Real Estate Management and Maintenance Tips

A Little Anticipation Might Produce A Big Reward

by Marvin Levin

You may have had the experience of adding an optional item to your automobile after you purchased it and discovered that it costs a lot more to do so compared to having it installed during assembly at the factory. That would certainly be true in the case of an air conditioner, CD player, GPS device, and many other items of that sort.

Well, the same is true in real estate construction. Room air conditioning is a good example. During framing of a residential property, there usually would be enough scrap 2x4 material to build a frame for an air conditioner unit. And, while the electrician is doing the wiring, he could probably run a 220 circuit for the unit at a cost of about $150 (more or less).

Now, suppose you want to install the same air conditioning unit after construction is completed. You would probably have to remove and replace a considerable amount of sheetrock, and then tape, texture and paint to bring the wall back to a new condition. It could easily cost from three to five times more to add the air conditioning unit compared to the rather nominal cost to install during construction.

The dilemma is that until someone has lived in the property for a full cycle, they would not know whether or not they need air conditioning. Is it better to put it in at the lowest possible cost and run the risk of having an unnecessary appliance, or is it better to wait and see if you need it and run the risk of paying an extravagant price?

The reader should pause for a moment and ask whether there is an “out-of-the-box” (no pun intended) solution.

There certainly is. I believe that the best way to resolve the dilemma is to ask the framing contractor to nail together some surplus 2x4s in the wall where the air conditioner might eventually be installed and to ask the electrician to run a 220 circuit to that space. Then you can cover up the frame, but carefully and discreetly mark the baseboard immediately below the frame to indicate where the sheetrock can be punched through to expose both the frame and the 220 wire.

The same principle can be applied to other optional extras that you might add to the property. For example, when the rough plumbing is installed, it is relatively inexpensive to ask that the drain be extended to an area on the edge of the property where a hose bib might be located. Then, if the occasion should arise that you want to install an outdoor shower, for pennies and nickels you can just install a concrete slab without incurring a much greater expense to bring rough and finish plumbing to the site. And, the same principle would apply if you anticipate adding a bathroom or kitchen to a part of the property that otherwise would not be plumbed for it.

If you know about a value-added property, please contact me.