How to Track a House Flip Budget and Timeline

By Josh Cote · Project management · 7 minute read

A flip can look profitable when you buy it and still lose money one month at a time. A contractor gets behind, a draw takes longer than expected, or the monthly bills keep coming while the house sits on the market. If you only look at the numbers when you make the offer, you may not notice the problem until it gets expensive.

Image created for DealReady.

Save the plan before work starts

When you close, write down the numbers you used to say yes: purchase price, expected sale price, repair budget, loan terms, planned finish date, and how long you thought you would own the house. That is your starting point. If the plan changes, keep the original so you can see what moved. Otherwise, it is easy to keep changing the target until the deal looks like it is still on track.

Enter the money while it is fresh

Enter bills and money coming in as they happen, with the date, type of expense, description, and amount. Keep the receipts and statements too. A tracker is a summary, not a replacement for your books or tax records. Keep repair materials, contractor payments, utilities, insurance, taxes, loan payments, and selling costs separate so you can see what is eating into the deal.

Record loan draws the same way every time. A draw is borrowed money, not automatically an expense. Use your own records and the lender's current payoff statement when you figure out what the deal really owes.

Compare what you planned with what is happening

Look at the plan and the real numbers on a regular basis. Ask three questions: Where are we over budget? Is the job falling behind? What does the sale look like now? A difference only helps if you do something about it. Get a new schedule from the contractor, check on the draw, update the expected sale date, or run the deal again.

Do the same quick check every week

1. Update the expense list and save the receipts.
2. Walk the house and compare finished work with the written scope.
3. Compare the current schedule with the finish date and the next lender draw.
4. Check the new monthly costs and likely sale date.
5. Write down the next decision, who is handling it, and when it needs to be done.

You do not need a perfect spreadsheet. You need to catch small changes while there is still time to fix them. Jobs usually drift a little at a time. Checking every week makes that drift harder to miss.