If your walkthrough raises a question about any of the three, spend the few hundred dollars on a specialist inspection during your due diligence period. It is the cheapest insurance in this business.
How do I use this with the 70% rule?
Build the budget here, take the total, and drop it into the repair field of the 70% rule and MAO calculator. That gives you a maximum offer built on a real scope instead of a guess. Then check the resulting all-in against your ARV, and use the holding cost calculator to price the timeline.
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Screening a real property? Pull its appraised value, assessed value, acreage, land use, and last recorded sale off the JB PARCEL parcel map and drop the real numbers into this calculator instead of guessing. Coverage runs across every county we carry.