DESIGN POINT
RENOVATION ROCKSTARS
Ben’s finished kitchen (left) is bright, airy, and modern: everything the original (below) was not.
BEFORE
BEFORE
BEN WALHOOD Apex Renovations, Alhood Investments | Westmont, Illinois
B en’s kitchen renovation was a classic nightmare that started out like a dream-come-true. “When my company, Apex renovations, took on this flip, they even got the attention of the casting team for The Deed: Chicago,” Ben said. He described the three-bedroom/two-bathroom house as “the nastiest house I’ve ever been in” and added, “We knew this transformation would be a major rehab that required us to tear everything out down to the studs and build it back up to a beautiful presentation.” What they did not know was just how long that process would take. Originally slated as a 10-week fix-and-flip, the project took nearly a year to complete. Furthermore, the orig-
inal budget of $60,000 had “exploded to $140,000 by the time the project was finished,” Ben said. Despite these setbacks, Ben managed to find a great tenant for the property and is, as he puts it, “slowly coming out of the red.” He described his favorite part of the process as “watching the growth of my rehab team,” and noted that he walked away from the project with an invaluable asset: “hon- est, hard-working, solution-oriented contractors.” RENOVATION TAKEAWAY: DON’T FEAR CHANGE Ben says, “We had some miscommunications along the way, and
we eventually had to fire several people from the team. However, the contractors that we added to our team really proved themselves in the way that contractors can only when things don’t go smoothly. The difficulties we faced are the reason the team is stronger today.” WHAT’S NEXT? Now that the rehab is complete, Ben is on to the next proj- ect. “We decided to bring in a great tenant to rent the proper- ty for a few years,” he reported, adding brightly, “The upside of that lengthy rehab is that we know everything in the home is in new, perfect working condition and under warranty!”
96 | think realty magazine :: year end 2017
thinkrealty . com | 97
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