3 Steps to Designing a Great Flip

By, Maura McGraw

Some people have a natural gift for color, texture, and reimagining spaces. I have many talents, but having an “eye” for design is not one of them. Learning how to design our flips is a skill that I have had to learn and hone over the years. Today I would like to share three steps that have helped my team and I design great flips.

1 – Work with What You Have

If you are a flipper, then you are probably buying houses that are a little rough around the edges. However, even ugly houses usually have some nice characteristics and elements that are worth preserving. I like to search for these salvageable elements first before starting my design process so that I can maintain some of the original character of the house, apply the proper color palette, and save money.

Here is an example of what I am talking about – in a house we flipped last year, we had to remodel most aspects of the house. However, I liked the exposed beams in the living room and decided to keep those and partially design the color palette for the house around them. Keeping these beams added a unique and beautiful element to the house and saved us the time and effort of removing them.

2 – Design with the Buyer In Mind

We prefer to use neutral color palettes in our flips so that each house can appeal to a broad audience. Since we are usually designing flips that will be sold on the market or to an unknown buyer at the start of the project, we have to make sure that the design does not limit our buyer pool. For this reason, we usually stay away from bold colors and textures that are less likely to appeal to a wide audience. We prefer to stick to a neutral, modern, and minimalist design because it tends to look great and appeal to the most people. After all, the goal for our flips is to sell quickly.

We use a lot of white, black, gray, and brown in our designs. Although this may sound boring, I have found that these colors can consistently yield timeless and beautifully designed spaces. Here is an example of a design board that we are currently using for one of our flips that is in progress.

3 – Develop Design Templates

Since we do several flips each year, we have found that creating three main design templates helps us streamline the design process and kickstart the construction process. Basically, we created three templates with an overarching color palette and lists of all the materials needed to complete the project. Although this takes some time and effort to create up-front, it will save you a lot of time on future projects and greatly simplify the design process. If you are wanting to tackle multiple projects, we highly recommend this approach.

In Closing…

Design is something that can be learned and honed. Learn what colors and textures go well together and then create a few templates that you can use over and over again in your flips. If you are just starting out on your flipping journey, a great way to learn is by hiring a professional designer to help you with your first project so that you can learn first-hand how to create a cohesive design. Then you can apply the lessons learned to all future projects.

COMPANY UPDATES

We will have several duplexes coming available in the next few weeks, so make sure you are signed up for our Buyers List if you are interested in learning more about those.

Finally, we are happy to announce that we have two interns joining our team for the summer! Colby and Brandon are both Marketing Majors at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and are working diligently to help us improve our digital presence. We are so lucky to have these talented young men on our team.

WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR THE FOLLOWING…

1- We need more rent-ready and tenant-occupied houses!! We have a lot of clients who are needing rental properties, so we are looking for more tenant-occupied or rent-ready properties.

2- As we start taking on more projects in Mobile and Baldwin County, we are always looking for great contractors to partner with. If you are interested or know someone who might like to work with us, please fill out this form.