Englewood Investor Renovations
Englewood is one of Chicago’s most active two-flat investment markets, and the math only works with the right contractor. We’re a licensed Chicago general contractor (Class D #TGC132820) that self-performs its core trades — which means the GC margin that usually disappears into a sub-of-a-sub stays in your budget. For BRRRR, fix-and-flip, and duplex-down income strategies, that’s often the difference between a deal that pencils and one that doesn’t. And we don’t just claim the neighborhood: we’ve completed two full gut rehabs on Englewood greystones, documented start to finish.
Scope-to-ARV, Priced Straight
We speak investor: scope built against your ARV, not against a wish list. A rental-grade unit turn runs $8,000–$20,000; a full kitchen-and-bath reposition lands $20,000–$50,000; a single-unit gut runs $100,000–$250,000 depending on finish level; and a complete two-flat gut rehab starts around $150,000 — often well past $200,000 depending on scope, unit count, and finish quality. Every line item is written down, every allowance is explicit, and pre-1930 surprises — knob-and-tube, cast-iron stacks, settled foundations — are priced as written contingency up front, not discovered as change orders later.
The Duplex-Down Play
Englewood’s two-flats are built for the duplex-down strategy: finish the basement into a legal income unit, and the building’s rent roll changes completely. We handle the whole path — egress, ceiling height, moisture control, separate utilities where the strategy calls for it — permitted and inspected so the unit holds up at refinance and appraisal. We’ve built these units in Englewood greystones ourselves; it’s not theory, it’s our completed work.
Self-Perform Is Your Margin
Most GCs mark up subcontractors who mark up their own crews. We self-perform demolition, carpentry, drywall, tile, and finish work with our own people — so you pay for labor and materials plus one honest margin, not a stack of them. On a six-figure gut rehab, that structural cost advantage is real money back into your ARV. Add licensed, permitted, inspected work — no inherited code violations killing your refi or resale — and the total cost of ownership beats the cheap unlicensed crew every time.
Common Questions
Do you work with BRRRR and fix-and-flip investors?
Yes — investor work is the core of our Englewood business. We build scope against your ARV, keep draw schedules clean, and price with written contingency so your lender and your model stay aligned. Both of our completed Englewood gut rehabs were investor projects.
Can you renovate a two-flat while keeping it financeable?
That’s the point of working licensed. Every project is pulled under our Illinois GC license (Class D #TGC132820), permitted through the City of Chicago, and inspected — so the building appraises and refinances without open-permit or code-violation surprises at the closing table.
How do draws and payment work on a gut rehab?
We work from a written, line-item scope with a phase-based payment schedule agreed before demo starts. You always know what a payment covers and what triggers the next one. Lender-inspected draw structures are familiar territory for us.
What does the duplex-down basement unit actually require?
Legal egress, ceiling height, moisture control, and permitted mechanical/electrical/plumbing for the new unit. We evaluate the building first and tell you honestly whether the numbers work before you commit — some basements pencil, some don’t.
Self-performing our core trades keeps the GC margin in your budget — and we’ve got two completed Englewood gut rehabs to prove the model.
Bought tired, rebuilt right — appraised, rented, refinanced. This is what the model looks like finished.
Four Ways We Work Here
Running numbers on an Englewood deal?
Send us the address and your scope — we’ll follow up within 24 hours with a free line-item estimate you can drop straight into your model.